Tree Fall - Urban trees are disappearing in U.S.
Comparing paired aerial imagery between 2002 and 2010 for 20 major cities around the United States, researchers found that urban tree canopy cover is declining overall.
To see just how well U.S. cities are keeping pace, the researchers turned to a series of wide panoramic shots taken from high above urban areas, including Chicago, New York and New Orleans. These towns differed wildly in their green cover, ranging from Atlanta–whose surface is more than half tree–to Denver–less than 10%. The team poured through the images like before and after weight-loss photos, gauging the growth or spread of shade during the mid-to-late 2000s.
On the whole, tree cover shrank in 17 out of the 20 cities. The losses amounted to about 7,900 hectares of greenery per year or 4 million trees, the researchers report in the current issue of Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. New Orleans had the most fallen timber, they add, for a very obvious reason–Hurricane Katrina. Between 2005 and 2009, close to 30% of the city’s existing tree cover was washed away.
[article text]
D. Strain
February 2012
Conservation Magazine
Click to open, view, print, and/or save this TT resource as a PDF
Article (Popular Magazine)
Canopy, Impervious Surfaces/Cover, Remote Sensing, Urban Forest Management, Urbanization
National
UFS
