Betsy Emes and her campaign to save the trees

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Photo by Molly Redden

Trees along R Street are withering in D.C.'s record heat as many other trees reach a "critical point"

Betsy Emes has spent her life donating her time to others. For 30 years of her career, she worked for the World Bank, first in the Economic Institute, then on issues in the Middle East and North Africa, and then in Eastern Europe. When she retired, she got her master gardening certificate and volunteered to work with the National Botanical Gardens's rare orchids.

Now, she's volunteering her time for a new, albeit less glamorous cause: saving Georgetown's trees.

"It's a tough life for a street tree," she drawls in her North Carolina acent when I speak to her. In the midst of record heat, Emes, a Georgetown resident who is in charge of CAG's Trees for Georgetown committee, is leading a vociferous campaign to get local residents to water their trees, and keep them from reaching the irreversible point where they slowly die for two years.

Right now, trees that are on the verge of starting to expire are everywhere in Burleith and Georgetown. Especially along a stretch of 35th Street near N and Prospect Streets, trees are wilting and browning all over the neighborhood. Even trees which are not yet showing signs of stress need water, Emes said—trees that grow near the street absorb extra heat from the asphalt and there simply hasn't been enough rain.

A tree browns on Duke Ellingtown's front lawn. Molly Redden

The evidence for her alarm is in the steep number of trees that the Urban Forestry Administration is going to cut down this summer in Georgetown alone. Over 100 trees that died in a drought two years ago are going to be removed within the next few weeks. That year, Trees for Georgetown ran a $25,000 campaign to water trees, but even then, they were only able to keep 120 young trees watered for two and a half months.

This year, there is less money to pay the watering truck—it charges hourly—and Emes says the neighborhood's arboreal life is reaching a "critical point." "Once they start to go, there's nothing you can do," she said, adding that it costs $800 to plant a new tree, and a lot of time for that one to mature.

For pointers on how to keep trees healthy, you can go on Trees for Georgetown's website (where you can also donate to their watering effort) or email Emes directly at betsyemes@aol.com to request an ooze tube, a 25 gallon bag that snakes around a tree and needs filling only twice a week. It then slowly leaks—hence the "ooze"—water into the ground. Residents can also run their hoses very slowly on the ground near the tree for four hours (nearer to the trunk of the tree if it is under three years old), moving the hose every hour. Unlike in Maryland, said a DC Water official, there is no water use restriction in D.C. Daily watering, however, is not beneficial, Emes said.

"Water the trees in front of your house, water your neighbor's trees, collaborate with neighbors who don't have a spigot in the front of their house—we're just not getting enough water," Emes said.

"I ask people to think about walking down streets in heat like this with no shade."

D.C.'s drought takes its toll on grass in a local park. RJSmith