Reliably Austin
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

How You Can Help Draw the Blueprint for Austin's Urban Forest

Natalie Krebs for KUT News

The City of Austin is drafting its first comprehensive Urban Forest Plan.

The city hopes to work with Austinites to pinpoint areas of problem tree conditions and to look at possible solutions to transform the drought-stricken city into a truly green one.

Angela Hanson is the City of Austin’s urban forester. She says the differences in Austin’s urban canopy can be attributed in part to the vastly different geography of the east and west sides of town. But that’s not the end of the story. “As many folks know, there are lots of differences culturally, socially – east versus west too.” But as an Urban Forester, Hanson is not trying to impose a uniform vision for the city.

Rather, she’d like the community’s input on how to use of local resources and maximize the number and quality of trees that different parts of town can sustain. But with limited resources, the city’s looking for feedback on what to prioritize:

There’s several ways you can provide your input:

Listen to KUT’s story on the urban forestry plan above – including how one Austin neighborhood ended up fundraising for a $10,000 irrigation system able to sustain 100 new trees at its area park.

Texas Standard reporter Joy Diaz has amassed a lengthy and highly recognized body of work in public media reporting. Prior to joining Texas Standard, Joy was a reporter with Austin NPR station KUT on and off since 2005. There, she covered city news and politics, education, healthcare and immigration.
Related Content