May 24, 2017 — HOUSTON — The
largest city in the largest continental state in America has an urban forest to match. And
now, for the first time, information about Houston’s trees is available online.
The My City’s Trees web application is a free tool that makes community tree
data easily accessible to the public.
With just a few clicks of a mouse, anyone with access to the
Internet can explore Houston’s urban forest, the benefits it provides and the
contributions trees make to the environment, economy and the well-being of the
city’s residents. One key benefit measured in the application is the amount of
energy-savings that trees produce for the community.
“We’re very excited, because the timing for this web tool
could not be better for us,” said Jeff Taebel, Director of Community and
Environmental Planning for Houston-Galveston Area Council. “We just received a
grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry in Communities and American Forests
to do a major urban forestry project. And one of the keys to this project is
having a better understanding of our forests. This web tool gives us, for the
first time, some information on the urban tree canopy that could really help
our partners know what’s going on with our forests.”
The Texas A&M Forest Service
My City’s Trees app is based on data gathered through the Urban Forest
Inventory and Analysis program, a partnership between federal and state forestry
agencies across the nation.
Urban FIA data reveals
information about Houston’s urban forest such as tree species, age range and canopy
cover provided by trees. With regular surveys, My City’s Trees will compare that
data over time, showing change — including that resulting from urban forest
management decisions.
“The fantastic thing about Urban FIA and My City’s Trees is
that the data is collected on a repeated basis so it’s not just a single
snapshot in time,” said Gretchen Riley, Texas A&M Forest Service Urban and
Community Forestry Program Partnership Coordinator. “Communities will be able to utilize this
information to make decisions about the future and to look back and see how
those management decisions actually affected the urban forest.”
Houston is the second Texas city, after Austin, to complete
an Urban FIA survey and be included in My City’s Trees. San Antonio is on deck
to conduct a survey this year as are several other cities across the nation.
Once completed, they also will be included in the web app.
Watch the My City’s
Trees video and explore Houston’s urban forest yourself by visiting My City’s Trees or by watching the
introductory
webinar.
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Contacts
Gretchen Riley, Urban and Community Forestry Program
Partnership Coordinator, 979-587-8135, griley@tfs.tamu.edu
Linda Moon, Communications Manager, 979-458-6614, lmoon@tfs.tamu.edu
Texas A&M Forest Service Communications Office,
979-458-6606; newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu