595133 external_news 1503936070 1503936103 When the legislature began its special session, in mid-July, Gov. Greg Abbott urged legislators to outlaw municipal tree-conservation ordinances, which exist in about 50 Texas cities, including Dallas. He has called the ordinances—requiring landowners to pay a fee for felling trees or to plant trees as compensation—“socialistic” infringements on property owners’ rights. At the same time, a Dallas-based nonprofit called the Texas Trees Foundation was working to finalize a report on an important study that shows exactly how beneficial trees are to big cities. Titled “Dallas Urban Heat Management Study,” the report reveals research conducted by the Urban Climate Lab of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Texas Trees Foundation touts it as being “among the first comprehensive heat management assessments focused on a major U.S. city.” The short version: in Dallas, trees save lives. It all has to do with what researchers call the “urban heat island effect.”

]]> 2017-09-01 1224