The nearly 50-year-old Norway Maples were dead and dying (Image: CHS)

As Seattle hopes to help cool its streets and sidewalks against global warming by achieving 30% tree-canopy coverage across every area of the city in the next twelve years, the new stumps along Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave are an example of the challenge — and the opportunity — in the numbers.

The old Norway Maples just removed from the sidewalk along the Capitol Hill Kaiser Permanente campus were dead — and had been for years. Planted in 1977, the maples were maintained by the Seattle Department of Transportation. Coming up on 50 years later, most of the 15th Ave trees were completely dead with branches and bark falling off. A few hangers-on were in serious decline.

SDOT says it hired a contractor to remove the old maples “due to safety concerns, particularly because they were adjacent to Metro bus lines.”

SDOT says there is no evidence “porous paving contributed to the trees’ decline” as the city’s tree wells have been filled in recent years to prevent injuries to pedestrians and people using tree-lined sidewalks.

Despite the city’s ambitious goals of quickly establishing a 30% tree canopy cover, there is no plan for re-planting. But there will be a first step. Continue reading →