Volunteers come together to “re-green” Detroit

Lionel Bradford, president of The Greening of Detroit nonprofit organization, reminds people that Detroit was once known as “the Paris of the Midwest.”

“That was because of its tree canopy cover,” Bradford said. “But between 1950 and 1980, we lost well over a half a million trees because of Dutch elm disease, urbanization and neglect.”

In 2022, NFWF awarded a grant of more than $245,700 to The Greening of Detroit to plant hundreds of trees in the southwest part of the city, where tree canopy coverage has fallen to just 5 percent in some places.

As a long-term conservation partner and grantee, The Greening of Detroit shares NFWF’s vision that conservation projects such as these exceed what has been traditionally viewed as main objectives: protecting natural habitats and sustaining wildlife populations. Conservation projects also can bolster nature’s ability to sequester and store carbon, decrease flooding in developed areas and generate far-reaching benefits to urban communities.

Watch: NFWF supports the efforts of The Greening of Detroit to reforest the city.

The straightforward but often expensive practice of planting native trees in urban areas can achieve all these benefits at once. By planting young trees, not tiny saplings, the project will immediately offer shelter and food sources to migrating birds and insects. These older trees are more likely to survive, and will do a better job improving air quality, providing shade for city residents and addressing urban blight.

“I mean, this is one of the most polluted areas in the city of Detroit,” Bradford said. “Being able to educate residents and pull them into this process so they can be a part of nature — it’s spot-on.”