成人X站

It makes a lot of sense when Perry 成人X站 (we can鈥檛 say his real name 鈥� sorry) sings in the theme song for 鈥淗ere Come The Brides鈥� about the 鈥渟mell of pine trees in the air, never knew a day so fair.鈥� And that鈥檚 because the bluest skies in Seattle have always paired so nicely with the city鈥檚 groves and forests 鈥� which is just one of the reasons to celebrate a book that鈥檚 just been published all about Seattle鈥檚 beloved 鈥渟treet trees.鈥�

This new book is by writer and artist Taha Ebrahimi. It was officially released earlier this week by Sasquatch Books.

鈥淪treet trees鈥� are trees that stand in the public right-of-way, mainly the parking strip between the street and the sidewalk. A street tree could also stand in someone鈥檚 private yard if the branches extend over the sidewalk or street鈥攖hat makes it officially considered a 鈥渟treet tree,鈥� too. Essentially, the trees in Ebrahimi鈥檚 book aren鈥檛 hidden away; they are very accessible for everyone to see, and often to do so from right up close on the sidewalk.

Ebrahimi鈥檚 approach to street trees is something we鈥檝e run across before in these stories about local history: a passionate person compiles and interprets data to create order and communicate a sense of place. 鈥淪treet Trees of Seattle鈥� fits right in with the salesman who wrote histories of every single post office that ever existed in Washington, the artist who walks Seattle鈥檚 sidewalks searching out the esoteric and arcane, and the family in Oregon now in its third generation of compiling the origins of place names in that state.

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Best of all, the books and pamphlets that result from this approach aren鈥檛 just data; they tell a story and give you a guide to search out and see things and learn things for yourself. With Ebrahimi鈥檚 book, you鈥檒l encounter settlement patterns of Seattle neighborhoods, trends in landscaping from eras past, and the innumerable ways individuals have personalized their homes and gardens over the years.

For example, said Ebrahimi, standing in a parking strip in northeast Seattle a few days ago, there鈥檚 something about Seattle trees that most people don鈥檛 know.

鈥淢ost of Seattle was clear cut鈥� in the 19^th century,” Ebrahimi said. 鈥淎nd only 5% of our street trees are native to this region. So most of what you see everywhere is planted and brought from somewhere else, so many layers of history are behind the trees here.鈥�

Ebrahimi, who works full-time for a data visualization company, was inspired to create her book by her lifelong love of trees and the discovery of what she describes as a 鈥渄ata set鈥� created by the City of Seattle and dating back to the 1950s.

鈥淲hen I found the publicly available data set from the city,鈥� Ebrahimi said, describing information systematically compiled about Seattle鈥檚 trees by city staff and volunteers over the past 70-plus years, 鈥渋t was fun finding out which ones were the widest trees and things like that.鈥�

From the data, Ebrahimi could identify the locations of hundreds of interesting trees, including rare species, unusual species and exceptional examples of rare and common trees, such as the tallest or the widest.

鈥淭allest鈥� is easy to understand, of course. But the notion of 鈥渨idest,鈥� said Ebrahimi, needs a little explaining.

鈥淎nytime I meet a tree person, the first thing they ask me is, 鈥榃hat do you mean by widest?鈥欌�� Ebrahimi explained. 鈥淪ome people measure a tree by the drip line, like the ends of each branch. Some people measure a tree by the circumference of its trunk, but the standard way, apparently, is to measure the diameter.鈥�

鈥淪o you get the circumference, you calculate the diameter, and you have to do it from 4.5 feet up from the ground, and that is called 鈥楧iameter at Breast Height,鈥欌�� Ebrahimi continued. 鈥淎nd 4.5 feet is the standard breast height, and there’s even an acronym: DBH.鈥�

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Standing near the giant Wedgwood Rock on 28^th Avenue Northeast 鈥� which is a giant glacial erratic as big as a cottage 鈥� Ebrahimi pointed out what she describes as the 鈥渟econd widest Atlas Cedar in Council District Four.鈥� One of the quirks of the data set is that they are organized by council district 鈥� which is perhaps yet another reason to be sentimental about the good old 鈥渁t large鈥� city council years.

鈥淵ou can tell the Atlas Cedar by these short needles, and they’re in bushels along the branch,鈥� Ebrahimi said, looking closely at the likely half-century or older tree. 鈥淵ou see that? Instead of coming out of the branch. And I see some male cones here, but they usually have these upright kinds of round cones. And I don’t see any in this tree right now.鈥�

鈥淪treet Trees of Seattle鈥� isn鈥檛 a catalog or a dry database printed out on paper. Ebrahimi has tracked down the backstories of a veritable forest of trees, and she鈥檚 drawn sketches of many of them. The book could be read from cover to cover, or it could be used to take a particular walking tour of a particular area, or it could just be dipped into to read about one particular tree.

On a whirlwind driving tour of northeast Seattle, Ebrahimi showed off the Atlas Cedar, and then a Monkey Puzzle Tree, and then a giant Oak Tree that overhangs an entire intersection. Down a little side street, Ebrahimi went in search of a Giant Sequoia she hadn鈥檛 yet seen in person.

To her surprise and delight, it turned out to be a Weeping Giant Sequoia.

鈥淥h my God, it鈥檚 so weird looking,鈥� Ebrahimi exclaimed as she pulled her car into a parking spot. 鈥淚t’s right here,鈥� she continued, pointing. 鈥淥h my God, it’s so cool. It looks like a Muppet!鈥�

It鈥檚 no exaggeration to say that anticipation of Ebrahimi鈥檚 book has been building in recent weeks with many radio, TV and print/web stories. 鈥淪treet Trees of Seattle鈥� seems to have arrived at just the right moment.

It鈥檚 also no exaggeration to say that trees have been in the news a lot lately around here. The confusing Seattle City Council tree ordinance, people protesting to protect trees from construction projects, and the unfortunate removal of the old cherry trees at Pike Place Market last year are just a few of the recent stories. Stories about threatened trees clearly touch a nerve for many people around Seattle.

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Ebrahimi says that from all that she can tell, people absolutely love trees in Seattle.

However, she also says we鈥檙e not really seeing the big picture 鈥� maybe not seeing the 鈥渇orest鈥� of important issues related directly to trees and not focusing as much as we should on taking care of trees in Seattle.

Why? Because they take care of us.

鈥淭he mental health well-being benefits that they found are really, really amazing,鈥� Ebrahimi said. They say that being within 320 feet of a tree gives you a better life expectancy and a lower chance of being prescribed antidepressants. And there are just so many studies about it; it’s overwhelming.鈥�

Trees take decades to mature and provide maximum benefits, such as the canopy of leaves that can help reduce air temperature in summer by as much as 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit, says Ebrahimi. Replacing one mature tree with several young trees doesn鈥檛 provide the same benefit for years and years.

鈥淪o if you imagine all these benefits, we’re not calculating the cost of those benefits,鈥� Ebrahimi continued. 鈥淲hen we’re thinking about trees, we’re thinking of them as these things that are easily replaceable.鈥�

This is why even the 鈥渟econd widest Atlas Cedar in Council District Four鈥� is worth getting to know and fully appreciate.

The debut of 鈥淪treet Trees of Seattle: An Illustrated Walking Guide鈥� will be celebrated with an author event on Wednesday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. at and a series of additional events featuring Ebrahimi that will take place over the next several months.

You can hear Feliks Banel every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle鈥檚 Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O鈥橞rien. Read more from Feliks here and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast here. If you have a story idea or a question about Northwest history, please email Feliks. You can also follow Feliks , formerly known as Twitter.

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