Combating Climate Change with Urban Forests: How Trees Can Save Our Cities
Sponsored by Green Minneapolis
Sun, Jan 29, 11 am
American Swedish Institute
Part of the Climate Solutions Series
With panelists Leslie Brandt (U.S. Forest Service), Tee McClenty (MN350), Rachel Holmes (The Nature Conservancy), and Jeremy Barrick (The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board). Facilitated by Green Minneapolis’s David Wilson.
Summer 2021 was the hottest on record in the Twin Cities, and Summer 2022 was the longest on record—118 days of temperatures 70 degrees or warmer. Climate change has arrived, and urban residents—especially the most disadvantaged—are impacted the most, with stifling heat, dirtier air and more flooding from extreme precipitation events. As climate change worsens, Minneapolis/St. Paul and cities across the country will become difficult places for people to live and thrive.
But there’s an amazing technology that mitigates the worst impacts of climate change in cities: the tree. Urban trees sequester carbon, capture stormwater, filter air pollutants, and reduce energy use, all while creating habitat for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. Unfortunately, the Twin Cities’ tree canopy is decreasing rapidly due to Emerald Ash Borer, accelerating development, climate change, and insufficient tree funding. And general awareness of the importance of urban trees is low, with urban trees viewed as expendable.
Panelists will discuss why urban tree canopy needs to be viewed as critical urban infrastructure—just like transit systems and utilities—and invested in accordingly. Experts will explain factors causing the decline of the Twin Cities urban tree canopy, and share exciting initiatives under way in the Twin Cities and across the country to expand urban tree canopy.
About the panelists:
Leslie Brandt, Ph.D., Office of Sustainability and Climate, U.S. Forest Service
Leslie is a Supervisory Climate Adaptation Specialist with the US Forest Service’s Office of Sustainability and Climate. She was the lead writer for the agency’s climate adaptation plan, released this year. She has over a decade of experience in climate change vulnerability and adaptation in natural resources, with a focus on urban forests. She has worked with urban areas across the country to adapt their urban forests to climate change, including Chicago, Detroit, the Twin Cities, and Austin, TX. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Gustavus Adolphus College and a PhD in ecology from the University of Minnesota.
Tee McClenty, Executive Director, MN350
Tee has witnessed the impact of the climate crisis first-hand. Her youngest son was born with asthma and continues to experience complications from it as a young adult. This story, she knows, is not unique. Many communities of color are hardest hit by the negative impacts of climate change.
Tee joined MN350 in 2022 in a continuation of her career as a servant for all communities. She has dedicated her life to ensuring that all communities have all the resources available to them. She has worked more than 18 years in emergency medicine, seeing first-hand the impact of climate on people’s health. She attended college to obtain a nursing degree and sign language interpreter. She received a mini-MBA at St. Thomas University and is a certified project manager.
Rachel Holmes, Urban Forestry Lead, The Nature Conservancy
Rachel Holmes is the Urban Forestry Strategist for North America Cities at The Nature Conservancy. She supports urban forestry projects and programs throughout the North America Region by providing strategic and technical support to Conservancy colleagues engaging in urban greening, especially through forestry. She also provides strategic guidance on urban forestry priorities for the organization and leads three strategic initiatives in partnership with the USDA Forest Service relating to urban forest health and human health. Rachel represents the Conservancy on the Sustainable Urban Forest Coalition, for which she currently serves as Vice Chair. Prior to joining the Conservancy, Rachel served as an urban forester and Volunteer Coordinator for the State of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and designed and created urban forestry workforce development programming for Groundwork Bridgeport and Solar Youth, both in Connecticut. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Science from Rutgers University, a Master of Divinity from the Yale Divinity School and a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is proud to be a wildland firefighter and a professional Flamenco dancer.
Jeremy Barrick, Assistant Superintendent for Environmental Stewardship, The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
As the Assistant Superintendent for Environmental Stewardship, Jeremy oversees the Asset Management, Environmental Management, and Forestry Departments. He has almost 20 years of experience in managing urban trees and green spaces. Previously he served as the Deputy Chief of Forestry, Horticulture and Natural Resources for New York City Parks and the Urban Forestry Program Manager for the City of San Diego Planning Department. He is active in the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and the Society of Municipal Arborists. Jeremy is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist and holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Community Forestry from the University of Minnesota.
Facilitator: David Wilson, Green Minneapolis
David is a life long tree hugger and dedicated urbanite who believes in the power of green infrastructure to make cities vibrant and sustainable. David is the founder and board chair of Green Minneapolis, a parks and public realm conservancy established in 2014 dedicated to enhancing the vitality of the Twin Cities by bringing public and private entities together to build sustainable green infrastructure. Prior to dedicating his work to combating climate change, David spent 36 years in the technology consulting industry.
