"Rethinking Tree Equity," a Zube Lecture Presented by James Williams. *1 AICP CM Credit

*Planners receive one AICP CM credit for attending this talk. Learn more here.

About the Talk

Urban tree planting initiatives are often seen as silver bullet solutions for low-income neighborhoods. Trees are great for urban environments but they can also attract investment from developers and lead to gentrification. Trees and their natural environment can be an economic base for communities. Residents can learn to manage and monitor tree and forest health and use natural resources to create jobs. These jobs include timber and non-timber forest products. Ultimately, helping communities maintain their natural landscape for generations while maintaining biodiversity and climate resilient systems.

About the Speaker

James is a project forester with The Center For Heirs Property Preservation in South Carolina and partner with Atlanta Forest Projects--an urban sawmill that cuts lumber from dead dying and hazardous trees. He grew up working on logging crews in East Texas with his father and grandfather before graduating from Brown in 2010. After working in procurement for International Paper and recognizing the waste in corporate forestry he's worked to find smaller scale community based solutions for forest management. 

He spent a year at the Smithsonian at the Museum of African American History and culture researching African American Environmental history. Before moving back to Georgia in 2019 and continuing to work with community forestry projects.

Outside of forestry James enjoys soccer, chopping firewood, and reading on his kindle.