— Alfred MacDonald, Director of Wichita Parks and Forestry, City Manager Magazine, March, 1924 You may think that defense of tree canopy is quaint and old-fashioned. Or that we can’t afford the luxury of shade trees in these days of drought and tight budgets. We beg to differ.
We are ICT Trees, and we know that we cannot afford to allow our city’s tree canopy to suffer neglect and loss. We know the many benefits of welcoming shade trees. They cool our sidewalks and park grounds.
Trees absorb carbon and give us life-sustaining oxygen. Unfortunately, the city manager has ordered that no new trees be planted by the Park Department this fall, in order to contend with the current drought. This means no new street trees, and no new trees or shrubs in Wichita parks — even when dead or dying trees are removed.
We understand the need to respond to the drought emergency, and we have been assured that the young trees recently planted by the Park Forestry Division will be maintained. However, we also recognize the serious need not only to maintain Wichita’s shrinking tree canopy, but to expand it. Not to do so is like eating our seed corn in a time of famine.
NASA: Wichita needs more trees In 2022, the City of Wichita partnered with NASA to study the relationship between heat, trees and environmental justice. NASA’s final report (Nov. 17, 2022) identified seventeen Census tracts at elevated risk to vulnerable citizens from heat due to inequitable distribution of the city’s .