Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital city has planted thousands of more trees over the past decade.
Salt Lake City planned less than 500 trees in 2014, but that number jumped to about 1,000 trees annually by 2019. It now plants more than 2,000 trees every year, according to Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
Mendenhall and Tony Gliot, the city's urban forester, spent Wednesday posting about trees as a part of an "ask me anything" segment on social media. It was their way to explain why Salt Lake City has focused more on trees in recent years and what residents can do to help out.
Their social media event came after Salt Lake City decided to celebrate Arbor Day early.
While the national holiday dedicated to trees isn't until Friday, Mendenhall signed a proclamation on Monday declaring it Arbor Day in Salt Lake City — after she and other city leaders held an event to plant over 250 new trees by the Regional Athletic Complex on the city's west side.
The order explains why Salt Lake City has turned to planting more trees over the past decade.
"Our growing city and families need a growing urban forest to support our health, comfort and beauty. ... Those who plant and maintain trees today are carrying on a worthy tradition that will promote the health and sustainability of our growing city for years to come," it states. "Trees have been, are today and will forever be an essential and endearing component to our city's identity."
Mendenhall and Gliot explained on Wednesday that a lot of thought goes into the trees that Salt Lake City plants.
In a video they posted, Gliot said that more than 290 tree species can grow in Salt Lake City because of its climate.
They later wrote that trees that offer shade are a key priority, which is also why some nonnative species end up getting planted. Cottonwood and box elder trees are the most common native species that the city plants for this reason because other native species like aspen, fir, Gamble oak and Rocky Mountain maple trees struggle in the Salt Lake Valley's hot summers.
One reason for this, they note, is bigger trees absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is a benefit to air quality. But other types of trees are considered beyond those that offer shade.
"There are all kinds of varieties of apple, pear, peach and apricot trees growing in our urban forest. Plus, persimmon, serviceberry, and mulberry," they noted.
Of course, planting a tree is just the beginning.
Salt Lake City reported a 15% two-year tree mortality rate citywide in 2022, which meant that at least 1 out of every 10 new trees planted died. There were higher mortality rates on the west side, where temperatures are generally hotter.
This, officials explained at the time, was mostly tied to insufficient or ineffective watering of the new trees.
When asked about it Wednesday, Mendenhall and Gliot said Salt Lake City's Urban Forestry division requires residents to affirm that they will properly water any new trees when requesting one. They added that the division also informs adjacent property owners about watering when planting new street trees.
"It's very admirable to plant trees here in Salt Lake City, but it's rewarding to water them," Gliot said in a separate video. "That's how we get all of our benefits. That's how we keep these trees growing, so they become big and strong ... and provide generations worth of benefit for us."
That also led to questions about water consumption, especially after the state's most recent drought forced Salt Lake City to enter the second phase of its drought contingency plan in both 2021 and 2022 for the first time since 2004. But city officials said that's less of a concern because trees are more efficient with water than most other plants.
"Of all the things we allocate water to in (the city's) urban environment, trees use this precious resource the most efficiently," they wrote. "Trees release water into their surroundings and the atmosphere. A single mature oak tree may transpire 40,000 gallons of water each year. That's way more water than applied to that tree in a year."
Meanwhile, there were some questions and comments about how the city handles trees. One resident asked why Salt Lake City will remove trees "without explanation or notice" in some cases.
Mendenhall and Gliot said the city does provide notice to adjacent property owners when a tree is removed, which typically occurs when a tree is dead or has become a hazard. But they said it's a process that the city could improve in the future.
Overall, they said that trees will continue to offer benefits to the city and that's why they plan to keep planting more trees.
"Everyone who lives and works in Salt Lake City should have access to the amazing benefits that trees provide," they wrote. "Together we can absolutely make that happen."
