'Trees in Trouble' explores challenges, options for urban forests

Trees are a big part of Sandpoint’s charm.

As the deciduous trees create a patchwork of red and gold in the autumn air, the true majesty and splendor of our evergreen forests emerge, a stalwart deep green against a sapphire sky. Trees give us shade and shelter, they give us the very paper you’re holding in your hands, and some even pull water up from deep underground to disperse it on the surface and allow other plants and fungi to flourish, which in turn gives refuge to countless tiny creatures that would otherwise have nowhere else to be in a cityscape full of pavement and manicured grass lawns.

Considering the size of trees and the amount of time they can live for — some clonal colonies being more than 40,000 years old — you might think trees are as old as our world. All things considered, trees are fairly young in the grand scheme of Earth, having first started appearing around 370 million years ago, predating most dinosaurs we recognize by about 80 million years.

It might seem like trees aren’t going anywhere any time soon, but as our climate rapidly shifts, so too do the needs of our local trees. Many trees visibly felt the stress of this brutal summer’s heat — and while trees in our parks may benefit from regular irrigation, the trees in our surrounding forests have no such luxury. Have you ever wondered how our beautiful forests adapt and persist through such conditions?

Sign up for “Trees In Trouble”, an online film and discussion that details the challenges our urban and community forests now face, and what we as a community can do to help our local trees. Just check out the events tab at ebonnerlibrary.org and click on the corresponding link to sign up. The film and discussion will take place online on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m. You can participate from home if you’d like, or you can stop by the technology desk in the upstairs of the Sandpoint Library and staff will help connect you to the discussion if your home network isn’t quite up to snuff. The event is free and open to the public.

Brenden Bobby can be reached at the East Bonner County Library, 1407 Cedar St., Sandpoint, by phone at 208-263-6930, or email at brenden@ebonnerlibrary.org.