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Atlanta is losing trees at an alarming rate—what can we save?

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Atlanta is losing trees at an alarming rate—what can we save?
The oldest white oak in Atlanta

Photograph by Virginie Kippelen

What makes you wake up one morning and feel inspired to protect a grove of historic trees across from your home? Daniel Solberg, a longtime Edgewood resident and member of the Organized Neighbors of Edgewood, has no definite answer. “For some reason, I felt like it was the time,” he says. “It was almost spiritual, like a calling that you don’t quite understand.”

In the weeks following his epiphany, Solberg, along with fellow neighborhood organization member Kelly Draper, has invested hours of volunteer work to protect four very old trees towering on privately owned land located on Vaughn Street in the Edgewood neighborhood on Atlanta’s east side.

The trees—three white oaks and one Southern red oak—have a compelling case for preservation. They have all been dated to be more than 200 years old, making them witnesses to the historic Battle of Atlanta, on July 22, 1864. But their major accomplishment may be their sheer survival after decades of urban development. Despite the moniker “City in the Forest,” Atlanta is losing trees at an alarming rate: A 2018 study found the city had lost .43 acres a day over the past decade. And while the City of Atlanta has a tree ordinance that requires permits for cutting down certain trees, it does not provide specific protections for historic trees.

The four towering oaks live on a leafy six acres unofficially named Vaughn Street Park, a large, desirable swath of land in the rapidly gentrifying area between Hosea L Williams Drive to the north and Memorial Drive to the south. The land, which straddles Sugar Creek, is mostly overgrown by kudzu and other invasive plants; for more than 15 years, the property has been slated for development but has so far remained wild green space.

Daniel Solberg
Daniel Solberg is committed to saving the oldest white oak in Atlanta and three towering neighbor trees.

Photograph by Virginie Kippelen

One of the four majestic trees, a white oak that stands on a low-grade hill, has the distinction of being the largest of its species in metro Atlanta, as measured by its diameter: 69 inches at breast height, a common measurement of tree size. Solberg and Draper had the idea to name it Alba, from the white oak’s Latin name, Quercus alba. To save Alba and her neighbors, they launched the advocacy organization Meet Alba.

Meet Alba doesn’t seek to prohibit any development on the wooded property. Rather, the group advocates a balance between conservation and responsible development. As the website states, Meet Alba members want to demonstrate “that it is possible for the developer to realize a profit while conserving the historic trees via carefully selected green spaces.” They envision the property becoming a conservation village, an up-and-coming designation that protects the historical or ecological value of a piece of land by restricting construction to 50 percent of the surface landscape. Solberg says the current owner of the land “has shown openness to conservation efforts,” providing a ray of hope that the trees could survive development.

One of the consultants they work with, Bill Jones, founder and executive director of the Southeastern Trust for Parks and Land, also believes that conservationists and developers “need to start working together.” Their approach could help build community and connect people, Jones says. “We all move from all these different places and come to Atlanta, so where do we put down our roots a little bit?”

This article appears in our January 2025 issue.

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