Trees and Air Quality Planning

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• Trees and Air Quality Planning
• Framing the Issue
• Center for Chesapeake Communities

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Goal

• Use urban tree cover and its management as a
  voluntary strategy to reduce ozone in State
  Implementation Plans

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Overview

• Why Ozone?
• Why Trees?
• SIPs issues-challenges

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Non-Attainment Areas - Ozone
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Ozone

• VOCs and NOx are precursors
• Highest under high temperatures during the day
• No point source
• So control strategy is typically aimed at VOC and
  NOx emission reductions

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Why Ozone?

• Significant effects on human health, plants and
  environmental quality

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Why Ozone?

• Limited emission reduction sources left

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Why Trees?

• T
• R
• E
• E

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• Temperature reduction
• R
• E
• E

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Latent Heat of Vaporization
Heat of vaporization for water 539 cal / g
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• Temperature reduction
• Removal
• E
• E

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Pollution Removal
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• Temperature reduction
• Removal
• Emissions
• E

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Volatile Organic Compounds VOCs

• Natural Plant Compounds
• - essential oils (odor or essence of species)
• - toxic to insects and fungal pathogens
• - insect aggregation and disaggregation
  pheromones
• - plant allelopathy
• Common Types
• - isoprene (light and temperature dependent)
• - monoterpenes (temperature dependent)

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• Temperature reduction
• Removal
• Emissions
• Energy Conservation

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East Coast Study
Boston
Philadelphia
New York City
Baltimore
N
E
W
S
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New York City study Area Summary

• 10 increase in urban tree cover
• Reduced 1-hour maximum O3 by 4 ppb (132 ppb to
  128 ppb)
• 8-hour maximum O3 by 1 ppb
• Some increases in O3 in the domain
• Little difference in maximum reductions between
  10 and 30 tree cover increase
• Very significant impact
• 3 reduction in peak ozone levels
• 37 reduction in amount needed to gain attainment

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Urban Trees and Ozone in the Northeastern United
States

• Increased urban tree cover
  
  Reduced ozone (O3) in urban areas (-1 ppb
  daytime)
• Physical effects of trees on pollution removal,
  air temperature, wind speed and boundary layer
  height are most important
• Tree removal of NOx lead to increased O3 at night
  (loss of NOx scavenging of O3)
• Tree VOC emissions had no detectable (lt1 ppb)
  effect on O3

(Nowak, Civerolo, Rao, Sistla and Luley, 2000)
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Goal of Project

• Provide basis for decision to incorporate urban
  vegetation as a means to reduce ozone within
  specific air management area - SIP

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Why Trees?

• EPA Innovative Strategies Group
• New guidance Fall 04
• States will have a more difficult time meeting
  new 8 hour air quality standards
• Trees can reduce ozone
• Air agency planners agree
• Innovative approaches are needed

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Challenge

• Provide basis for a state decision to incorporate
  urban vegetation as a means to reduce ozone
  within specific air management area - SIP

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Good News

• Maryland is interested and has included Trees as
  a consideration in the air quality planning
  process for the Baltimore air management area
• WASHCOG-MWAQC has included Trees as a
  consideration in the DC Metro Air Quality Plan
• Other states are interested

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State Implementation Plans (SIPs)

• Establish rules and regulations to limit
  emissions
• Provide legal authority, resources, priority,
  reporting and when appropriate enforcement
  sufficient to ensure compliance
• New SIPs for new standard are being written now
  related to VOCs, NOx and fine particles
• Due summer 2007

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Incorporating Urban Vegetative cover (trees)
within SIPs requires

• Resource assessment (baseline data)
• Modeling the effect of increasing canopy cover
  on ozone
• Developing (identifying) resource management
  programs that will be used to achieve modeled
  changes in canopy cover
• Incorporating the modeling results and management
  programs within a SIP
• Tracking activities to achieve goals

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Trees are an Emerging Measure

• Uncertainty in quantification
• Trees fall here for now (new process)
• Through time, trees may not be an emerging
  measure as quantification and modeling become
  more certain
• It is likely little if any SIP credit will be
  taken in the new SIP plans. Trees will be offered
  as a weight of evidence measure and bundled
  with other innovative-voluntary measures.

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Voluntary Measures

• Not enforceable
• Encourage not require people and local
  organizations to plant trees
• Create need for a collaborative database of
  canopy expansion activities
• Provide regional priority and visibility to
  programs for canopy expansion
• Creates opportunities for new measures, funding
  and collaboration

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Five Challenges

• Modeling
• Measures
• Management
• Monitor
• Maintenance

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Modeling issues

• Baseline data
• Inclusion
• Sensitivity (Do trees make a difference)
• Feasibility

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MDEs Ideas on The Tree Canopy Program
Modeling Needs - a tree canopy baseline (where
are we starting from?) - list of canopy
expanding programs - expected/reportable tree
canopy projections/improvements - Meteorological
Modeling changes from increased tree canopy as
compared to baseline - NOx/ VOC Correlation
from Canopy Improvements (we need credit for
these two pollutants in our ozone SIPs)
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Measures/ ToolsWhat government can do

• Maryland has over 50 programs
• Techniques for enhancing urban forests and
  increasing canopy cover include
• Conserve priority forests
• Restore forest remnants
• Reforest public land
• Reforest private land
• Maintain existing forest canopy
• Prevent forest loss during development
• Landscaping (including street trees) for land use
  changes

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Tools for integrating Tree Canopy expansion into
State Air Quality Planning

• Forest loss can be sharply reduced through
  establishing local forest conservation goals, but
  ultimately the extent of impervious surface
  coverage will determine an urban communitys
  ability to meet its canopy cover goals
• While Maryland has over 50 land use tools that
  support, encourage or require the planting of
  trees several of these tools are of special
  importance. As our SIP work continues special
  attention will be paid to how these programs can
  be coordinated to enhance their use in canopy
  expansion.

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Five Key tools

• 1. Forest Conservation Act provides guidelines
  for the amount of forest land retained or planted
  after the completion of development projects.
• 2. Critical Areas Act identified the "Critical
  Area" as all land within 1,000 feet of the Mean
  High Water Line of tidal waters or the landward
  edge of tidal wetlands and all waters of the
  Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

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Key tools

• 3.Comprehensive Plan Requirements define
  Sensitive Areas Objective To protect and
  enhance a communities air and water quality,
  important habitats, and other natural features
  that contribute to a communities quality of life.
  The Comprehensive Plan designates land with any
  of the following features as sensitive areas -
  Steep slopes (land having more than 15 percent
  grade within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area or
  within 100 feet of streams all other land having
  more than 20 percent grade). - Perennial streams
  and the riverfront, including banks and a 100
  foot buffer. - Intermittent streams and their
  banks and a 50-foot buffer. - The Towns
  wellfield and a 100 foot buffer around the well.
  - Areas within the 100 year floodplain extending
  beyond stream buffers. - Habitat of threatened
  and endangered species listed by the States
  Natural Heritage Program. - Non-tidal wetlands.
• Street trees and trees in public open spaces
  shall be retained. Landowners shall be encouraged
  to plant additional trees on their property.

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Key tools

• 4. Mitigation Requirements - State Reforestation
  Law for highway construction using state funds
  that causes the cutting or clearing of forests
  lands requires that these trees be replaced.
• 5. Urban and Community Forestry Programs -
  focusing on public and private components of
  MARYLAND'S Green Infrastructure-Examples
• Forest Stewardship Program
• Forest Legacy Program

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Planting, Monitoring and Maintenance

• Thousands perhaps tens of thousands of trees -
  Right tree(s), Right place
• Source, labor, cost
• Mortality
• Monitoring and verification-of- work, growth,
  costs-voluntary, mandatory
• Natural Regeneration- Future forest cover

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Next steps ID needed Legislative -
Administrative changes
Program funding opportunities

• Tree ordinances
• Tree requirements
• Mitigation opportunities
• Sites, Permitting

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Measures
What nongovernmental Partners can Do

• Planting
• Citizen Training
• Member Education
• Inventories
• Maintenance/Stewardship
• Identify Funding

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What You Can Do...

• Establish long-term canopy goals for local area
• Fund programs for canopy expansion, maintenance
  and care
• Support volunteer organizations
• Educate the public
• Champion inclusion of trees in SIP

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Trees are Worth Our Time. Worth Our
Resources.

• Part of community infrastructure
• Vital to community health
• Community legacy
• Positive impact on business and tax base
• Wise investment of community dollars

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Questions?
Gallenbay_at_aol.com
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Thanks and Credits
..Thanks!
Credits U S Forest Service David J. Nowak MDE
Tad Aburn/ Brian Hug/ Michael Woodman UMCP Jeff
Stehr, Charles Piety, Dalin Zhang, Russ
Dickerson CCC Gary G. Allen