Project: “The Environmental, Economic, and Social Significance of Asheville’s Urban Tree Canopy”
Community Partner: Center for Biological Diversity
Faculty Advisor: Leah Matthews, Economics
Money doesn’t grow on trees. But trees do have an important economic impact. UNC Asheville senior Ally Fouts is on a mission to find out exactly what economic, social and environmental benefits Asheville’s urban tree canopy provides to the people who live here.
On June 10, 2021, Fouts brought the McCullough Fellows team to several locations in downtown Asheville that remain forested lots—for now. Both locations are in danger of development.
“They would have to knock down all those trees completely and build huge buildings and a huge parking deck in that little space, and in doing so all of that soil, all of the plants, and all of the trees that normally sit there and retain water and nutrients and wildlife would be gone,” Fouts explained.