Climate Action and Resilience Plan

BY SPRINGFIELD PARK DEPT.

Springfield has long been on the cutting edge of climate change and disaster preparedness. Since enduring two federally declared natural disasters in 2011, the city has initiated several programs related to community resiliency. Springfield’s “Climate Action and Resilience Plan” developed in 2017 prioritized managing the urban forest as one of the six strategies of the plan. Among the many aspects of the plan, one goal is to achieve 100% street tree stocking levels by planting an additional 55,000 trees on public prop - erty by 2060. Among the means to achieve this goal will be a detailed vulnerability and risk assessment of Springfield’s urban forest, increased capacity of municipal nursery operations, and the re-design and the retrofit of Forestry Division Operations Center and Arboricultural Learning Center. Mayor Domenic Sarno stated, “This project will transform Springfield’s urban landscape and ensure future generations that Springfield’s climate infrastructure will be protected by planting more trees.”

GZA praises the City of Springfield’s Department of Parks, Buildings, and Recreation Management for its stewardship of hundreds of acres of City-owned parkland. Our team of engineers, landscape architects, and scientists is honored to have worked with the City on over 50 park projects including the construction of athletic fields, playgrounds, downtown pedestrian plazas, and trails, as well as creating educational landscapes, natural open space areas, and habitat restorations.

Palazzo Café

Blunt Park

Park was named after Stanhope E. Blunt by the Park Commissioners in 1927. He was a graduate of West Point who served this nation in the military from 1872 to 1912, including holding the post of Commandant of the Springfield Armory from 1907-1912. After his retirement from the military, Blunt served eleven years as chairman of the Springfield Park Commission. He also served as president of the Springfield Hospital. Two hundred and seventeen acres of the park was developed from 1931-1940.

Blunt