Trees Are Your Friends

Boston’s Tree Canopy — Tree Ordinances — Save Crane Ledge Woods

Newsletter

Our environment greatly affects our health; residents living in high-emission neighborhoods with inadequate trees and green-spaces, are more likely to suffer from health risks associated with low air quality.

Rates of asthma-related emergency visits are nearly 10 times higher in Mattapan than in West Roxbury.

Data collected from the Climate Action Survey: "Which climate crisis events impact your community the most/are you most worried about? Select up to 5."

Introduction:

Data from Boston’s Climate Action Survey, collected from 208 respondents, from the 11th of April to the 11th of May, concluded 88% of respondents are concerned about how the climate crisis will affect Bostonians. Extreme-heat, air-quality, and loss of local-wildlife were no doubt among the top concerns.

Additional open-ended answers included:

Better Public Transit: Make transit the easy choice by lowering fares, expanding routes, adding late-night service, and improving access for all.

More Green Spaces: Make sure all neighborhoods have parks, trees, and green infrastructure.

Fewer Cars, Safer Streets: Create walkable areas and build more protected bike lanes.

Affordable, Climate-ready Housing: Upgrade homes with energy improvements, and protect renters from displacement.

Climate Justice: Focus on helping low-income communities and avoiding green-gentrification.

Community-led Solutions: Support local leaders and neighborhood-based climate projects.

  • from Boston Climate Action Plan

To understand why these responses matter, although disproportionally small — of only 208 respondents — it does reflect the reality of many residents residing in environmental-justice communities. Black Bostonians have a 37% higher rate of heart-disease mortality than White Bostonians, and rates of asthma-related emergency visits are nearly 10 times higher in Mattapan than in West Roxbury. Residents living in Mattapan have the shortest-life expectancy of just 77.3 years — compared to the longest-life expectancy of 82.8 years for residents living in Backbay. Our environment greatly affects our health; residents living in high-emission neighborhoods with inadequate trees and green-spaces, are more likely to suffer from health-risks associated with low air-quality.

But unfortunately, in the recently released: 2019-2024 Boston Tree Canopy Assessment, Mattapan, among Hyde Park, lost tree canopy coverage (tree-canopy coverage means the amount of ground a tree’s leaves and branches covers when viewed from above). In the recent assessment, despite additional tree-plantings (gains,) Hyde Park still had a net-loss of 9 acres and Mattapan: 3 acres; the greatest lost were on residential-land. And compared to the previous assessment for 2014-2019, Mattapan lost 54 acres of tree-canopy, but gain 44 acres resulting in a net-loss of 10 acres. The recent assessment states: overall net changes were small, however, gains outpaced losses for all but 2 neighborhoods. I’m assuming Hyde Park and Mattapan? How much tree-canopy did Hyde Park and Mattapan lose which gains (tree-plantings) couldn’t outpace? Hyde Park and Mattapan presumingly lost acres of mature trees on residential-land; a young newly-planted tree, doesn’t equate to the benefits of a mature tree’s ability to sequestrate carbon, provide habitats for wildlife, and act as a buffer from pollutants and heat. We need to preserve our existing trees — whether on private, or public lands.

Nature Map of Hyde Park and Mattapan’s green-spaces: forest-reservations, parks with adequate trees, trails, and urban wilds (dense forested areas).

Tree Ordinances:

On December 13, 2023, the City Council passed a tree-ordinance, establishing regulations to preserve trees on City-owned parks, schools, grounds, libraries, and public housing. Developments on City-owned land will be required to survey all trees on site with a trunk diameter of 3-inches or wider. Additionally, under the ordinance, healthy trees are only permissible to be trimmed, or removed with adequate notice, and a public-hearing, to ensure community involvement. The City hopes to lead by example before extending this ordinance to privately-owned land. How long will this take? We’re not sure — but community residents grappling with the adverse effects of development in their neighborhoods are voicing and protesting their concerns about the removal of trees, and/or micro-forest on privately-owned land. 35% of Boston’s tree-canopy resides on residential-land. The reasonings to why The Garden Body encourages residents to acknowledge the land first is partly because of this; we’ve unfortunately met several residents who had cut-down their trees because they wanted more sunlight exposure for their garden — informing residents about the importance of trees in their spaces, especially yards and gardens, will be crucial in the upcoming years to ensure climate resiliency.

Take Action:

Crane Ledge Woods, a 24-acres woodland bordering the edges of Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Roslindale is currently under prospect for development by housing developer: MQMF Hyde Park LLC (an affiliate of Lincoln Property Company, & Jubilee Christian Church.

MQMF, after several attempts of seeking approval by BPDA but being denied twice — because of BPDA’s concerns of impact; calling for a full-rework and revision of development — MQMF decided to sue BPDA through Land Court. On April 10th, 2025, Land Court’s judge ruled BPDA can not deny approval to order the developing company to do a full-rework/redesign of development, but can instead request and work-around reasonable and appropriate conditions. 990 American Legion Parkway is home to Crane Ledge Woods — a dense woodland, juxtaposed to the surrounding area; a vast urban-landscape: overwhelmed with cars, pollutants, noise-pollution, and grey-infrastructure; only tolerable because of the sparse amounts of forest-clusters in the area. Despite overwhelming opposition from community-members, organizations, and coalitions, BPDA, with their hands seemingly tied by the judge, approved development on the 18th of September 2025. 

And according to the coalition Save Crane Ledge Woods (www.savecraneledgewoods.org), a grassroots-organized group created in response to protect Crane Ledge Woods, wrote: 

For decades, a 24-acre forest, known locally as Crane Ledge Woods and designated as an urban wild, has been inaccessible and mostly unknown to the surrounding neighborhoods of southwest Boston - Hyde Park, Roslindale and Mattapan. Now a multinational property company intends to construct 10 buildings containing 270 rental units, 415 parking spaces and several roads on this land. From a beautiful green space of crucial wildlife habitats - shady forest, flower-filled meadows, rocky alcoves and vernal pools - the proposed project would turn Crane Ledge Woods into an immense urban heat island of impervious asphalt and concrete. This ecological devastation would rob our local wildlife of their homes, and its gentrifying effect would force many of us and our neighbors out.