As Charlotte bakes under heatwaves this summer, the city's trees are helping to take the edge off by shading homes, streets and parks. But the benefits of these natural air-conditioners are spread unevenly throughout the city.
Shade is hardest to find in some of Charlotte’s low-income neighborhoods. And it’s often a challenge for residents to maintain the trees they do have.
Sylvania Avenue, in North End’s Lockwood neighborhood, lives up to its name. Big trees line the streets and grow on many of the lawns. Anton Anderson always makes it part of his commute.
"I choose this way because it’s more shady as I walk to work because of the trees," said Anderson. "It's very peaceful around here, too."
And on a hot morning, it’s much cooler right here than on the treeless expanses of North Graham and North Tryon streets and the railyard that border the neighborhood. Studies show shade from trees can reduce peak temperatures at least 20 degrees — cooling that’s only going to be more valuable as the climate heats up.
But tree canopy covers only slightly more than a quarter of North End, compared to 45% of Mecklenburg County overall. The city maintains trees along the streets, but most are on private property.
"Trees generate all these great assets for all of us, all these environmental services for all of us. But the costs are born privately," said Doug Shoemaker, an ecologist and director of research and outreach at UNC Charlotte’s Center for Applied Geographic Information Science.
The amount of tree canopy is falling countywide, which makes it crucial to maintain existing trees — and to remove dying ones and replace them.
"Look at that one," Shoemaker said, pointing to a dead tree. "It's covered in ivy. That's another humongous [tree]. To get that, you have to have a crane to lift it over the house to get to the street. That's $16,000, $20,000."
In an area where the average median income is around $32,000 — it’s impossible. Lockwood resident Carlton Harvey has dealt with the prohibitive expense of tree maintenance.
Harvey, the head of Lockwood’s neighborhood association, points to a stump in his front lawn that used to be a massive double oak.
"It took me two years to get that tree down, and I did it cheaply. It didn't end up costing me over, like, $5,000, but that's because I did it," he said. "Me and my associates ... couldn't afford to pay to, you know, the tree surgeons, the arborists or whatever ... So we just did it little by little."
As the tree came down, Harvey says his electricity bills in the summer went up. He planted a new oak tree last summer that he hopes will grow to replace the one he had to remove.
Cost, safety concerns
Trees Charlotte, a nonprofit, gives away free trees, but it has had a hard time getting takers in many low-income neighborhoods. Shoemaker’s research in one West Charlotte neighborhood found concerns over safety and expense were deterring people.
Harvey hopes residents will look beyond those.
"But you have to think about the quality of the air. The trees help the quality of the air. And with us staying right downtown, right near the highway, and things like that, for our neighborhood, the trees are really beneficial," he said.
Shoemaker tells Harvey about a proposal to help fund a tree maintenance and removal program in several low-income neighborhoods.
"That's very, very, very smart. Very smart," said Harvey.
Through its Corridors of Opportunity initiative, the city is building what it calls the Urban Arboretum Trail in several low-income neighborhoods. It follows existing pedestrian and bicycle routes between neighborhoods along Beatties Ford Road and Statesville Avenue — adding art, gathering places and trees. The city just received a grant to build a part of it in North End’s Greenville neighborhood.
Spring Street Plaza will occupy a small strip of land the city owns. It’s right next to Greenville Park and Walter G. Byers K-8 school — and soon the city will be planting an orchard there.
The North End Community Coalition is helping survey residents about what they want to see along the trail. The group’s leader Melissa Gaston has long advocated for her community — but for a long time trees were not a part of that work. She chose not to have trees in her yard when she moved to North End years ago.
"I was like, Oh no, that's going to have leaves, and then I'm going to have to rake them up. I don't want to do that, because I did that as a kid. And I was like, 'No, no, no.' But if I'd known how important it was, it's something that I would have been like, ‘Yeah, let's put some trees there,'" she said.
Gaston now encourages homeowners to plant trees, but she says it’s also up to developers to preserve or replace what they’ve razed.
In a fast-growing area like North End, that loss adds up quickly. Developers must either save existing trees on 15% of a property or pay the city to plant new trees elsewhere — like at Spring Street Plaza. Still, researchers say that’s not enough to hold onto the canopy Charlotte has, let alone expand it.
Another place nearby where residents hope to soon see more trees: Place of Peace Garden.
"This don't look like much right now, but it will very shortly," says Pop Sadler. He grew up in the Greenville neighborhood long before the highways were built through it. For nearly 20 years now he’s been mowing this strip of land along I-77 with a sweeping view of the skyline. He and his wife Marie Sadler bought it hoping to create a green space for anyone who needs it.
"I do hope that trees would bring some shade and some beauty to add to this spirit, the feeling of the peacefulness," says Marie Sadler.
They got a developer putting up town homes nearby to build the park. The Sadlers hope the Place of Peace Garden will contribute to Greenville’s vitality — and help keep its residents a bit cooler and healthier.
