palmer-dash-friedman

Interviewed and wrote press release to announce company news related to current political events

Client
Seattle Tree Care

Interview skills, copywriting

PRESS RELEASE

New Organization Representing 200 Arborists Pushes Back Against Seattle’s Proposed Tree Protection Ordinance 

SEATTLE, APRIL 4, 2023 —

When Seattle Municipal Code Ordinance 126554 made the practice of tree care a logistical nightmare, Seattle Tree Care co-owner Kelsey Gruenwoldt realized one voice had been missing from the conversations leading up to the code changes: that of the working Arborist. 

Her solution? Start a professional organization to unite Seattle’s working arborists and contribute to the planning and implementation of Seattle tree regulations. 

The Seattle Arborist Association (SAA) was founded in January 2023 with a letter to Seattle City Council & the Urban Forestry Commission signed by 28 tree service companies working in Seattle—including big names, like Bartlett Tree Experts, and small owner-operators, like Conservation Tree Care—representing more than 200 industry workers. 

Three months later and SAA is still actively voicing its concerns as a collective of working arborists. The Association has built a bridge with the Urban Forestry Commission, met with Councilmembers, and is actively attending Seattle City Council Land Use Committee Meetings. 

Most recently, SAA submitted a nine-page letter to Seattle City Council and the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission that outlines the organizations three key issues with the Draft Tree Protection Ordinance, Council Bill 120534. The document includes Seattle-specific case studies from the field of arboriculture and the proposed changes to the bill based on members’ work experience. 

The draft ordinance “not only disincentivizes tree ownership,” the letter writes, it “burdens qualified tree professionals” who care for and manage Seattle’s urban forest. Besides calling out “technical errors and lack of industry standards” in the code, SAA also calls out the code for missing its intended impact. Throughout the letter, SAA argues that the City’s tree service restrictions could have an adverse impact on the goal of increasing canopy coverage by 2037. 

Andrea Starbird, ISA Certified Arborist Municipal Specialist and another founding member of the SAA, says it seems like the rate of illegal tree work has increased since Ordinance 126554 went into effect in November 2022. 

The code is just so difficult for homeowners to understand, she said. “They’re hiring whoever they can for as cheaply as they can to get the work done as fast as possible.” 

The SAA wants to ensure that public policy encourages tree planting. “If we have such restrictive policies that folks are too scared to plant trees,” Starbird said, “that’s absolutely counter to our canopy coverage goals.”

Homeowners aware of the regulations placed on their privately owned trees are wavering toward replanting smaller trees, Starbird said. “If we’re planting Japanese maples instead of large conifers, that’s going to be a huge net negative into the future.”

More regulations also have the potential to make access to tree care less equitable, Gruenwoldt says, as the level of overhead and detail required to complete tree work to the city’s new standards will increase the cost of tree care.

Households with less ability to spend money on home services could be priced out of buying services from companies that are in compliance. 

But it’s not just the impacts of the code that Gruenwoldt and the organization are tackling. They’re looking to increase awareness about the profession of arboriculture, what arborists do, and why they’re an important part of urban tree management.  

“Trees in the urban forest are not like in the woods,” Gruenwoldt said. If the goal is a healthy, thriving urban forest, trees should be under the care of an Arborist. “That’s the best way to ensure their long term success.” Basically, she says, Arborists aren’t tree cutters, they’re professionals concerned with the long term care of trees, from healthy to hazardous.

The SAA aims to help elevate the public perception of the arboricultural profession and elevate the industry standards for best practices by hosting industry trainings and educational events for the general public. 

Through this advancement and support of arboriculture, the SAA expects to see the urban forest grow. 

“Our attention is definitely on policy right now,” Gruenwoldt said, but eventually the SAA hopes to have more opportunities for relationship building amongst the arborist community and even host tree planting events. 

For now, those dreams are on the back burner.

“The code will influence our ability to do any of those things,” Starbird said.