City plans tree giveaway to cut water pollution

A fir tree can absorb almost 300 gallons of water per year. An ash tree takes care of about 100 gallons. Dogwoods only take in about 26 gallons.

For the city of Spokane, all these thirsty trees – and dozens more varieties – play an important role in keeping the Spokane River free of pollutants.

This Friday and Saturday mark the city’s first Free Tree Weekend. On a first-come, first-served basis, the city is giving away 2,000 trees through three local nurseries. There are 35 varieties of trees, from the small Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine and Canada red chokecherry to the medium-sized Venus dogwood and Greenspire littleleaf to large Serbian spruce and corkbark fir. Spokane residents are eligible for two free trees.

“There will be a little bit of everything,” said Alicia Powell, project coordinator for the city’s Forest Spokane program, which organized the giveaway. “The trees are ones we know will do well here.”

The trees vary in almost every way imaginable – from small to large, evergreen to deciduous. But they’ll all be planted with one goal: to stop polluted stormwater from going into the river, as mandated by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.

“Adding trees around the city will help keep stormwater from entering into our stormwater system and ultimately the Spokane River,” Mayor David Condon said. “The effort will help beautify Spokane and better manage our stormwater runoff throughout the city.”

Though this is the city’s first tree giveaway, the event is part of the larger Forest Spokane two-year effort to plant 10,000 new trees in the city before March. Along with 14 other organizations, including Spokane Ponderosa, the city is in the midst of planting 4,800 ponderosa pine seedlings along the river as part of that program.

The trees will contribute to the city’s initiative to build more green infrastructure, which is cheaper than traditional water treatment.

“Quite literally, the tree branches soak up rainwater,” Powell said.

Trees soak up water through their leaves, bark and roots, lowering stormwater runoff into the river and reducing the cost of treatment. The city is encouraging residents to plant the trees so their leaves will shade sidewalks, roads and driveways. These impervious surfaces don’t allow water to reach the ground, where natural filtration can occur. Instead, the water is shuttled into the city’s water treatment system.

In all, the city estimates that nearly 400,000 gallons of stormwater could be kept out of the treatment system every year by planting these 2,000 trees. On average, each tree will save the city just over $2 a year. Over 100 years, the city estimates the 2,000 trees will save the city $416,717.

Bob Wallace, owner of Home Fires Nursery, said there will be plenty of advice given to people who take the trees.

“First of all, call before you dig,” said Wallace, noting the possibility of gas, electric or utility lines below ground. “They want to think about their sprinkler lines or any sort of underground hazards.” The 811 call center can help residents learn of any potential hazards.

Wallace said his and the other nurseries will have all necessary materials for tree planting.

“If they’re planting in poor soil, be sure to get some soil amendments or tree stakes. We’ll have all the supplies they need for that,” he said.

Nurseries have been taking reservations for the trees through neighborhood councils for a few weeks. Now the trees are delivered to the nurseries and can no longer be reserved, but are available to the first people in the doors Friday and Saturday.

“The trees are all here. It might be chaos. We’ve already got people wanting the trees. It’s going to be a little bit of a free-for-all, so people may want to come in early,” he said. “It’s a pretty significant thing to do this on one of our busiest weekends of the year. But we thought, what the heck.”