MEMO: Build Back Better Act Must Fully Fund Forestry, Green Space Initiatives

-SIERRA CLUB FEDERAL POLICY TEAM

President Biden’s Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-generation investment in the effort to tackle the climate crisis. 

One of the important but lesser known aspects of the package put together by House Democrats is the nearly $3.5 billion in funding to support urban and community forestry and green space development across the country, which are essential efforts for protecting our most vulnerable communities from the worst consequences of the climate crisis. 

The Sierra Club applauds the House of Representatives for investing in these vital efforts to expand green space and tree planting in urban communities, and we once again call on the Senate to maintain full funding for these essential programs in the final reconciliation bill.

BUILD BACK BETTER ACT MUST FULLY FUND FORESTRY, GREEN SPACE INITIATIVES 

Without Support, Vulnerable Communities Left Unprotected Against Deadly Effects of the Climate Crisis

*** Senior Sierra Club policy staff and spokespeople are available to discuss the critical need for maintaining full support for urban green space programs. ***

PROMOTING GREEN SPACES AND TREE PLANTING IS ESSENTIAL FOR TAKING ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS

The following programs that support green space development and community tree planting must be included in the final reconciliation package at full funding levels:

• $3 billion for the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Program: Tree planting works to decrease the effects of the climate crisis in urban communities by increasing tree canopy cover within these neighborhoods, mitigating the urban heat island effect. This program currently serves more than 200 million people in more than 7,700 communities across the U.S. through the development and maintenance of local urban forestry programs. 

• $50 million for activities to improve Forest Carbon Monitoring Technologies and $50 million for the inventory of old and mature forests: These programs are crucial  in delivering on the science necessary to protect our old and mature trees, which are the largest sources of natural carbon sequestration, and also developing the technology we need to monitor that sequestration.

• $100 million for Urban Parks through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program: White neighborhoods are three times more likely to have access to nearby nature than communities of color, and the parks and green spaces in wealthier neighborhoods are likely to be larger than the parks and green spaces in less-affluent communities. ORLP provides direct support for building new and maintaining existing parks in urban communities that often lack green space and tree coverage.

• $100 million for the Every Kid Outdoors program: The Every Kid Outdoors program currently provides fourth graders and their families with free access to national parks and public lands and waters. Providing EKO with dedicated funding for the first time in its history would provide safe transportation for children and families to public lands and waters, offer more robust outdoors programming, and increase access to the outdoors for people with disabilities.

In their draft of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, the House Natural Resources Committee included $200 million in funding for programs promoting urban green spaces and tree planting, and the House Agriculture Committee included more than $3 billion for similar programs. Faced with calls from conservative Democrats to cut the size of the package, Sierra Club is calling on Senators to retain full funding for these programs.They are essential efforts to tackle the climate crisis and protect communities that are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

The effects of the climate crisis are becoming increasingly devastating, and this is especially true for urban communities, lower-income communities, and communities of color. Years of disinvestment have left many of these communities with minimal green space (from trees to parks), making them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Without sufficient green space and tree coverage, communities are left sicker, poorer, and hotter than communities with ample green space and trees. In the U.S., community tree coverage and green space location largely correlates with race and wealth, meaning lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color usually don’t have as many trees as wealthier and whiter neighborhoods. Communities with more pavement than green space are more vulnerable to potentially deadly effects of climate change like flooding, polluted air, and the urban heat island effect.

Trees and green spaces are essential to maintaining healthy communities and ecosystems. Federal programs that support urban forestry and green space preservation are key to making these vulnerable communities more resilient to the climate crisis and building up the critical green infrastructure we need to take on climate change. The Sierra Club urges Senators to maintain funding for these critical programs as they consider a final version of the package.

THE DEVASTATING CLIMATE IMPACTS OUR MOST Vulnerable Communities Face

Without federal action, the following effects of climate change will increasingly devastate vulnerable urban communities, communities of color, and lower-income communities:

• Flooding: Urban communities are already vulnerable to flash floods, coastal floods, and river floods, but they are also vulnerable to the unique phenomenon of “urban flooding” when rainfall overwhelms stormwater drainage capacity. Climate change leads to more frequent and heavier rainfall, higher sea levels, and more frequent and more powerful hurricanes, all of which increase the likelihood of flooding in urban areas.

• Dirty Air: A lack of trees and green spaces leaves communities with less green infrastructure necessary for removing pollutants from the air, such as those caused by the burning of dirty fossil fuels. According to the WHO, ambient air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths globally per year due to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, lung cancer, acute and chronic respiratory diseases.

• Urban Heat Islands: The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon that can raise temperatures in cities by several degrees compared with their surroundings. An overwhelming presence of concrete and impervious structures combined with a lack of green space and tree coverage can make some communities feel 10-15 degrees hotter than neighborhoods with more green space. Studies suggest urban heat island warming will probably be equivalent to an additional amount of warming in cities equal to half of the warming already caused by climate change by the year 2050.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

• MEMO: President Biden is the one who can deliver the climate wins we need
• MEMO: Sierra Club’s Priorities for Clean Transportation Investments in the Build Back Better Act