Madison leaders considering added protections for city trees

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – Madison officials are working to add more protection to the city’s trees. 

The city of Madison has more than 100,000 street trees. City forester Ian Brown said the key to keeping the canopy is to protect the large trees we already have. 

“A small number of trees are large, but those same small number of trees provide the vast majority of the benefits,” Brown said. “10% of the trees, by stem count, are 15 inches or greater. Those same trees provide 53% of our leaf area, which is where we get the vast majority of our benefits when we talk about either stormwater interception, or shade, air pollution mitigation, that’s all coming from canopy area.”

Right now, construction companies can basically just pay a fine if they end up cutting down a tree. Under this new proposal, city officials could reject proposals that don’t adhere to tree protection plans, causing development delays. 

The proposal would require construction crews work farther away from larger trees. 

It would also create a Tree Replacement Fund. Every time a tree is cut down for development, money would go straight to this account to plant more trees in the future. 

“Damage to trees can take decades, if ever, to recover. So you think about maybe a historic building too, if something were to happen and we were to lose a wall off the side of a historic building, you can’t just put it back,” Brown said. “That thing is changed forever, if it ever does recover. If it were structurally unsound it may have to be removed completely. And that’s the same kind of thing that can happen to these trees.” 

The city council will further review the new tree proposal next month, after it’s taken up by committee. If implemented, these changes would take effect January 1.