Protecting our freshwater community's trees and forests will preserve our Up North water quality~and quality of life.   

Trees need water~and water needs trees, too! 

Our EPA-approved Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Protection Plan finds that nutrients and sediments are the top pollutants threatening Grand Traverse Bay and it's 1,000-square-mile watershed.  Trees soak up excess nutrients and sediments like a sponge, helping improve water quality.  Tree canopies slow stormwater runoff while root systems help retain soil and increase filtration, reducing sedimentation.  Trees and other deep-rooted vegetation absorb nutrients, improving water quality.  Protecting existing tree cover and identifying areas where more tree cover is needed will benefit water quality and address threats from stormwater.

Trees protect water quality, even if they are not next to a lake, river or stream.  Trees and forests prevent erosion, filter contaminants, absorb rainfall and snow melt, slow down stormwater runoff and recharge aquifers.  Like wetlands, forests act as giant sponges.  They store, clean and slowly release about two-thirds of water that maintains stream flow and replenishes ground water.  Watershed forestry uses forestry practices to protect, restore and sustain water quality, water flows and watershed health. 

This Watershed Forestry Initiative is supported in part by a grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Forest, Mineral, and Fire Management; the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry Program; the Oleson Foundation; and the Herrington-Fitch Family Foundation.

We all love trees.  They're so beautiful.  Tree-lined streets embrace our communities, trees beckon children to play and trees make our property aesthetically pleasing.  But that's just on the surface! 

Trees filter stormwater runoff, provide oxygen and offer shade~all for free!  Just one 15-inch maple tree provides $35 worth of stormwater management annually.  Multiply that by several trees, and you've got thousands of dollars of stormwater management for very little investment!  Trees are much more cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing than continually installing municipal stormwater managment systems, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. 

Check out this super cool Tree Benefit Calculator to see how hard the trees on your property are working.  Trees do so much~and ask for so little in return.

The first step of the Watershed Forestry Initiative involved using aerial imagery to measure changes in tree cover from 2001 to 2009.  The Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, a project partner, fed that data into specialized CITYgreen software, which shows how changes in tree cover affect the Grand Traverse Bay watershed’s ability to manage stormwater.  This software reports the runoff volume and dollar value associated with treating excess stormwater.

CITYgreen found that between 2001 and 2009, the Grand Traverse Bay watershed lost:

• 4,126 acres of tree cover
• 30,103,675 cubic feet of stormwater storage
• $60,207,351 of stormwater storage value
• $795,085 of air pollutant removal value

These losses mean that our land use choices are resulting in more stormwater entering our rivers, lakes and streams without being slowed or treated by trees and forests. 

The primary phase of the Watershed Forestry Initiative also includes developing a tree canopy goal that prioritizes areas throughout the watershed for public and private tree planting projects.  We are also launching a Plant a Tree for Water Quality public education campaign.

Later phases of the initiative will develop alternative future development scenarios in CITYgreen to illustrate how each one affects water quality.  This will be a critical tool as our freshwater community implements the Grand Vision.  The 50-year plan identifies the primary importance of natural resources, especially water quality, to our local economy and quality of life.

Later phases of the project also include performing close-up analyses of vegetative buffers along the Boardman River, Grand Traverse Bay and inland lakes.  This will assess the health of riparian buffers and fine tune target areas where tree planting would benefit water quality.

The Watershed Center is:

• Conducing analyses of ecological services trees provide in sensitive watershed areas
• Identifying priority areas for tree planting
• Working with local governments to protect tree cover, including tree cover goals and ordinances to protect trees
• Analyzing alternative future scenarios and impacts resulting from them
• Educating local governments, developers and homeowners about benefits of managing stormwater with trees and other types of native vegetation through Low Impact Development
• Supporting tree planting efforts throughout the watershed

Our Watershed Forestry Initiative will increase resiliency of the Grand Traverse Bay waershed as we face predicted impcts of climate change.  Planting trees sequesters carbon, mitigating the impacts if increased carbon dioxide from human activity.  It also mitigates stormwater impacts from predicted stronger storm events that would otherwise increase erosion, sedimentation and nutrient flow to our critical water resources. 

• Plant trees on your property
• Help plant trees at local parks and natural areas, and help water young trees to ensure that they become well-established
• Ask your local government to develop tree cover goals and to adopt and enforce ordinances that protect trees and forests