November 13 | 7pm
PLANTING A TREE IS A VOTE FOR OUR FUTURE.
It means we believe in tomorrow, in each other, and that a fair urban forest is possible. For the past seven years, the Tacoma Tree Foundation has been planting toward this future alongside neighbors, government partners, and local organizations. Recent city-wide data suggests our collective efforts are working: Tree equity in Tacoma is improving!
Join us at the 4th Annual State of the Urban Forest to learn about:
New tree canopy data collected by the City of Tacoma Urban Forestry Program
The City’s five-year plan to improve urban forest outcomes
How TTF is supporting communities to ensure today’s trees are here tomorrow
I can see the light spilling
like a shower of meteors
into next week’s trees,
and I plan to be there soon…
- Mary Oliver, ‘Walking to Oak-Head Pond’
To celebrate the many ways trees inspire us to work together for the future, Northwest Sinfonietta will open the evening performing Viet Cuong’s “Next Week’s Trees.” This eight-minute cello and percussion piece is based on Mary Oliver’s poem, ‘Walking to Oak-Head Pond.’ Through their art, Oliver and Cuong invite us to reflect on trees as a powerful symbol of our shared belief in the promise of tomorrow.
PROGRAM
7PM
Land Acknowledgement | Kim Camara, Windz of Change Alliance
Northwest Sinfonietta
“Next Week’s Trees” | Viet Cuong
Maria Scherer Wilson, Cello
Jeffery Lund, Percussion
7:20PM
Mike Carey, Urban Forestry Manager, City of Tacoma
City of Tacoma Councilmembers Olgy Díaz and Kristina Walker
Jaala Smith, Planting Director, Tacoma Tree Foundation
Lowell Wyse, Executive Director, Tacoma Tree Foundation
8:15PM
Toast to tomorrow’s trees at our post-event social
Registration begins at 6:30PM. Please plan to arrive by 6:45PM.
SPEAKERS
Mike Carey is the Urban Forest Program Manager with the City of Tacoma, working in Green Infrastructure with the City since 2011. He is an ISA Certified Arborist, with roots in landscape architecture, construction, and restoration ecology. As the City’s Urban Forester, he is responsible for directing the City’s programs and developing policy to support the implementation of the Urban Forest Management Plan, to sustain and enhance healthy tree canopy, and to improve human and environmental health outcomes for all Tacomans, one tree at a time.
Council Member Olgy Diaz brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to public service to the Tacoma City Council. Appointed in 2022 and elected to a full term in 2023, she represents all of Tacoma as an at-large council member, making history as the first Latina and first out female LGBTQ person to serve in this role. Council Member Diaz is a strong advocate for Tacoma’s diverse communities. In her free time, she mentors future civic leaders and supports local small businesses. As a Tacoma Fire Buff, she supports Tacoma’s firefighters after they take care of those in crisis.
Council Member Kristina Walker was elected to the Tacoma City Council in 2019 and served as Deputy Mayor in 2023. From 2011 to 2020, she served as Executive Director of Downtown On the Go, a nonprofit organization that promotes and advocates for walking, biking, and transit in downtown Tacoma. Council Member Walker chairs the City Council’s Infrastructure, Planning, and Sustainability (IPS) Committee and serves on the Community Vitality and Safety (CVS) Committee. A proud graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and American Leadership Forum Tacoma/Pierce County, Council Member Walker loves working for the Tacoma community.
Jaala Smith (she/they) was born and raised in Tacoma and has spent their adult life serving as an educator, social worker, artist and community organizer throughout the Puget sound area. Now settled back in their hometown, Jaala invests in Tacoma’s grassroots organizing networks that address the devastating effects of systemic racism & supremacy; from the housing crisis, to food insecurity, to environmental justice. Jaala believes that everyone knows how to cultivate safe and healthy spaces for their community to grow, play and love and that we all have the right to do so.
Lowell Wyse joined the Tacoma Tree Foundation team in 2021 after a career in higher education. He first joined as a board member and since October 2021, has served as Executive Director. His worldview is shaped by being a descendant both of Swiss-German Mennonite farmers who moved to Ohio’s Maumee Watershed seeking religious freedom and the Ojibwe people who continue to steward the lands and waters around Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. He is deeply motivated by the values of community, justice, stewardship, resilience, storytelling, and placemaking.
