PHOENIX — The Rio Salado Restoration Area along the north bank of the Salt River in Phoenix is the site of a national effort to bring tree equity, climate resilience and community engagement to urban areas.
More than 300 trees have been planted in the area, including a cottonwood on Monday, that is set to provide shade to one of the hottest places in the Valley, according to Sandy Bahr of the Sierra Club.
"It's an area that was once basically a dump site for all kinds of things," she stated. "It's a place where we're investing a lot of sweat equity."
Years of sweat equity turning into tree equity as more trees will be planted with assistance from the federal government.
"One of the major programs we have that took place in the Inflation Reduction Act was acts of Urban and Community Forest," said Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Dr. Homer Wilkes.
He told ABC15 that Arizona received $22 million for projects like the tree canopy initiative at Rio Salado Restoration Area, but the tree planting itself was one of the ways the program impacted the community.
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"You start looking at the diversity of organizations and important to me is the diversity of people and these folks. They're not buying into this process, they have been in this process," Dr. Wilkes said.
One of the people who's a part of the process is Riyla Robinson, a Community Catalyst fellow working with the Sierra Club to promote climate and environmental policies.
Although she's only a teenager, she's already making an impact on her community by helping plant trees and bridging the gap between Gen Z and older generations.
"I am learning that they want to connect with us as much as we want to connect with them...and to give them new ideas of what we are hoping to see more or what we do more so that we can feel more included," she told ABC15.
Planting is the easiest part, but according to Dr. Wilkes, maintaining and sustaining the tree canopy is where the work lies ahead.
"One of these days we're going to move on, but the same time you have the younger generation that's actually being provided that information, that technology that they are getting that will be what sustains," he stated.
