{"id":24,"date":"2018-11-19T21:31:18","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T21:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixurbanforest.wordpress.com\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2018-12-02T20:54:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T20:54:25","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onestepdeeper.com\/treesandshade\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Phoenix, Arizona is one of the hottest cities in the United States<\/a>. Last year, 2017, was the hottest average year on record. Trees and other forms of shade coverage can, and do, help decrease temperatures and produce a cooling effect. And, trees help with air quality and have been proven to have positive health benefits.<\/p>\n

But getting more trees into rapidly-growing Phoenix, the fifth-largest metro area in the nation, isn’t as easy as planting a seed.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the City of Phoenix published a Tree and Shade Master Plan with the goal of increasing canopy coverage by 25 percent (it’s at 12 percent now) by 2030. Eight years later, a small subcommittee formed to tackle the issue. The\u00a0Urban Heat Island\/Tree and Shade Subcommittee, under the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission (EQSC),\u00a0plans to give city council a list of recommendations on the best ways to combat urban heat islands.<\/p>\n

Our project explores some of the efforts to increase tree canopy in Phoenix, particularly in the metro area, and the importance of trees in growing communities.<\/p>\n

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