City Forestry Board to Focus on Preservation
The city of Austin wants to be sure it's taking care of the mature trees in town. Photo by Callie Hernandez/KUT NewsBy Era Sundar
The city’s Urban Forestry Board will hear proposals tonight on how to maintain and preserve trees along major roadways and downtown areas.
Chairman Patrick Brewer says there’s been talk about planting new trees in the city. But he worries that existing trees are being overlooked.
“Large trees actually contribute a great deal to our community, much more than smaller trees,” Brewer said. “And if a tree is of a good quality, is a good species and a good size, and we can preserve that tree, it can contribute a lot more to the community than a young planted tree in the next several decades.”
Brewer says many trees are needlessly lost when simple solutions like irrigation could save them.
The board will also hear proposed changes to the Urban-Wildland Interface Code aimed at preventing destructive wildfires. Brewer says regulations on how close trees in greenbelts and preserves can be to residential developments may be tightened. But he wants to make sure that traumatic events like last year’s wildfires don’t cause the city to go too far.
“Our concern is just that we don’t overreact to this and that we have a reasonable approach to removing more trees,” he said.
The Urban Forestry Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at City Hall.
