Good afternoon,
One of the more overlooked pieces of news came from the announcement of a program calling for one tree for every Delawarean.
It is true that Delaware government calling for The one million new plantings doesn’t do much in a state with more than 200 million trees.
Yes, Delaware’s tree loss is insignificant when compared to the devastation taking place in the Amazon and elsewhere. But it’s still bad news for the environment and efforts to cut greenhouse gases.
The new program, at least in a symbolic fashion, addresses the loss of 8.5% percent of the state’s tree cover since 2000. The loss would have been even greater if open space requirements and conservation-based land purchases had not occurred.
The northern part of the state has also taken a hit from development in neighboring Pennsylvania. Thanks to a combination of climate change and treeless development to the north, downstream flooding has become more severe.
There is yet another reason for planting more trees in Delaware. It comes from the visual pollution from development.
Developers say the arduous process of moving a project through the land use system drives up costs and leads to few incentives beyond meeting minimal landscaping standards.
But as shopping centers and other aging properties are redeveloped the potential exists for improvement.
One example is The Grove – the former College Square Shopping Center in Newark that will become a blend of apartments and retail.
The project will plant nearly 1,000 trees on what was once a vast expanse of asphalt.
The hope is that we see similar efforts in future projects. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
