Spokane identified more than 70 dead or dying street trees downtown last year. Why haven’t they been replaced?

Even as Spokane prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Expo ’74, the city is slowly losing a piece of that celebration’s heritage: the trees that line many downtown streets.

Ahead of that world’s fair, as environmentalism grew in public prominence, the city took dramatic steps to demonstrate its commitment to “Tomorrow’s Fresh New Environment,” including by planting hundreds of trees downtown. The city and downtown have undergone some seismic changes in the last 50 years, and all the while many of those trees continued shading city streets.

But for several years now, Riverside Neighborhood Council Chair Pia Hallenberg has been trying, with little to show for it, to sound the alarm: many of those trees are dead, the victims of vandalism, broken irrigation systems, negligence or confusion over who is responsible for their upkeep.

“The theme for Expo ’74 was a better environment, which is undoubtedly why they planted all those trees, but we haven’t taken care of them,” Hallenberg said. “I think that’s shameful.”

Some still stand tall, their death only evident come spring when they remain denuded while their neighbors are showered in greenery. Others have been girdled, the bark removed around their entire circumference, slowly but inevitably starving the tree to death. In a few cases, all that remains is a small hole in the heart of the city where a tree once stood.

While the city planted those trees and many believe they are city property, adjacent property owners are solely responsible for their maintenance and replacement when they die. In the latter half of 2023, the city of Spokane’s Urban Forestry sent over 50 notices to dozens of downtown property owners, informing them of over 70 dead, dying or missing street trees. Those property owners, many of which are based outside of Spokane or hidden behind a chain of LLCs and trusts, were often difficult to reach but were given 30 days to show they were working to replace the lost trees.

In fewer than half of cases, property owners either replaced the trees within that timeframe or at least submitted for a permit to start the process. Around 60% did not, according to records obtained by The Spokesman-Review.

Several property owners received multiple notices and did not appear to have submitted for a permit to replace the trees, including the Spokane Symphony Society, for dying trees around the Fox Theater, and the Knapton and Simmons families, who own the Bennet Block.

No property owner received more notices for trees needing replacement than the Cowles Co. , a large downtown property owner, which owns three separate businesses that received notices. The company also publishes The Spokesman-Review.

Rita Koefod, spokesperson for Cowles Real Estate, said the company has been “in close communication” with the city while the company works to replace at least four trees that have been removed and identify any others that are in decline.

“Replacements will be made in compliance with city guidance on approved tree species and with much needed vandalism precautions in place to give all new trees the best chance of taking root,” Koefod wrote in an email.

Koefod pointed to an increase in intentional damage to trees, as people break off tree limbs or carve into the trunk, as well as an irrigation system in need of repairs.

“In 2023, we invested in irrigation system repairs and secured a new landscaping service provider,” Koefod wrote. “Spring weather will now allow them to begin work on the replacements and assess, in collaboration with city arborists, if any additional measures are needed.”

In many cases, the damage to downtown street trees cannot easily be undone, Hallenberg said. It’s not generally possible to replace a 50-year-old tree with another of the same stature, and smaller, younger trees are more susceptible to vandalism, she noted.

The emphasis should be on prevention, she said, not trying to fix a problem after the trees are dead.

“It’s not like we don’t know how to take care of them,” she said. “We know how to do it. There’s an unwillingness to do it.”

The city has historically been disinclined to fine property owners for failing to replace or maintain the trees they’re responsible for, noted Luis Garcia, the director of city code enforcement. He was not aware of any related fines levied against a property owner in 2023.

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, who has been actively looking for various funds and funding mechanisms to clean up and activate many parts of the city and downtown in particular, said that may change in the future.

“Accountability is accountability,” she said. “If there’s a deficit and someone’s responsible for it, we need to figure out how to address that.”

Katie Kosanke, urban forester for the city of Spokane, noted that the city is working on educating property owners about their responsibilities to maintain street trees. Urban Forestry has robust programs to plant new trees, efforts that will be supercharged by a $6 million grant through the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act that includes some money for initial maintenance of newly planted trees.

But these programs have, in some cases, convinced the public that Urban Forestry is responsible for the long-term care of those trees, which is not the case, Kosanke noted.

Once Urban Forestry is able to contact property owners and inform them of their responsibilities, they’re typically responsive, Kosanke said. But more needs to be done to prevent the trees from dying in the first place and to create a more reliable process for contacting property owners, she acknowledged.

“I do believe a larger solution needs to be found,” she said.

The Downtown Spokane Partnership may be a part of that solution. Under the leadership of CEO and President Emilie Cameron, who came to Spokane two years ago to lead the Downtown Spokane Partnership, that organization has been working with the city to identify which irrigation lines watering street trees are privately owned and which were installed by the city ahead of Expo ‘74 and are supposed to be maintained by Spokane.

“There was a lot of confusion around, some trees were on city lines, some were on private lines, and no one knew what was what,” she said. “We spent a good part of a year to figure out what was on whose irrigation line.”

The Partnership also recently learned some of that federal grant money from the Inflation Reduction Act could be used by the organization to lead efforts to educate property owners on proper tree care.

“Tree canopy in particular downtown is something this organization is passionate about, one because for the health of downtown having a robust canopy is critical, but it’s also an amenity for our employees, visitors and others traversing downtown,” she said.