MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 8, 2025
A small group of South Portland residents, bonded by an interest in trees, has bloomed into ReForest South Portland whose mission is to improve the city’s tree canopy by planting more. Improving the city’s tree canopy comes with multiple benefits. Temperatures can be 25 degrees cooler under the shade of a tree, Barter said, which can lead to a decrease in air conditioning needs by 30%. “(Trees) make coastlines more resilient to the weather patterns increasingly common in a changing climate,” said Hillary Barter, a co-founder.