A Glimpse into the Landscape of Legislation-Backed Tree Restoration Efforts

January 31, 2025 by Alimatou Nyass

A stand of pine trees located by Maryland State Route 425. Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Different levels of government can use legislation to support tree restoration efforts. The ability of trees to combat different environmental harms underscores the importance of legislatively backed initiatives.

The use of trees to mitigate environmental concerns like air pollution provides a route through which local, regional, state, and national governments can improve environmental quality. Trees provide a myriad of environmental benefits including critical urban cooling and combatting climate migration.[1] Legislation is an effective way to support tree restoration as a means to promote these key benefits.

In the United States, the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires states to submit State Implementation Plans (SIPs) that they will use to reach the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQs) set by the federal government.[2] States may find it promising to include tree restoration efforts as a means to reach the NAAQS because trees reduce some of the criteria pollutants listed in the CAA, such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.[3] In the city of Sacramento, California, the Sacramento Tree Foundation and the Metropolitan Air Quality Management District have worked in collaboration with the Center for Urban Forest Research to study the effects of planting 1,000 trees on air quality.[4] Through the study, they found that certain CAA criteria pollutants were successfully reduced upon the addition of the trees.[5] Specifically, nitrogen oxides fell by 0.24 tons per day (tpd), particulate matter by 1.2 tpd, and ozone by 1.5 tpd.[6]

Another federal act that can be used to support reforestation efforts is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The United States Forest Service follows the standards set by NEPA to assess the adequacy of reforestation projects.[7] Moreover, NEPA requires an assessment of environmental impacts before a government agency can conduct a project that will impact the environment’s quality, and consideration of alternative means.[8] This environmental impact assessment requirement can be used to protect trees from projects that would lead to their destruction, for example, a project that will lead to an excessive amount of deforestation, by requiring agencies to fully consider alternative plans. While NEPA does not require agencies to choose the alternative plan, this can still be a useful step.[9]

Maryland provides a solid example of tree restoration efforts on a state level. In Maryland, the Five Million Trees Initiative was created under the Tree Solutions Now Act of 2021.[10] The initiative aims to plant five million trees throughout the state by 2031.[11] The Tree Solutions Act brings together the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust which is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the natural resources in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay region.[12] These agencies will spearhead and maintain the plan to plant these seeds throughout the state in the years to come.[13] Half a million of these trees are scheduled to be planted in underserved communities, one example being communities where the median household income is less than three-quarters of the median income of the state.[14]

Looking globally, Sierra Leone presents another example of legislation being used to promote tree protection and growth. In 2017, devastating mudslides impacted those living in Freetown, the country’s capital.[15] Deforestation is considered to be one of the factors that causes excessive mudflow.[16] Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the mayor of Freetown, discussed the city’s goal of planting a million trees in homes, mangroves, public spaces, and other areas to increase the city’s vegetation cover.[17] The initiative, currently called Freetown the Treetown, involves community based growing teams that track the project’s efforts using a tree tracker app, and a city council that works with “locals to raise awareness of the importance of its trees and engage the community in restorative activities.”[18] The reduction in landslides, flooding, and the increase in biodiversity are some of the expected benefits of this inspiring project.[19]

[1] Regan Hopper, Finding relief in the shade, Forest Service: US Department of Agriculture (July 23, 2023), https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/features/finding-relief-in-the-shade#:~:text=Vital%20role%20of%20urban%20tree%20canopy&text=Trees%20provide%20a%20natural%20cooling,island%20effect%20in%20urban%20areas; Britta Rude et al., CESifo (Jan. 2021), https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/CESifo-Forum-2021-1-rude-niederhoefer-ferrara-deforestation-january.pdf.

[2] Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7409-10.

[3] Criteria Air Pollutants, EPA (Jan. 8, 2025), https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants.

[4] Trees and the Clean Air Act: Strategic tree planting in Sacramento, Forest Service: US Department of Agriculture, https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/psw_cufr696_SacramentoAirQuality.pdf.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Environmental Planning and Compliance: Forest Service NEPA Procedures and Guidance, Forest Service: US Department of Agriculture, https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/regulations-policies/nepa.

[8] National Environmental Policy Act, 42 § 4321.

[9] See Strycker’s Bay Neighborhood Council, Inc. v. Karlen, 444 U.S. 223, 227 (1980).

[10] “Five Million Trees, Please”: Maryland Rolls Out ‘5 Million Trees’ Initiative, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (June 1, 2023), https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2023/06/01/five-million-trees-please-maryland-rolls-out-5-million-trees-initiative/#:~:text=The%205%20Million%20Trees%20Initiative,and%20private%20land%20by%202031.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.; Mission & History, Chesapeake Bay Trust, https://cbtrust.org/mission/ (last visited Jan. 31, 2025).

[13] Maryland Department of Natural Resources, supra note 10.

[14] Id.

[15] Deforestation Is Causing More Storms in West Africa, Satellite Study Finds, FloodList (Aug. 30, 2022), https://floodlist.com/africa/deforestation-west-africa-floods.

[16] Id.

[17] TED, The city planting a million trees in two years | Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, YouTube (Nov. 30, 2020), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPfVCUGxyHs.

[18] Id.; Freetown the Treetown, The Earthshot Prize, https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/freetown-the-treetown/.

[19] TED, supra note 17.