A recent study by American Forests, a national conservation organization, showed that, over the last 15 years, the Washington metropolitan area has lost 30 percent of its naturally forested land, while paving and development have increased by 20 percent. And a recent inventory of the District's existing street trees showed that nearly 30 percent of the city’s trees are in relatively poor health and will require special care and attention if they are to survive.

Trees provide much more than shade and beauty to urban residents. In the District of Columbia, trees currently remove more than 800,000 pounds of air pollutants including ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and fine particulates. The value of this pollution removal is estimated at $2.2 million annually!

Trees clean and purify the air and water for residents and save millions in stormwater management costs and maintenance and building costs. When accompanied by eco-progressive technologies such as greenroofs and rain gardens, trees help to control stormwater runoff, thus preventing erosion and encouraging rainfall to soak into the ground to recharge underground water supplies rather than flowing directly into sewers.

In spite of these findings, the District of Columbia continues to lose tree cover and has a percentage of tree canopy cover well below the recommended 30 percent coverage.

The costs to D.C. citizens are staggering. Each year, stormwater sweeps 70,000 tons of sediment, trash and toxic pollution from roads, sidewalks and rooftops into the Potomac and Anacostia rivers and their tributaries. This “non-point-source” pollution results primarily from paving and development that prevents stormwater from soaking naturally into the ground. Stormwater also triggers the overflow of the District’s ancient combined sewer system, which dumps three billion gallons of untreated sewage into our rivers each year.

The associated health-related implications of a compromised urban environment are also serious. The American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2002 Report gives the DC region an “F” for air quality. Ranked the 11th worst in the nation when it comes to air pollution, D.C.’s childhood asthma rates are also alarmingly high and on the rise. The growing number of “Red Days” the city gets every year costs residents millions of dollars in healthcare costs and lost productivity.

These and many other reasons have prompted concerned Washingtonians to take action to protect their urban ecosystem—now and for the future.