Cities Are Rethinking What Kinds of Trees They’re Planting

Who What Why - The US Forest Service estimates that cities are losing some 36 million trees every year, wiped out by development, disease, and climate stressors, like drought. In a recent study published in Nature, researchers found that more than half of urban trees in 164 cities around the world were already experiencing temperature and precipitation conditions that were beyond their limits for survival.. .

City officials are expanding species diversity to fend off disease, aiming not to allow any single species to comprise more than 10 percent of the city’s canopy. Preserving urban tree cover can mean the difference between life and death on a heating plan. . .  A study published by The Lancet in January found that a 30 percent increase in a city’s tree cover could cut heat-related deaths by a third.