Urban Forestry

Lowell teens plant trees for Habitat for Humanity
MVHP Tree planting program

First time homeowner tree planting program, in partnership with Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership.

Trees Need People and People Need Trees

Lowell’s urban forestry canopy extends from the downtown to the city’s neighborhoods and out to the state forest.

Trees on your street contribute to your quality of life by improving the streetscape, the quality of the air you breathe, reducing heating and cooling costs, calming traffic speeds, and increasing property values.

Every year the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust plants 150-200 large-caliper (2-3″) trees throughout the city with a variety of partners, including city agencies, local non-profits, neighborhoods, and businesses.

Greening the Gateway Cities logoGreening the Gateway City

Greening the Gateway City is a tree planting program that’s focused on getting trees into the neighborhoods where they are most needed, in order to increase the city’s tree canopy.  Greening the Gateway City is offered in partnership with the City of Lowell and MA Dept. of Conservation.  You may be eligible for a FREE TREE if you live in this zone.  More information about this program.

Where would you like to see more trees?

If you have an idea for a tree planting project in your neighborhood, at a local school, or at your favorite park, please contact us.

We prioritize projects that provide broad public benefit over individual tree plantings on sidewalks. The demand for our assistance is too high to typically meet individual homeowner tree requests, but we do keep a running list of sites in case we get several requests on one street.

Recent Tree Planting Sites/Partners

Fall Foliage, Lowell

Fall Foliage, Jollene Dubner Park

Each year, the Trust applies competitively for support for tree planting through the City of Lowell’s federally-funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. Our recent tree planting projects have included:

  • House of Hope

  • Shaughnessy School

  • UMass Lowell athletic fields

  • Coalition for a Better Acre

  • Tyler Park

  • Market St. Garage

  • MVHP First-time Homebuyers

  • Downtown street trees

Urban Forestry Resources

To learn more about urban forestry, check out Tales from Urban Forests, a radio series on how trees are impacting cities. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation‘s Urban Forestry Program also puts out a monthly forestry newsletter, including information about native trees, upcoming forestry events and workshops, and more.

Gallery

Students in LP&CT's after-school program at the Robinson School, run in partnership with Mass Audubon's Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, planted trees at Gage Field.Tree planting at Gage Field, Robinson School
Tree planting training with first-time homebuyers, in partnership with Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership.Spring 2016 MVHP Tree Planting
Spindle City Corps youth plant native river birch to replace those lost in historic grove at Rogers Fort Hill Park.Spindle City Corps at Rogers Fort Hill Park
Large tree stumps on Luce Street were saved and carved by local artists, Jay Hungate and Glenn Szegedy, adding interest to the streetscape.Luce Street Tree Stump Carving
CBS EcoMedia Partnered with Lahey Health and the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust to celebrate ACTree's Neighborwoods Month by planting 15 trees in LowellCorporate volunteers from Lahey Health
Lahey Health volunteers for tree planting, with Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) and CBS EcoMediaLahey Health Corporate Volunteers
Lowell Arbor Day tree planting

Program History

The Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust initiated an Urban Forestry Program in 1995 to meet the demands of the city’s neighborhoods for tree planting and beautification.

In 1996, the Trust initiated a program to plant 2000 trees by the year 2000 (“2000 for 2000″) and conducted a city-wide survey of the city’s public shade trees. For this survey, one out of every five city trees was observed for species, size, and condition.

This groundbreaking study revealed that the city’s trees lacked diversity, were in decline, and needed improved maintenance.

This is a common story throughout Massachusetts. In addition to the city’s 13,300 publicly owned shade trees, there were found to be 2,400 vacant sites for future tree planting, indicating plenty of need for the new 2000 for 2000 initiative.

Finally, the value of the city’s urban forest was determined to be $32 million (1996). This represents an investment by the city that needs to be maintained.

In 1997, Lowell received its first designation as a Tree City USA. By the year 2000, the Trust had exceeded its goal of 2,000 newly planted trees, by planting or providing support for the planting of over 4,000 trees.

Since 2000, our efforts have focused on continuing to plant trees with diverse partners, providing technical assistance on tree projects throughout the city, and developing new policies related to the urban forest, such as the city’s new tree ordinance (passed July 9, 2002).