Senate Bill S3403

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S3403

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the
undertaking of an urban reforestation project


 PURPOSE :

To encourage the planting and maintenance of trees in urban areas.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

The bill amends section 54-0903 of the environmental conservation law
by adding a new subsection to create the urban reforestation program
under the environmental protection act. The section allows the
commissioner to enter into contracts with cities with a population
greater than 20,000 for an urban reforestation project. Funding cannot
exceed 50% of the approved cost for an urban forestry plan and urban
forestry planning capability which includes the services of a
professional forester and/or a licensed landscape architect,
undertaking and maintaining an inventory, management planning, and
undertaking tree planting, maintenance, removal and pruning.

 JUSTIFICATION :
              

Cities, like living organisms, require a healthy environment in which
to thrive. In this regard, it has become clear urban areas require a
healthy urban forest and vegetation in order to prosper. The U.S.
Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture studied the
necessity of a flourishing urban ecosystem in its study entitled
Chicago's Evolving Urban Forest: Initial Report of the Chicago Urban
Forest Climate Project. This study confirmed the crucial public
interest involved in preserving an urban forest environment. This
public interest includes diverse aspects of economic development
climate control, dramatic mitigation of air and noise pollution,
cleaner and cooler air, and flood control. Further, there are
intangible but obvious non-economic benefits of more trees in
residential, commercial, and industrial areas, as a healthy urban
forest creates an environment in which people want to live and work.
The results of Chicago's long··term efforts to restore its urban
forest landscape were remarkable. In 1991, according to the U.S.D.A.
study, trees in Chicago removed an estimated 6.145 tons of air
pollutants. This provided air cleansing valued at $9.2 million in that
year. In addition, Chicago's trees sequester approximately 155,000
tons of carbon per year as well as providing residential heating and
cooling energy savings that, in turn, reduce carbon emissions from
power plants by about 12,600 tons annually. Shade, lower summer air
temperatures, and a reduction in windspeed associated with increasing
tree cover by 10% can lower total heating and cooling energy use by
5%-10% annually ($50-$90 per dwelling unit). The study concluded that
the long-term benefits of trees are more than twice their costs.
Despite these significant economic benefits and the benefits
associated with increased property values in New York's urban areas,
New York's largest cities can no longer adequately preserve or
maintain their urban forests under the current fiscal climate. Under
the chronic regime of crisis management that the largest cities in the
state now suffer, management of urban forests is limited to the taking
down of dead and fallen trees, which were often planted generations
ago.  Absent state initiative, this situation will continue until New
York's urban forests and vegetation simply vanish. This Act seeks to
encourage municipalities to plan their urban forest management
programs for the long-term by rewarding more monies to those cities
that have developed an urban forest inventory and plant retained the
services of a professional forester, and are engaged in the full
complement of maintenance services required to maintain an urban
forest. In the end, this fund will achieve the preservation and
development of our state's urban forest areas without undue commercial
hardship or cost to the taxpayer.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

S.5573 of 2006-07
S.3132 of 2007-08

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.