Realtors celebrate planting of trees

BOISE — Real estate agents from around the country and local leaders will gather in Boise on Friday for the National Association of Realtors’ Sustainability Symposium.

The symposium, happening 3-6 p.m. Friday at the Grove Hotel Grand Ballroom, is free and open to the public. The event will celebrate the planned planting of more than 200,000 trees in the Boise and Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests.

The replanting effort, which aims to help reforestation after the 2016 Pioneer Fire and 2021 Johnson Creek Fire, is part of a national tree-planting operation funded by the National Association of Realtors in partnership with the National Forest Foundation.

“We worked with them to pick locations that would have the greatest impact,” said Mindy Crowell, reforestation partnerships director for the National Forest Foundation.

The Realtors association has committed to funding the planting of 1.5 million trees, one for every member, across the U.S. by 2025, said Amanda Stinton, director of sustainability and leadership with NAR.

The national forests in Idaho were impacted by high-severity wildfires, after which regeneration typically doesn’t happen on its own, Crowell said. The Pioneer Fire started in July 2016 outside Idaho City and it grew to over 180,000 acres by September that year, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The Johnson Creek Fire burned more than 1,300 acres and was part of the Leland Complex Fire outside Elk River, Idaho Reports reported.

The newly planted trees will provide long-term benefits to wildlife habitat and watersheds in the area, Cromwell said. Additionally, the 215,000 trees can sequester 107,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the NAR said.

Using the Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, the organization reported that the carbon sequestration would be the equivalent to the emissions released from more than 23,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles for one year or the electric use for a year from nearly 21,000 homes.

Tree planting is expected to take place in April and May this year and will be done by experts at the U.S. Forest Service, Cromwell said.

Another panel at the event will discuss sustainability and resiliency issues in Idaho and how to address them. Valley Regional Transit CEO Elaine Clegg; Karlee May, Urban Land Institute Idaho district council executive director; and Daniel Roop, city of Boise sustainability specialist, will speak Friday.

City of Boise Climate Action Manager Steve Hubble and Firewise Idaho South Idaho Project Manager Brett Van Paepeghem will also discuss how local initiatives, policies and programs impact the development, purchase and sale of property.

“NAR prioritizes sustainability,” Stinton said. “… We understand that by creating programs and opportunities, both internally in our operations, and more importantly, externally for our members, it allows us to address different markets where they are with sustainability because the issues can be so different based on the geographic footprint, so we prioritize that for the future of homeownership and the real estate industry.“

Debbi Myers, the Boise Regional Realtors president, said that in Idaho, people typically buy into the community and culture around them, and that includes the natural resources. She noted that in the Treasure Valley, the area’s variety of outdoor recreation opportunities are a big draw.

“There are a lot of features that attract people who are interested in the environment, interested in the natural attributes that our area has,” Myers said.

The symposium will also feature the association’s president and president-elect discussing sustainability strategy at the organization and end with a time for networking, beverages and hors d’oeuvres.

To learn more or to RSVP to attend, visit nar.realtor/sustainability.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.