Chicopee residents help with local tree plantings in 2024. In high-density urban areas, just five trees planted per acre can benefit up to 25 households, according to the Office for Energy and Environmental Affairs. (Adobe Stock)
Listen to the story HERE.
By Kathryn Carley
March 13, 2025
Environmental justice communities in Massachusetts are benefiting from new state funding aimed at improving air quality and residents’ overall health.
More than a dozen municipalities will increase tree plantings designed to mitigate extreme heat tied to climate change.
Hilary Dimino, tree planting program manager for the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said the city of Greenfield will use its funds to improve canopy cover in a busy pedestrian corridor.
“There’s a school, there’s a medical center, there’s a church,” Dimino outlined. “Within that block they’re going to be putting 71 trees.”
Dimino noted neighborhood groups will help care for the newly planted trees for at least two years to ensure they thrive. Research shows establishing tree cover, including small “micro-forests,” can significantly reduce heat-related health issues such as stress. Massachusetts is considered one of the fastest-warming states in the nation.
Introduced legislation would prioritize tree plantings in neighborhoods considered heat islands with less than 29% of canopy cover. That includes East Boston, which has the fewest number of trees in the metro area.
Dimino pointed out more than 40,000 trees have already been planted through the state’s Greening the Gateway Cities Program.
“Really want to focus on getting that shade, increasing that canopy,” Dimino stressed. “Because a continuous tree canopy is really what helps in those hot, hot summer months provide the cooling impacts that we’re looking for.”
The state is continuing to fund various environmental justice projects as the Trump administration moves to close division offices and end pollution-reduction efforts in low-income communities. Already at least seven employees with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Boston office have been placed on paid administrative leave.