A new urban forest is growing in Sherman Park. Here's why that's big for the neighborhood

An urban forest is taking shape in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood.

Residents and students from Milwaukee Math and Science Academy on Friday dug holes, hauled mulch and watered 10 newly planted tree saplings on a long vacant city-owned lot on the northwest corner of 45th and Center streets.

The hope is the budding new forest can bring new life to Sherman Park.

Jennifer Potts recalled how as a young girl in the 1960s Dutch Elm disease killed thousands of trees in Sherman Park and across the city.

Things went eerily silent after that.

"You don't hear the birds," said Potts, executive director of Center Street Marketplace Business Improvement District 39. "I hear the cars. I am breathing in these emissions from these cars and so is everybody.

"So, this (forest) is the start of something major."

Dozens came out to the tree-planting event as part of Arbor Day celebrations. Participants learned the benefits of trees and the importance of preserving them.

The event included an Onieda-style tree blessing.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson presented the Sherman Park Community Association with a proclamation declaring it Milwaukee’s second eco-neighborhood and for its environmental justice and sustainability work.

The tree planting is part of Branch Out Milwaukee, an initiative to reforest and maintain trees, especially in Milwaukee’s marginalized and under-served neighborhoods. The goal is to increase the city’s tree canopy while improving environmental and health outcomes in an equitable way.

“What we’ve been looking at is tree coverage and the amount of trees that exist in Milwaukee, where they are located and the benefits that they can have on neighborhoods,” said Joe Fitzgerald, of Milwaukee Water Commons. “What we are seeing is communities on the north and the south side have less trees than other communities around the city of Milwaukee.”

These communities, he said, deal with a lot of flooding, hot summers and respiratory diseases -- conditions that increased tree canopies can help curtail.

“When we are looking at which zip codes are dealing high rates of asthma, … cardiac disease and ...the diversity of communities around Milwaukee, this really was a neighborhood that we wanted to prioritize,” said Fitzgerald, the agency's water city program manager.

Trees help reduce flooding, provide oxygen and clean the air, said Mabel Lamb, Executive director of the Sherman Park Community Association.

“People don’t understand that concrete is hot during the summer. That’s one of the things that trees bring is shade to the community," Lamb said. "People think that trees aren't important, but they are.”

She hopes to reimagine that space not just with new trees, but with pathways, a little library or a bench to possibly create a pocket park.

“Just reimagining some of our vacant spaces to aesthetically improve the community as well," Lamb said. "But whatever is there would have to be resident-driven, resident-led.”

The urban forest, she said is another form of investment that the community has lacked for years. She said it's hard to attract someone to build new homes or businesses in the center city. This is an option instead of having a lot sit void and vacant for years.

"I think it will begin the conversation of what's possible and how people can enhance the community and look at our community in a different way," Lamb said. "Our community can be just as beautiful as any other community. We have to be caretakers of it."

The new trees, planted on the city-owned lot, will provide a burst of color along Center Street, said Erik Desotelle, Water City Program Coordinator with Milwaukee Water Commons. From spring to late fall the foliage ranges from white and green to orangy-red to and rich golden yellows.

The site will have five Harvest Gold Linden, a fragrant Christmas tree-shaped tree, which provides good shade. The remaining trees are Adirondack crabapple trees, another fragrant tree that blooms white flowers bearing dime-sized apple-like fruit and autumn brilliance serviceberry or juneberry, which Desotelle said bears an eatable fruit that’s a cross between an apple and a blueberry. The latter two trees are more ornamental and generate lots of interest, but Desotelle noted all are disease resistant requiring no pesticides.

“They are going to do well … (and) … provide value long term for this area,” he said, noting the trees’ height ranges between 40 to 20 feet in about 25-30 years.

The trees offer a good mix compared to the traditional maple, ash and honeylocust found in Milwaukee. The variety prevents a repeat of what happened six decades ago when Dutch elm disease wiped out all the elms. Now, emerald ash bore is killing the city's ash trees, Desotelle said.

“Now we are trying to plant a more diverse urban canopy ... but you also have a little bit more built-in resiliency,” he said.

The effort aims to encourage residents to have better relationships with trees, especially with those in their backyards. Most see trees as problematic, especially during heavy rains. Such was the case during last August's storm that knocked down scores of trees.

Milwaukee Water Commons is looking for ways to support proactive management of trees on private property and provide educational outreach for residents on how to take care of trees.

“Even though they are not part of the city’s urban forestry plan, they are still part of the urban forest,” Desotelle said. “They are still drawing up stormwater, they are filtering air particulate matter out of the atmosphere, improving health outcomes for everybody and we need to take care of both.”

Milwaukee police Officer Lawson Murrell sees the urban forest as a tool to fight crime.

The effort to create the forest fell under the police department’s crime prevention through environmental design initiative. The concept, he said, uses things in the environment to reduce crime. They could be as simple as ensuring trees are trimmed, streets are lit and there are safe access points to streets.

“We do know occupied spaces are affected less by crime,” said Murrell, a District 7 Community Liaison Officer. “If there is just an empty lot, it's more prone to crime, loitering and criminal activity. If we activate the space by having a garden or a bed of trees -- all of those things to get community members to come out and enjoy that space -- the less likely it is to be affected by crime.”

Eugene Green is glad to see something done with the lot. An abandoned house stood on the site when he moved here in 2013. After it was torn down, people dumped trash there.

“I think it is a positive thing to put some trees here and make it better,” said Green, 66.

Allen Moore can already envision his grandkids playing here some day soon.

“I really don’t like taking them to the parks especially around here because they are in areas where traffic is really high, and I’m scared that a car would jump the curb,” said Moore, a seven-year Sherman Park resident.

“There is a lot of stuff that trees can do for the community,” Moore said.

Johnny Miller, 72, agreed. He now has a greater appreciation for trees.

“I think everybody is going to benefit from this in the community,” the 40-year Sherman Park resident said. “The tree planting is a start of the renewal of the Sherman Park neighborhood. Hopefully, we can build a more sustainable green space for people to live in this area … and spur the city to do this all over so everybody will have plenty of trees in the inner city.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A new urban forest is in Sherman Park. Here's why it's a big deal