Minneapolis’ annual tree lottery prioritizes the city’s local climate, underserved community and residential health as warmer weather forces change.
Sydney Schaaf, program manager for City Trees which runs the tree lottery, said the program has helped plant more than 20,000 trees at a low cost to Minneapolis residents since the program started in 2006.
“Planting a tree in your yard can lower the cost of your energy bills,” Schaaf said. “It can increase your property values, and you are saving a lot of money through our tree lottery because the trees are only $30.”
Trees could typically cost around $250 if bought from a tree nursery, according to Schaaf. City Trees has 1,600 trees available for this year’s sale.
Minneapolis’ City Trees program works to get more trees planted on private residential and commercial property to help build up the city’s tree canopy with large-leaf shade trees, according to City Trees community forester Shahin Khalili.
A tree canopy is the surface area covered by leaves from trees and the shade those trees cast, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
From now until March 14, Minneapolis residents can enter the City Trees’ tree lottery to purchase up to three trees for $30 each for their property. Residents who purchase trees are responsible for planting and caring for them.
Artur Stefanski, a forestry resources professor at the University of Minnesota, said an abundant tree canopy helps a city’s environment and resident health by storing carbon dioxide, creating oxygen, filtering out pollution particles, acting as sound barriers, decreasing stress levels and increasing residential property value.
“Essentially, they are kind of filters for us, in a really true sense,” Stefanski said.
Having an abundant city tree canopy can alleviate heat island effects, Stefanski said. Minneapolis is built out of a lot of concrete which traps heat in and raises the average temperature of the city. A tree canopy that casts more shade can cool the city down.
With heat island effects leading to warmer temperatures, people use more air conditioning, said Peggy Booth, a founding member of the Minneapolis Tree Advisory Commission who consulted with City Trees.
“A tree leaf is a tree leaf, but if you put it where it also reduces heat on parking lots and reduces unwanted sun coming in windows and whatnot, you get more bang for the buck,” Booth said.
Khalili said City Trees works to equitably distribute and plant trees to improve Minneapolis’ tree canopy.
“We have this lottery in place beforehand that kind of gives people more of an equal chance to get access to the trees where they may not have originally had that opportunity,” Khalili said.
City Trees offers residents in Minneapolis Green Zones, areas historically impacted by pollution and environmental racism, free trees for their property.
When the City Trees program started, they did not have a lottery system for their low-cost tree sale, Booth said. Without a randomized lottery system, tree sales were disproportionately going to wealthier Minneapolis neighborhoods, so the Tree Advisory Commission started reserving trees for lower-income neighborhoods.
Stefanski said another factor to consider for urban tree canopy planning is doing thorough homework on what trees will grow and prosper in a city’s current and future climate, which will likely be warmer.
“They are good for the climate because of the job they do, but at the same time, climate is not necessarily good for them if it’s outside of their optimal conditions,” Stefanski said.
Khalili said City Trees prioritizes selling tree species native to southern Minnesota in its annual tree lottery, but must also consider trees that will prosper in residential areas for years to come.
“We can all see that the climate is changing around us, shorter yet harsher winters and longer, warmer summers and springs,” Khalili said. “We can plant for the forest today, but we also want to be planning for the urban forest five to ten years out as well.”
