New report evaluates Ann Arbor's progress on environmental goals

Matthew Naud, Ann Arbor's environmental coordinator, gives a report to the Environmental Commission Thursday night.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

While Ann Arbor has made strides toward its environmental goals, there's no ignoring the potential of climate change to negate that progress, the report says. One of the 10 environmental goals for Ann Arbor is a stable climate.

"Ann Arbor has got a lot of good news, but there's still a lot of challenges," said Matthew Naud, the city's environmental coordinator. "Climate change is a big one, and it's not like Ann Arbor could do everything right and that would stop climate change. Those are really national and international efforts, but what we can do mostly has to do with energy and trying to use less and use more renewables."

The city ranked itself in "poor" condition when it comes to working toward a stable climate, including its greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle miles traveled and electricity and natural gas use.

Naud said the city is looking at creating an energy efficiency financing district that would allow property owners to borrow money to invest in energy efficiency measures, then pay the money back through a voluntary property assessment.

"Energy efficiency is the gift that keeps on giving," Naud said. "Ann Arbor spends roughly $250 million a year on natural gas and electricity and that's a rough guess. Saving 5 percent is $12.5 million in the economy and you could probably do 5 percent easily with just caulk - no question."

The new state of the environment report notes that several local projects are expected to begin mitigating Ann Arbor's greenhouse gas emissions, including expanding recycling to divert 70 percent of the waste stream from landfills.

The top 10 goals in the report include:

1. Clean air.
2. Clean water.
3. Efficient mobility.
4. Health-promoting urban environment.
5. Local food sufficiency.
6. Responsible resource use.
7. Safe community.
8. Stable climate.
9. Sustainable energy.
10. Viable ecosystems.

One goal in the report is to have 40 percent of Ann Arbor canopied by trees. Naud said the city is meeting that goal with about 52 percent canopied, though that number is based on data collected before the emerald ash borer wiped out many ash trees throughout the city.

Another goal is to have diversity within the city's urban forest, but the new report says the city is currently doing a poor job of that.

"It turns out we have a lot of maples and so we don't want to put ourselves at risk for some critter coming along that likes to chew up maples," Naud said. "So part of the whole urban forestry management plan process that's under way is to move ourselves into a more diverse tree population as we do more plantings."

The report includes 61 indicators to evaluate the city's progress toward its goals. Thirteen new ones were developed in the past two years, including some related to the health of the city's seven creeksheds, three for the city's urban forest and others for total phosphorus reductions in the Huron River and footing drain disconnections.

Naud said a phosphorus fertilizer ordinance adopted by the Ann Arbor City Council a few years ago is starting to have a significant impact on the environment.

"We're still seeing reductions in phosphorus loadings to the Huron River," he said. "The average in 2008-09 compared to baseline years is a 17 percent reduction. And to have a measurable effect in the Huron River ... is a really big deal, so that's really good news."

Naud said there isn't enough data yet to say, for instance, whether algal blooms are down at Ford Lake, but the city is hopeful it will see those kinds of changes.

Ann Arbor recently was named as one of the Top 20 On-site Green Power Users by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It also was ranked the 12th best among medium-sized cities in the National Resources Defense Council's "Smarter Cities" contest this year.

The city has an ongoing green energy challenge to increase citywide renewable energy use and has worked to complete a new tree inventory this year.

The Environmental Commission is a 13-member committee appointed by the City Council. Its report will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration and also will be disseminated to city residents at various events in the next year.

The full State of Our Environment report is available online at www.a2gov.org/soe.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.