For the second year in a row, Newport is planting a massive amount of trees. The city aims to add 1,000 to its west side by 2028 to address inequity in its tree canopy cover.
Only 10-12% of the western areas in Newport are covered by trees, compared to 24-54% in other neighborhoods, according to ReNewport, a community development nonprofit. People there also experience higher levels of heat stress, poor air quality and lower life expectancy.
The city hopes by planting more trees, more residents will have access to the benefits they provide, like shade, improved health and even increased property values.
This isn’t the first time Newport has tried to turn over a new leaf.
Newport cleans up, plants trees to showcase change in the 1980s
Saratoga Street, which runs through the center of Newport, is lined with trees. They tower over nearby houses and cast shadows that reach across the road on sunny days.
Tom Ferrara remembers four decades ago when the trees were just saplings starting to take root where abandoned railroad tracks used to be.
“I'm sitting here looking at how big that tree is,” Ferrara said. “This is some of the last trees we planted.”
He was a city commissioner in the 1980s, part of a reform government working to clean up Newport and get rid of its 'Sin City' reputation.
“What we did behind the scenes — getting rid of gambling and all that kind of stuff — nobody saw that other than the people that used to come over here and do it,” Ferrara said. “So, we wanted to show something visible.”
Then-city manager Dennis Phelan started asking businesses along Monmouth Street if they wanted to buy a tree. Most got on board.
City crews cut up concrete sidewalks and filled them with dirt. Then on weekends, Phelan, Ferrara and a host of volunteers would get in the dirt and plant the trees.
“It was amazing, especially in the spring when they started to bloom,” Ferrara said. “Green on Monmouth Street? Come on. Other than the facades of the buildings, there was no vegetation out there. It felt good.”
Ferrara estimates, in all, the city planted more than 100 trees along Monmouth, York, Second and Saratoga Streets.
Branching out
Back then, trees were mostly being planted to beautify the city. Kate McElwain lived in the Gateway neighborhood and volunteered with both city and east side neighborhood tree plantings.
“We planted the 800 block of Maple. Of course, we put all Maples on there, which was kind of a mistake because if a certain disease comes, it's going to kill all the trees on the block,” McElwain said.
So far, they're standing tall.
McElwain says in time, people began to understand the role trees could play in their city in a different way. Research on the urban heat island effect shows the concrete-filled west side can be 10 to 20 degrees hotter than the tree-lined east side.
When McEllwain moved to the west side of Newport about a decade ago and felt the heat herself, she knew something had to be done. She and a group of neighbors banded together.
“Every year we did a tree planting,” McEllwain said. “It didn't matter... even if it was five or six trees, even if it was 10 trees. Every year, we put a couple trees in the ground.”
A new tree planting effort takes root
That laid the groundwork for today. The city of Newport got behind the west side residents' tree planting movement and, in 2023, it got a major boost from the federal government: a $1 million dollar grant to plant 1,000 trees.
Cities from New Orleans to Nashville also received federal dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act for similar efforts.
“We want to plant trees [for] shade,” said Josh Tunning, a municipal specialist with Newport. “It's better for our air quality. In an urban area like this, it helps the water runoff... It helps calm traffic. But, too, it just brings some vibrancy to the neighborhood. People want to be outside more when there's trees.”
This March, the Trump administration clawed back that money. Tunning says that’s not stopping the city from planting trees.
“We could wait around and complain about things not getting done, point the finger. Or we can get to know our neighbors, build friendships, build community, and say, ‘You know what, we're just going to work together and get this done,’ ” Tunning said.
The city's moving forward with help from state grants, private donations, and volunteers who give up their Saturday mornings to dig holes and put trees in the ground, just like in the 80s.
Back on Saratoga Street, former city commissioner Ferrara admires the trees he helped plant decades ago.
“We had a slogan back then on the shirts, ‘A new leaf for life,’ and I think the leaf has turned into a bunch of leaves,” Ferrara said. “We're growing, and we're continuing to grow, continuing to improve.”
He says he's proud to have seen Newport change over the years, one tree at a time.
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