(soft music) (dramatic music) - Welcome to "The Newsfeed."

In today's episode, we're delving into the work of a Seattle writer whose love of street trees inspired her latest book.

You'll meet her and learn what influences helped bring this passion project to life.

We'll also look at a recent survey that shows improved mental health for Washington students.

We'll explain what areas youth are faring better and the groups of students most at risk.

And people who live in rural Washington travel further to hospitals and clinics.

Researchers say that's negatively affecting patient outcomes.

Today's top story, Seattle is full of lush, vibrant trees.

A Seattle writer has turned her fascination with street trees into a new book.

Arts and culture correspondent Brangien Davis introduces us to Taha Ebrahimi, author of "Street Trees in Seattle."

We find them, fittingly, under the trees on Capitol Hill.

(light ethereal music) - [Brangien] For starters, what is a street tree?

- So I think traditionally we think of street trees just like this one that are in a planting strip on a sidewalk.

The city of Seattle's dataset actually includes all right-of-way trees.

So it includes these traditional planting strip trees, but it also includes trees that are within 10 feet of a property line if trees are somehow overhanging the sidewalk or somehow in the right of way.

(light ethereal music) - [Brangien] How did this whole project start?

- It was during the quarantine.

I had a lot of free time, but I was also one of the fortunate ones who was sent home to work remotely.

And I think it was during that time when everything kind of paused that I actually started seeing the street trees, and I got really interested in them, and I bought a book, "Sibley's Guide to Trees," which is just illustrated identification features of trees.

And I was very arrogant thinking that I could learn just from that, but I didn't have any in-person help during that time.

So I also got this amazing book called "Trees of Seattle" by Arthur Lee Jacobson.

And that one is just all text, and it has addresses of specific trees.

And literally out of sheer necessity, I started drawing these things to combine the data on one piece of paper.

And then I found the dataset that the city of Seattle has published since 1950.

I work at a data visualization company, so I got obsessed with that dataset.

And then the rest is kind of history.

Somehow a book happened.

(light ethereal music) - The illustrations are fantastic.

Are those the original, some of the original drawings you were doing, or did you redo them?

- Some of them are the original ones during that time, and other ones are newer because I decided to kind of dedicate each neighborhood to one type of tree.

So there was a lot of work that went into deciding which neighborhood got which tree.

It was pretty hard.

So since this is a walking guide, let's walk to the next tree.

- Let's go!

(light ethereal music) So right now with climate change upon us, one of the most important things we can do is retain and maintain our largest, most mature trees that are sequestering a lot of carbon and providing oxygen.

But beyond the physical benefits of having trees, there are many mental benefits actually.

And they've done a lot of studies on a lot of different kinds of trees, and they've actually found out that garden trees and park trees don't provide the same mental benefits as street trees.

And so there are a lot of thoughts about why that might be.

Is it because street trees are in urban areas, so they're providing more kind of physical benefits?

Or is it because they encourage people to be outside and exercise more?

They're not sure, but a lot of it could just be seeing the trees because there's something about the geometry of nature that soothes the human brain.

- What do you hope people take away from your book?

- I'm hoping that this allows people to have an excuse to go outside and take a walk, have a destination, and to physically identify the different species around them and have a more personal connection to these trees.

Personally, I found this helped ground and root me more and helped me understand my local place and appreciate it.

- [Brangien] And feel connected to the history of the city.

- 100%.

These trees have witnessed history.

They're literally made out of the exhaled breath of the past.

It is a direct connection to the history of Seattle.

(soft guitar music) - Thank you so much for taking me on the tree walk.

- Thank you so much, Brangien.

(soft guitar music) - There's hopeful news about the state of mental health among Washington students according to a new survey.

We'll explain the new record low in which students are facing the greatest risks.

A recent survey on the mental health of young Washingtonians highlights promising news from this year's results.

The Healthy Youth Survey reveals suicidal thoughts among 10th graders hit its lowest rate in two decades, according to the state Department of Health.

The bi-yearly survey also found that while mental health among youth in the state is improving, about 30% of 10th graders are experiencing persistent depressive feelings, and 6 in 10 report feeling anxious or nervous.

The survey's principal investigator says they can't specify exactly what is causing the improvement in youth mental health across the state, but pointed to social support improving in homes and schools.

In 2023, more than 200,000 students between grades 6 through 12 in all 39 counties participated in the voluntary, anonymous survey.

Meanwhile, compared to previous years, depressive feelings among LGBTQ+ youth and those who report having a disability have improved, but these groups are still more at risk than their peers.

(light ethereal music) Rural Washington residents are traveling further to receive healthcare at clinics and hospitals.

We'll look at the impacts this is having on patient outcomes according to researchers.

We're learning more about the negative health effects people in rural Washington communities face, as they often travel longer distances to get basic medical care.

Researchers and providers say less access to care nearby can lead to worse patient outcomes and delays in treatment.

Medical institutions are working on solutions, but the barriers are systemic, and changes may take years to implement.

State universities like WSU are focusing on placement of new physicians in underserved rural areas as one solution.

Researchers say disparities in healthcare access between urban and rural areas can be especially problematic for degenerative conditions like dementia because delayed diagnosis and treatment can result in higher cost of care, reduce chances of preserving cognitive function, and lower quality of life for those patients.

Another solution to managing many medical conditions is telehealth, but it doesn't work for care such as maternity care.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching "The Newsfeed," your destination for nonprofit northwest news.

Go to crosscut.com for more.

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