Summer in Asheville could be even hotter in historically poor and Black parts of the city, where there’s less green space.
In 2023, local environmental nonprofit Asheville GreenWorks was selected to participate in an urban heat mapping study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with 18 other organizations in cities around the country. The goal of the study was to understand how inequality in urban tree cover leads to adverse health outcomes and quality of life in parts of the city, and, hopefully, spur local solutions. But that research has had to take a pause because of political turmoil and climate disaster.
Hurricane Helene basically made the data void. “We lost a question mark amount of trees in our urban forest,” said Eric Bradford, Asheville GreenWorks’s director of operations. “We need to do a new study.”
The original study focused on the whole greater Asheville area, with attention to parts of Asheville and Buncombe that have been historically segregated, and as a result, have seen less investment and beautification than other parts of the city.
The partnership sent volunteers all over the city to record heat data, with the intention of better mapping the environmental legacy of housing discrimination. They cross-checked heat data with CDC health data for heat-related illnesses like kidney disease and asthma/ The study also worked to identify ideal locations for tree plantings. The data was intended to help the city of Asheville continue its existing climate justice initiatives, and rectify issues in historically redlined neighborhoods through an urban forest master plan.
But the one-two punch of Hurricane Helene and the Trump administration’s progressive defunding of climate change and environmental justice programs has brought the work to a halt. Many of the NOAA staff they worked with are no longer at the agency, Bradford said.
Bradford hopes the halt is temporary.
“We desperately need to get the community back into that conversation with the city on how we can come back together,” he said. “Because we can't expect our city to do this alone.”
GreenWorks is uncertain as to whether public funding will come through, and is looking for private funding instead. Bradford hopes the new study will start research in 2026, and they’ll be looking for volunteers.
On the city of Asheville’s part, the urban forest master plan is on hold indefinitely. Tree canopy mapping for the master plan was supposed to take place in October 2024, but still remains to be done nearly a year later. However, that could change.
“Asheville residents and City leaders cherish the beauty of our mountain home and have established ordinances, and staff positions, designed to protect and maintain our forests and trees,” Asheville spokesperson Kim Miller told BPR in a statement. “The master plan contract remains in place as staff assesses the next best steps forward. We will announce the restart of the planning process and opportunities for community involvement in the coming months.”
