Dallas will produce its first Urban Forest Plan

The City of Dallas is partnering with the Texas Trees Foundation to develop an Urban Forest Plan. Dallas' tree canopy is worth $9 billion, according to a 2015 study by the foundation. The study also found that the city's 14.7 million trees save Dallas 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, according to a story in the Dallas Morning News.

The Urban Forest Management Plan, which would establish processes for keeping the existing trees healthy, will identify the best places to plant additional trees to mitigate heat, and possibly reassign city staff to better maintain the canopy, as reported in D Magazine.

“We have a lot of great things going on internally here at the city, but we also have resources that exist like our reforestation fund, which hasn’t been used as much as it should be,” James McGuire, the city’s director of environmental quality and sustainability told D Magazine's Matt Goodman. “What’s lacking is something that will allow us to coordinate those efforts, measure year in, year out how many trees we’re adding, whether we’re taking care of our urban canopy or not, and something that would allow us to respond to events like the last few weekends.”

Read more about the plan here.