From a story in the Dallas Morning News 7\/3\/19<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dallas wants to make the city shadier. The city is partnering with the Texas Trees Foundation to develop a plan that will protect the city\u2019s trees and plant more of them to keep the area cooler when temperatures rise. It\u2019s a coincidence that the plan’s announcement comes weeks after straight-line winds downed hundreds of trees across Dallas, said Susan Alvarez, assistant director for the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut it is certainly no less important that we do it now,\u201d she said. The Urban Forestry In addition to keeping the city cooler during the summer, protecting the city\u2019s trees would also save Dallas money. ADVERTISING Master Plan has been the subject of several months of talks and more than half a year of fundraising, Alvarez said. Together, the city and the trees foundation will work to find the best ways to protect healthy trees, strategize on where to plant more trees to help mitigate the “heat island effect” \u2014 the heat produced by people, vehicles and energy use in large cities \u2014 and unite urban forestry efforts. \u201cWe have foresters in multiple departments, but we don\u2019t have a cohesive program. We\u2019re hoping this plan can help get us there,\u201d Alvarez said. The plan “becomes a more holistic look at what our tree canopy is.\u201d The Texas Trees Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and enhancing urban forests in the state, raised $230,000 for the plan, which will be matched by $50,000 from the city, according to a memo presented to the City Council last week. \u201cThis is a big step. It is the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of different people,\u201d said Matt Grubisich, director of operations and urban forestry for the foundation. \u201cWhen I first moved to Dallas 19 years ago, trying to talk trees at the horseshoe [the council] didn’t get very far. It was development first.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 2015 study by the Texas Trees Foundation found that the city\u2019s trees \u2014 14.7 million of them \u2014 save the city more than $9 million annually through energy conservation and an additional $4 million in repairs to stormwater management infrastructure by collecting 59 million cubic feet of runoff. The study also could provide insight on where the city needs more trees. It found that 37% of the city\u2019s total tree canopy \u2014 the layer of trees that cover the ground when seen from above \u2014 is south of Interstate 30. Davey Research Group, a naturalist consulting firm, will be tasked with developing the plan, which will take about 10 months, Grubisich said. The firm will form an advisory group \u2014 made up of tree experts from outside the city, city department heads, neighborhood organizations, and companies such as Oncor \u2014 to get insights on what the plan should include. \u201cYou have different people touching trees, but you need to have a goal and a vision,\u201d Grubisich said. \u201cA master plan sets the vision and goals for the city\u2019s urban forest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The master plan will provide a framework, and then the city can begin to decide where it will plant more trees, how many and other details, Grubisich said.\n\nIn what Alvarez called an \u201cincredibly good parallel effort,\u201d the city hopes to roll out the plan next year around the time the Dallas climate action plan is launched. That’s scheduled for April.\n\nBefore then, the city plans to give out about 2,500 trees to Dallas homeowners on Nov. 2, Texas Arbor Day. Dallas hosted a similar event in the spring, when it gave out over 2,600 trees through Branch Out Dallas, a city-funded program aimed at reducing the heat island effect and improving air quality. \n\nThe trees handed out in November will be Texas natives \u201cthat will do well here,\u201d Alvarez said. \n\nGrubisich said he’s hopeful that by fall 2020, Dallas could begin to see large-scale tree-planting efforts.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From a story in the Dallas Morning News 7\/3\/19 Dallas wants to make the city shadier. The city is partnering with the Texas Trees Foundation to develop a plan that will protect the city\u2019s trees and plant more of them … Continue reading