06-12-2025
At the City Council meeting this Tuesday, June 10, a Public Hearing was held, as required, on the Interim Tree Ordinance that had been adopted by the Council on April 21. This was to give residents a chance to voice their opinions about the Ordinance to the Council. Every person who spoke favored the passage of this Ordinance.

Residents have also been commenting in MyEdmondsNews about this issue. Two comments are related here.

=================================================================================

Chelsea Rudd wrote the following letter to the Editor:
”There’s a public hearing Tuesday by the Edmonds City Council for an ordinance protecting landmark trees. It’s more than just policy – it takes the temperature of Edmonds’ mood towards conservation. We talk about environmentalism, but will we walk the walk?

My own backyard is home to a giant cedar — 100 inches around. It blocks what would be a pretty epic view. The only detached ADU that can coexist with it is a Fisher Price playhouse. That cedar also absorbs Co2, filters pollutants, cools our summers and manages stormwater. Its roots took hold before I was born, and its life will hopefully extend beyond mine to shade generations I’ll never meet.

Urban tree conservation is a powerful gift we all can give, whether through advocacy or choosing to preserve trees on our own land. Property rights and environmentalism doesn’t have to be at odds. Tree codes should set clear standards that homeowners and developers can respect, while also protecting landmark trees and incentivizing site planning around those trees. Talking about trees as our ally rather than an obstacle to be rid of could go a long way towards reframing the conversation.”
=================================================================================

And one of the replies to Chelsea’s letter expanded on some of her thoughts. It is by Steven Cristol:

=================================================================================
”So well said, Chelsea, and thanks for mentioning CO2 — often overlooked with trees, as I said in the comment I submitted on the City website over the weekend:

A crucial reason to protect our trees – beyond the more obvious ones like habitat, air quality, heat shielding, and natural beauty – is especially relevant for landmark trees: carbon sequestration. Edmonds’ landmark trees are our great local warriors in fighting climate change and helping to deliver on the City’s Climate Action Plan goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – where we are woefully behind the curve. A one-hundred-year-old tree can sequester more than a ton of carbon. Left undisturbed, it will continue to do its climate work for as long as it stands – without ever sending the City an invoice for its environmental services. Landmark trees do the work of an army of smaller trees. Given our local fiscal crisis, how can the city allow continued removal of free resources that expertly perform a complex task, never take a sick day, and all the while contribute to the beauty that Edmonds residents treasure and that lures visitors and businesses? “Big Red” was not a trivial loss. Let it not have been killed in vain: please protect our landmark trees as only City government can.”
=================================================================================