> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.richmonder.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # As Richmond's climate changes, so must its trees - URL: https://www.richmonder.org/as-richmonds-climate-changes-so-must-its-trees/ - Published: 2026-11-05T13:29:23.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T13:29:23.000Z - Description: In Richmond, the sugar maple isn’t a happy camper. - Author: Rich Griset - Tags: Local News, #lead In Richmond, the sugar maple isn’t a happy camper. While beloved for its beautiful fall foliage, the tree, which can be found throughout the Fan and along Monument Avenue, has been struggling with the River City’s increasingly warm summers. “Sugar maples are definitely a more northern species,” explained Sam Lilly, operations superintendent for the Richmond Department of Public Works’ Division of Urban Forestry. “They want to be in upstate New York, and where it stays cooler. They’ve been struggling \[in Richmond\] recently. They don’t particularly want to be in a median in an urban area.” The sugar maple’s susceptibility to disease and pests has led many to die off in the Fan. Roughly 17 years ago, the nonprofit Fan District Association began working with the city’s Adopt-a-Tree program to replace many of the struggling trees in the historic neighborhood. Now overseen by the Fan District Association, the [Fan Adopt-a-Tree](https://fandistrict.org/adopt-a-tree) program planted its 1,000th tree this year. Just in time for [Richmond Tree Week](https://www.reforestrichmond.org/rtw-2026), here’s a look at some of the work that goes into keeping the Fan a green and leafy place. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/11/IMG_1418.jpeg) Now overseen by the Fan District Association, the Fan Adopt-A-Tree program planted its 1,000th tree this year. (Michael Phillips/The Richmonder) ### Fan Adopt-a-Tree Betsy Coffield remembers when trees in the Fan weren’t so readily replaced. “We had all these empty tree wells everywhere,” said Coffield, who runs the Fan Adopt-a-Tree program. “It was definitely an eyesore that all these tree wells were empty.” The program was originally administered through Enrichmond Foundation, a nonprofit umbrella organization that supported the city’s parks and historical sites. But [when Enrichmond collapsed in 2022](https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2022/07/21/enrichmond-foundation-collapse-throws-nonprofits-in-limbo) and it was revealed that the nonprofit had been using the funds from 86 smaller community groups — including Adopt-a-Tree — to plug its own budget, the Fan District Association took the initiative to continue the program in its neighborhood with guidance from the city. The FDA largely covers the costs of the new trees; Fan residents can adopt a tree well for $100, which pays for part of the cost of a planting. Fan Adopt-a-Tree coordinates assessing the site and getting it ready for planting, then works with the city’s Division of Urban Forestry and vendor James River Nurseries to plant the trees. Most years, Fan Adopt-a-Tree plants about 50 trees. As of this year, the effort has planted 1,002 trees in the Fan. “This is the first year where we had to turn people away” because Fan Adopt-a-Tree used all of its matching funds, Coffield said. “We have created this culture of people in the Fan that absolutely loves their trees, embraces their trees, gives their trees names.” When the program isn’t sold out, Fan residents can apply to the tree program through the FDA. The FDA generally plants its trees sometime November through March, depending on the weather. The FDA recently received a $1,000 donation to replace trees along Monument Avenue. It also received a donation to restore the tree canopy along Arthur Ashe Boulevard. “It’s a program that brings us all together,” Coffield says. “Hopefully, this will continue to happen, and we’ll keep the tree canopy going.” ### Monument Avenue’s Street Tree Project This fall, the nonprofit Historic Monument Avenue and Fan District Foundation is planting more than 40 trees through its [Street Tree Project](https://monumentavenue.org/tree-project/). The organization conducted research at the Library of Congress and consulted with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to figure out how to best replace its sugar maples with similar trees. These days, the recommended trees are the black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), the Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii) and Nuttall’s oak (Quercus texana). After consulting with tree experts, the foundation learned that 90 of its 350 trees were either “missing, severely compromised or dead.” Forty-five trees were planted in spring 2025, but last winter’s record lows and the severe drought this spring have negatively impacted the boulevard’s canopy. And planting new trees is costly. “The fundraising has been a neighborhood grassroots effort,” said Alice Massie, a member of the Historic Monument Avenue board. “The residents of Monument Avenue have been really generous and contributed to the cost of the trees.” Massie says that tree canopy is for all to enjoy. “The trees, once they go in, belong to the city of Richmond,” she said. “They don’t belong to the person who planted it.” ### Richmond Tree Week Lilly, the Division of Urban Forestry operations superintendent, says that efforts like those in the Fan allow the city to focus on other parts of Richmond. [Urban heat islands](https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-case-studies/where-do-we-need-shade-mapping-urban-heat-islands-richmond), places in cities where a lack of shade leads to sweltering increases in air temperature, are a concern. These health hazards [disproportionately impact Black people](https://virginiamercury.com/2024/07/10/research-shows-heat-exposure-disproportionately-affects-black-richmonders/) in Richmond. “One of the things that my division in particular is focusing on currently, and in the future, is building the tree canopy in some of those underserved areas,” Lilly said. “It’s such a big job that it certainly requires collaboration with everyone. Neighborhood groups and organizations play a really important role in building Richmond’s tree canopy.” Part of that effort is Richmond Tree Week, which runs through Nov. 7\. The week’s programming includes forest walks, volunteer workdays and instructional events. Lilly stresses that the city’s foliage is much more than something pretty to look at. “Trees are essential public infrastructure,” Lilly said. “They’re not for the benefit of one person. They’re for the neighborhood and the area and city as a whole. There are a lot of people who are very passionate about trees, and we are too.”