FONTT focuses its efforts on getting people to transform their yards and the city to promote native trees.
Residential Yards
John Dillinger, a famous U.S. bank robber, was once asked why he robbed banks. He answered, “Because that’s where the money is.” The same logic propelled FONTT to choose yards as its strategic focus: In Takoma Park, the land where native plants can be added is overwhelmingly located around family homes.
The graphic below gives the statistic behind the preceding statement. Of the land covered with grass or other vegetation excluding trees, 56% lies around single-family detached houses and another 6% around multifamily residences.
Note: ROWs are public land designated for Right-of-Ways. ROWs include the unbuilt strips of land that lie between private property lines and streets, and where the city or state often plants trees.
Family homes not only have the most available space for native planting, they also experienced the largest loss in tree cover 2009-2020. In short, both the opportunity and need for planting native trees and other native plants is highest in the residential yards of Takoma Park.
The above graphic shows that ROWs (see graphic note) contain the second largest portion of the land available for planting. ROWs also experienced the second largest loss in tree cover 2009-2020 — about 9 acres — and contain the second largest share of the urban forest, after single-family houses.
FONTT includes ROWs in its focus on yards, since homeowners have the responsibility for the ROW vegetation (excluding trees) in front of their houses.
City Trees
Advocacy for a city native tree policy was FONTT’s original and sole purpose, and was largely successful. That role has evolved into advocating for more effective practices, for example, in regard to the Approved Tree Species List. (See Advocacy for more information).
Friends of Native Trees in Takoma 