Urban Forestry
Groundwork Lawrence is increasing the beneficial tree canopy in Lawrence by engaging youth, homeowners and concerned citizens in the planting and maintenance of trees throughout the city.
Its annual GreenStreets / Calles Verdes initiative provides free trees to new homeowners who agree, in turn, to care for them. With its new Urban Forestry Coalition, Groundwork is expanding its efforts by focusing on community involvement, tree inventorying, strategic planning and resource development, to ensure the long-term viability of Lawrence’s tree canopy.
Green Streets Program
In 2008, we received funding from the Commonwealth’s Environmental Justice Program to pilot an urban forestry program, planting 18 trees that year. Since then, Green Streets has grown to a year-round program with a full time staff of arborists and seasonal foresters.
Since 2016 we have partnered with the Massachusetts Greening the Gateway Cities program with a goal of planting 400 trees per season in public parks, streets, and private yards throughout the city. Since 2007, Green Streets has planted over 5,200 trees in Lawrence.
Where Can Trees be Planted?
- LAWRENCE: Anyone in Lawrence can request free trees for their home or business. To maximize the impact of trees planted, we prioritize planting trees in areas where they are needed the most. All trees will be planted by our professionally trained, locally hired tree planting crew, under the supervision of our certified arborists.
- HAVERHILL: In Haverhill, our team helps with outreach for the Greening the Gateway Cities program.
Are you in the zone?
Check if you are in the planting zone by visiting Greening the Gateway.
GWL Tree Planting Zones
How the Program Works:
- Contact us and tell us you’re interested in getting a free tree!
- Groundwork Lawrence will visit you at your home to look at your yard and help you determine which trees would be best for your property.
- During the planting season, we will plant your free trees!
- After the tree is planted you will receive instructions on how to care for YOUR new trees.
- You enjoy having a new tree in your yard!
Request a free tree here or call (978) 974-0770 ext. 7016.
Trees play a vital role in providing us with a variety of fruits, nuts, and other edible products. They contribute to our food security and offer nourishment to both humans and wildlife.
Our Tree Catalog
We have over 50 tree species to choose from to find the right tree for the right place at your home or business. We follow the list of recommended urban and community trees from Massachusetts DCR. Many factors must be considered when selecting trees – the amount of space available, the presence of overhead utility wires or underground utilities like gas and water lines, the proximity to your home or other trees, soil conditions, and the amount of sunlight or shade the tree will receive. Our foresters will work with you to select appropriate trees for your home.
We work with several New England based tree nurseries to purchase high quality, locally grown trees. Please keep in mind that not all trees are available year-round. All tree selections and substitutions are at the discretion of our foresters.
Health and Safety – Our Highest Priority
The health and safety of residents and our team members is our highest priority. Our management team is comprised of ISA certified arborists who are OSHA-10 certified. To protect the community and our workers, Green Streets follows strict safety protocols:
- Tree plantings will be scheduled in advance.
- GWL (Groundwork Lawrence) staff will wear proper personal protective equipment.
- All trees are planted by hand.
- We start each day with a health and safety check.
- Our equipment is cleaned and sanitized at the end of each day.
- For everyone’s safety, please keep pets indoors while we work.
Have You Lost a Tree Due to Street Repair, or Other Public Works Projects?
Public shade trees are precious resources that provide energy saving shade, intercept rainfall to reduce street flooding, and remove dangerous air pollution from our neighborhoods. GWL works closely with the Lawrence Tree Warden, the Department of Public Works and the City Engineer’s office to preserve public trees whenever possible. Sometimes tree removal is necessary to protect public safety, or when a tree is near the end of its natural life.
The City of Lawrence has partnered with Groundwork Lawrence to manage its tree replacement program. If you have lost a street tree or a tree in your front yard, due to a public works project or there is a vacant tree pit or planting strip in the sidewalk near your home or business, please contact us. We will work with you to select a suitable replacement tree and find the right place to plant it. These replacements are at no cost to the homeowner or Lawrence taxpayers.
How You Can Help
There are many ways to help support the urban forests in Lawrence. If you are unable to accept free trees for your home, there are many volunteer opportunities with Groundwork Lawrence. We are always working to spread the news about the benefits of trees in our neighborhoods and volunteers are always welcome to help with canvassing, tabling at community events and helping care for public trees.
Have you seen “Blue Ribbon Trees”? They need your help!
Green Streets is looking for volunteer tree stewards to “adopt” public trees in our community. Adoptable trees have a blue ribbon tied to their trunk. By becoming a tree steward, you can help ensure that new public trees are cared for and grow into strong, healthy shade trees through a commitment to regularly water and monitor them for damage. If you are interested in adopting a tree, contact us.
Join Our Team
Green Streets hires seasonal workers for our urban forestry crew. The positions start on or around April 1st and run until June 30th and/or start in early September through mid November. See all open positions on our job opportunities page for more information.
ISA Members on Staff
Green Streets program managers are members of the New England chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture and are ISA Certified Arborists.
Tennis Lilly, ISA Certified Arborist NE-7670A
Eric Lundquist, ISA Certified Arborist NE-7672A
Benefits of our Urban Forest
The urban forest of Lawrence provides an incredible array of benefits for our community. Trees provide shade and actively cool the air, they intercept rainfall and reduce storm water runoff, they filter air pollution and improve air quality (even indoor air quality) Groundwork Lawrence partnered with the American Planning Association to create an award-winning Health Impact Assessment (HIA), detailing many of the benefits our trees provide. You can read the HIA here. You can find additional information about the health of our urban forest in this study conducted by the Urban Ecology Institute.
Using a program called iTree, we modeled the benefits of an actual Red Oak tree we planted in South Lawrence. Over 75 years, this tree will
- Save over 10 thousand KWH of electricity and 350 therms of heating energy.
- Sequester over 16,000 lbs. of CO2, avoid 18,000 lbs. of new CO2 emissions (through reduction of energy usage).
- Remove 157 lbs. of deadly PM2.5 pollution from the air.
Partners and Funders
Green Streets in planting trees with the generous support of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, the City of Lawrence, Essex County Community Foundation, TD Bank, NISource, The National Arbor Day Society, M & T Bank, Groundwork USA’s Climate Preparedness and Land Restoration Initiative, and many individual donors and volunteers. We work in partnership with the City of Lawrence to plant park and street trees.
Tree City USA
Lawrence has been recognized as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Society since 2002. This award is in recognition of the city’s commitment to maintaining and growing our urban forest. Groundwork Lawrence is proud to have partnered with the city since 2002 to support this effort and make Lawrence a truly green community.
For More Information
Email us or call us at (978) 974-0770 ext. 7016
