San Antonio ‘Tree Guy’ Michael Nentwich: We Need to Plant One Million Trees

San Antonio ‘Tree Guy’ Michael Nentwich: We Need to Plant One Million Trees


Please read the article above.  It is just more food for thought as we get ready for the El Paso Parks and Recreation Master Plan update meetings:

The City of El Paso is updating the Department of Parks & Recreation’s Parks Master Plan, which is their main guide for what they do. The current leadership at Parks and Recreation is narrow minded and focused primarily on turf, club sports and senior citizen bingo. Conservation, preservation of eco-systems, learning about nature and natural open space are nether regions of monsters and abyss beyond their flat earth thinking.  There will be two meetings to present recommendations and receive public input on the Parks Master Plan. Please make plans to attend either meeting and provided your input for parks in El Paso.  Meetings are this Thursday, June 7^th at 6 p.m. and Saturday, June 9^th at 10 a.m. Both will be held at the El Paso Museum of Art, 1 Arts Festival Plaza, off Santa Fe Street downtown. (Map) Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition President Scott Cutler says, “In addition to more natural open space parks for people to participate in and learn about nature, there are a number of other new concepts for parks that the Parks and Recreation Department should consider.”  Dave Wilson of the Borderland Mountain Bike Association wrote: “I'll be attending the one on Thursday evening.  Hopefully I'll be able to present some ideas for Chuck Heinrich Park in regards to safe access, more parking, etc. for the mountain bikers and hikers trying to access the state park.” Please read some thoughts about the Master Plan at elpasonaturally.  Also read a great article from the April 2012 Parks and Recreation magazine. You can see the current Master Plan online.

Urban Forestry Department for El Paso?

A University of Vermont report on tree canopy for Washington D.C. well explains the need for any urban center to increase its tree canopy: "Urban tree canopy provides many benefits to communities including improving water quality, saving energy, lowering city temperatures, reducing air pollution, enhancing property values, providing wildlife habitat, faciltating social and educational opportunieties, and providing aesthetic benefits." We could also add that trees help to calm traffic and to manage stormwater.

The City of El Paso (or any City) does not have to do it's own research to establish the fact that healthy trees and landscapes are a great investment for municipalities. There are studies already out there that show just that. There are also plans already being implemented that can serve as models for increasing canopy. A good example is the Roadmap to Tree Planning and Planting, a cooperative effort of the Texas Trees Foundation and the City of Dallas.

One can also draw upon studies by other organizations such as the American Lung Association which shows the state by state pollution problems of counties including El Paso County.

Regional Urban Forester, Oscar Mestas, believes that "El Paso does need to and should look at developing a Urban Forestry Department with it own separate funding where the department will be able to develop a management plan that looks at what we have, what is available and how can we go about increasing our canopy." He agrees that reports such as that from the American Lung Association provide good reason to increase the urban tree canopy.