Saturday morning, St. Casimir Church in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood is joining forces with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to plant trees as part of an initiative called Reforesting Cleveland Starts Here.
For the past decade, the land conservancy has been laser-focused on increasing the city’s tree canopy.
On the grounds of St. Casimir Church, holes will soon be filled with various new trees.
“And as you can see here, it's good stuff. It's good soil,” said John Niedzialek, St. Casimir Parish Council member. “We're going to have some flowering dogwoods up the aisle here to the old convent. We're going to also have a large oak tree behind you. Linden trees on the side."
Niedzialek is eager to have his church partner with the land conservancy to bud results in a city where trees are disappearing faster than they’re being planted.
"They're great investment and they've really been undervalued historically,” said Tom Schreiber, manager of community forestry with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy.
In September 2023, News 5 spoke with Schreiber about the lack of trees, particularly in the lower-income neighborhood on Cleveland’s East Side.
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At that time, Schreiber said, "In a city you have to make space for trees, they have to be intentionally planted and intentionally cared for and, in our cities, Black and brown neighborhoods that hasn't been done the way that it was in the wealthier white neighborhoods."
Since that conversation, about 200 trees have been planted in East Side communities.
And another 200 are going into the ground this fall. Some were recently added outside of Willson School and surrounding streets.
“It'd be great to bring it back to where it used to be. Remember, Cleveland used to be called the Forest City,” Niedzialek said.
Schreiber said Cleveland’s tree canopy is at about 18%.
“A healthy city has between 30% and 40% canopy and our canopy is declining every year,” Schreiber said.
He added that development, lack of rule enforcement and diseases like ash borer and Dutch elm have wiped out many trees, which Schreiber said studies show help reduce extreme urban heat while producing oxygen, intercepting particulates and reducing smog.
“And it also is kind of a part of the project in which we became the first green infrastructure church in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese,” Niedzialek said. “We're doing St. Francis' work is what it amounts to.”
Schreiber said that getting to that 30% canopy by 2040— a goal of the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland Tree Coalition— is ambitious, but he’s seeing progress.
"I think there's a cultural movement that's going to help us reach that goal,” Schreiber said.
It’s a mission Niedzialek hopes will continue to bloom as small trees mature.
“Us old timers are going to be gone, but the youngsters are going to still be here to see the benefits of this really historic day tomorrow, is the way I look at it,” Niedzialek said.
In the past, the Cleveland Tree Coalition has said it will take 28,000 trees being planted annually to reach 30% tree canopy by 2040. Schreiber said part of that equation included protecting existing mature trees.
Those interested in getting free trees to plant at home can contact the Western Reserve Land Conservancy.
