Trees on the grow in Tacoma Mall neighborhood - ‘They are a must-have,’ says Hillary Franz

Dozens of volunteers descended on Madison School in the Tacoma Mall neighborhood on Saturday morning to plant 58 trees around the property as part of an urban forestry project partnership between the Tacoma Tree Foundation, City of Tacoma, Washington Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service.

Commissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz told the volunteers that their work was helping to reduce excessive urban heat, and furthering the goal of achieving true tree equity in every neighborhood in the state.

“Trees are no longer a nice-to-have,” Franz said. “They are a must-have.”

The event included the planting of the “Madison School Moon Tree,” genetically cloned from seeds flown around the moon on the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971, Tacoma Tree Foundation director Lowell Wyse told the audience.