Worcester To Mark Arbor Day, But Tree Scarcity Cited As Serious Hazard

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester will kick off Arbor Day celebrations Friday with a tree planting ceremony at University Park in Main South — but the city would need to hold more than 30,000 of those ceremonies to protect residents against extreme heat, according to a newly released study.

Worcester recently hired researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology's Urban Climate Lab to study heat risk in the city, evaluating factors like access to air conditioning, pavement coverage and the availability of shade trees.

The researchers found that the most urbanized parts of the city — primarily in a swath stretching from Quinsigamond Village through downtown and up to Greendale — can be up to 10 degrees hotter than other parts of the city during prime summer months. Neighborhoods on Worcester's leafier west side are typically much cooler in summer.

Two neighborhoods are particularly at risk from high heat: the downtown area and the Canal District. Those two areas scored highest for risk of death due to heat and lack of air conditioning. The least vulnerable neighborhood is the area from Lake Quinsigamond west through Grafton Hill to near Marjorie Street — a tract that contains the heavily forested Perkins Farm conservation area.

A main solution to Worcester's heat risk, according to the study: plant a lot more trees.

Researchers concluded that Worcester might need to plant up to 35,000 trees to cool the hottest sections of the city. The study also recommended opening cooling centers in the highest-risk areas, and setting up weather stations to monitor high temperatures.

But planting that many trees might be too high a hurdle. At a presentation of the study Monday at a city council subcommittee meeting, Worcester Parks Director Rob Antonelli told councilors there are only about 8,000 free spaces to plant trees along sidewalks and city streets.

Arbor Day will be observed on Friday with a ceremony at 10 a.m. at University Park, including remarks from community leaders and performances from Goddard School of Science and Technology students — and a ceremonial tree planting. University Park sits in a Census tract that was rated the 11th most at-risk for heat in the Georgia Institute of Technology's study.

Worcester's Arbor Day festivities will continue Saturday at University Park. In collaboration with the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, an Arbor Day Festival beginning at 11 a.m. will offer entertainment, food and nature activities for kids.

The festival will also attempt to put a dent in that 35,000-tree debt: the botanic garden will be giving out 100 free trees.

Worcester's Arbor Day celebration will also mark the 37th consecutive year the city has earned a Tree City USA designation, which cities get if they maintain a tree board, have a local tree ordinance, spend $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrate Arbor Day.

Here's the full Georgia Institute of Technology study on heat risk in Worcester: