By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Tree Eastie, a local nonprofit focused on strengthening the neighborhood’s tree canopy—the lowest in Boston—through tree planting and maintenance while educating residents about the importance and value of trees, has a lot planned for this fall and into the future.
First, the organization founded by Bill Masterson has plans to plant 150 trees this fall. After planting those 150 trees, the nonprofit will have planted about 500 trees in the neighborhood over the past three years.
“That’s a combination of street trees, which is really where we kind of started, park trees, which kind of came a little bit later, and then yard trees, which is sort of the newest thing that we’re doing now,” said Masterson.
Masterson said the 150 trees slated to be planted this fall will primarily be park and yard trees. Notably, earlier this month, Tree Eastie was able to plant 26 trees at Constitution Beach with help from a grant and volunteers from DraftKings.
“We had been trying to plant trees there for a while. It’s a DCR (Department of Conservation and Recreation) property; we haven’t been able to really get the right sort of people to be involved in the project, but we finally have,” said Masterson.
“The folks from DCR were just awesome. They helped us put all the things together that we needed,” he added, noting that they had to go before the Conservation Commission to get approval to plant the trees.
In addition to the planting mentioned above, Tree Eastie, with a grant from TD Bank, will be planting 25 trees at Belle Isle Marsh on October 19th. Further, there are plans to plant with volunteers at Brophy Park and Memorial Park.
Moreover, Tree Eastie has received federal funds for expanding tree canopies through the Inflation Reduction Act to plant trees that must be on private property. The organization planted 25 yard trees in the spring and aims to plant 75 this fall.
“So, that’s going to be 100 new yard trees, and they’re not little saplings. I mean, these are going to be six to eight-foot trees,” said Masterson.
While the nonprofit plans to plant trees on private properties such as the Madonna Shrine and Liberty Plaza, Masterson emphasized that residents can request trees for their yards.
“We source them, we mulch them, we stake them, we put a water bag on them, we give the residents directions on how to take care of them,” said Masterson.
“It’s just so exciting to see the smiles on these people’s faces because they’re getting a tree.”
For those interested in getting a tree in their yard, visit https://docs. google.com/forms/d/e/ 1FAIpQLSf-QIf_6IZG9pAQJjNotsC08F4VHK00nuNEO7Quhl8irPNgpQ/viewform. It should be noted that the resident who requests the tree must sign an agreement and will be responsible for watering it.
Regarding maintenance, which is an essential aspect of the nonprofit’s mission, Masterson indicated that State Representative Adrian Madaro was able to secure funds in the state budget to do more tree maintenance.
For example, Masterson said there are plans to do some maintenance in the Bennington Street Cemetery next spring. Also, there are plans to prune, mulch, and more between Central and Day Squares on Saratoga, Bennington, and Meridian Streets.
“It’s great to be able to plant a tree, but you got to be able to take care of it,” said Masterson.
In addition to the aforementioned information, Tree Eastie is working with Boston University (BU) students on several other endeavors.
Will Fuller, a BU student, is part of a class of 16 to 18 students who have two projects, one of which is to work with Tree Eastie.
The students in the Tree Eastie portion of the class are split into three teams. One team of students is working on social media and putting together advertisements. For example, these students are creating graphics, flyers, and a booklet with information about Tree Eastie’s resources and more to get into the hands of residents. Another team will help with the actual tree planting.
Fuller’s team is tasked with identifying vulnerable areas around East Boston.
Specifically, Fuller and his team have been looking at neighborhood maps and using tools to analyze things like the heat island index, tree canopy absence, and more.
“So we’re able to go block by block and look at locations that we think would be ideal for outreach,” said Fuller.
One of the tools Fuller and his team use is called the Tree Equity Score, which he described as “a marker of how equally distributed trees are in a specific neighborhood.”
Fuller noted that the composite score for Boston as a whole with this tool is 89, but if you look closer at areas like north of Chelsea Street, the scores are below that.
In speaking more about what his team does, Fuller identified the end goal: “to raise awareness of the work that Tree Eastie is doing and also just try and individually reach out.”
Fuller discussed some of the areas he and his team have analyzed. For example, he mentioned Central Eagle Hill’s “decent amount of” tree canopy. However, he emphasized that even in the most well-planted areas, some portions are at risk of producing heat island effects.
Moreover, the Gove Street area and Jeffries Point stood out to Fuller as vulnerable and at risk of producing heat island effects.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s website describes heat islands as “urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas,” adding that “structures such as buildings, roads, and other infrastructure absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes such as forests and water bodies.”
Fuller explained that combating heat islands and their effects is critical. For example, planting in these areas can help reduce the risk of heat stroke. He also pointed out that it is vital to remember that issues like heat islands disproportionately impact communities of color due to practices like redlining.
Fuller and Masterson then discussed some of the benefits trees provide. Masterson explained that a prominent part of the organization’s mission is to educate residents about the benefits of trees.
Some of these benefits include improving air quality, increasing property value, curbing stormwater runoff, and much more.
To keep up with Tree Eastie, learn more about the benefits of trees, and how to get involved, visit https://www.treeeastie. org/.