Trees have always been an important part of Rose Tileston’s life. Growing up in the hills of Pittsburgh, some trees stand out in her memory. A pine tree in her backyard once towered over her childhood home, until it succumbed to a strong gust of wind one morning before school. The earth shook and the sunlight shining through her window changed, no longer obstructed by pine branches. Rose’s wistful description of this fallen tree sounded like she was mourning the loss of a childhood friend.

 

Now, Rose is the Senior Manager of Urban Forestry at American Forests. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington, D.C., and their mission is to conserve and restore healthy forests–including those in cities. She works with communities to achieve “tree equity,” bringing the benefits of urban forests to everyone.

 

I had the opportunity to chat with Rose over Zoom a few weeks ago about her role at American Forests, her professional journey, and why she does this work.

 

She’s come a long way from her roots in Pittsburgh, but her work in the city has played a big role in who she is today. Rose got her start in urban forestry with local organization Tree Pittsburgh while majoring in Environmental Science at Chatham University. She got her hands dirty learning about coordinating tree plantings, how to plant and prune trees, and the ins and outs of community-based nonprofit work.

 

Rose recalls, “I got to experience firsthand the positive impact that planting trees can have on a community.” Her work doing community tree planting events strengthened her connection with her city’s neighborhoods and helped spark her passion for urban forestry.

 

“I don’t know how to explain the feeling of being on a street that has no trees, that looks blighted, it’s just concrete and asphalt and buildings.” But once her tree planting team worked its magic, the impact on the neighborhood was incredible. “It’s just instant, the transformation. Instant! In just one day.” Even though I’m not physically on the street, the enthusiasm with which she talks about this event makes it so that I can almost smell the scent of sweet mulch and feel the cool of newly established shade.

 

Tree planting events like these are central to many US cities’ urban forest plans, including Pittsburgh. Like many cities in the US, urban development has put Pittsburgh’s trees at risk.

You can’t go into a community and say, ‘You need this.’

 

But these initiatives can’t succeed without community. “You can’t go into a community and say, ‘You need this,’” Rose emphasizes. “It’s not sustainable if the community doesn’t want what you’re offering.”

Serving as a Pittsburgh Public Ally with the public service organization AmeriCorps taught Rose the importance of fostering community buy-in. “It really taught me how to connect with all the stakeholders within a community.”

 

Though she enjoys working at American Forests, Rose does miss the feeling of being a part of communities she works with. Now she does her work from afar in Washington instead of being on the ground in different neighborhoods. “I don’t have a personal connection to the community that I am supporting, and so even though I am supporting other communities, I don’t get the same sense of satisfaction as when I was supporting my community.”

 

Even though Rose gave up working in Pittsburgh, what she gained was the chance to support communities across the country through American Forests’ Community Re-Leaf program. She gushes to me about the team of urban forestry colleagues she works with, who do everything from organizing tree planting events, to writing urban forest master plans, to doing tree inventory assessments, to creating college curriculum, to increasing diversity in the urban forestry field.

 

Tree equity is bringing the benefits of trees to all people.

 

Their goal is to help US cities reduce tree inequity through community-based urban forestry. Tree cover distribution in cities tends to mirror distribution of racial and class privilege: low-income communities of color have far fewer trees than wealthy and white communities do. Historical and ongoing oppression is responsible for environmental injustices like the treeless street Rose described so clearly. Achieving tree equity through urban forestry means creating better environments for everyone. Rose explains, “Tree equity is bringing the benefits of trees to all people.”

You can tell Rose is excited by the topic.  Her voice rises as she rattles off said benefits of urban trees: “Air purification! The reduction of the urban heat island effect! Shading buildings! Bringing wildlife to urban communities!” Rose and I proceed to geek out for a while over the myriad of benefits that urban trees bring us, and one thing is clear: achieving tree equity is good for everyone.

 

Watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth as a teenager was a turning point for Rose. Afterwards, she asked, “Why aren’t we doing more about this? Why aren’t we taking action on climate change?” Her bubbly tone belies the anxieties that many people in her generation and mine can relate to as we witness governments failing to do anything meaningful to address climate change.

Planting trees means nothing for climate change without also cutting carbon emissions–but they’re still a valuable tool to keep communities safe. “Forests are not the be all solution, we know that. Collectively, globally, as a collective global community we need to cut our carbon emissions.”

 

Trees can help every community across the country.

 

It’s true. Planting trees won’t save us. But that work still matters. Rose explains, “Forests are the best nature-based solution to mitigating and adapting to climate change.” Most importantly, “Trees can help every community across the country.”  And, as Rose’s work at American Forests shows, urban forestry is a solution every community in the nation can benefit from.