Gary Woods

Tree loss will be substantial

President, Texas Urban Forestry Council, Jan 17, 11.

Tagged with grand parkway, sprawl, trees, forest

Recent articles in the Houston Chronicle about planned developments in Montgomery County and north Harris County prompted concerns about the potential loss of trees and the effects of that loss on the Houston area’s air quality, since the eight-county Houston region is legally mandated to meet federal air quality standards. 

EarthQuest, also commonly referred to as the Houston Dinosaur Park, is a proposed 1,600-acre, combination amusement park, water-park and eco-friendly planned development on US 59 in Montgomery County near New Caney. Approximately 500 acres is located west of US 59 between FM 1485 and FM282 and will be utilized for the theme park, which will include a twelve-acre water park and a “massive mountain structure.”

The remaining 1,100 acre-tract is located on the east side of US 59 between FM 1485 and Roman Forest Boulevard. Dr. Don Lessem, EarthQuest Founder, also known as “Dino Don,” wrote in a recent comment on the EarthQuest Project, dated September 5, 2010, “Always it was meant to preserve the forested land“ and “to my knowledge there are no homes on the land and so none to be.” However, according to the EarthQuest Adventure website, “The remainder of the land on the east side of US 59 will be for residential use.  There will be both multi-family and single family structures, and all will boast the most energy efficient and eco-friendly construction products. It will be a living laboratory where scientists can study different aspects (of) the master planned community of the future.” 
 
Springwoods Village is a mixed-use community of 1,800 acres planned to break ground in early 2011. The development is located in north Harris County just west of Interstate 45 and bounded by Spring Stuebner Road on the south and Spring Creek on the north. According to the article in the Chronicle, the development will ultimately have 5,000 housing units, 8.5 million square feet of office space, 1.2 million square feet of retail space, and a 150-acre nature preserve. In addition, a proposed segment of the Grand Parkway would run through the southern portion of the Village if it is built. The development is modeled after The Woodlands and “more than 20 percent of the project will be developed with parks and other green space, including a nature preserve.”

While the efforts of those developing both EarthQuest and Springwoods Village to protect green space and forested areas are to be admired and encouraged, the inescapable truth is that Houston’s regional forest is about to lose substantial numbers of trees to both private and public development.

Development in the Houston area has been greatest in west and south Harris County and has been moving strongly into Ft. Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston Counties – counties more coastal prairie than forest.  North and east Harris County, Montgomery and Chambers Counties and the northern half of Waller County are heavily forested and are being targeted for increased development.

A study conducted by the USDA Forest Service and the Texas Forest Service states that “Houston’s regional forest helps improve air quality by reducing air temperatures, directly removing pollutants from the air and reducing building energy use and consequent pollutants from power plants.” Results of the study, published in 2005, also indicate that the North Forest, of the Houston Regional Forest, occupies approximately 1,653 square miles and is located mostly in Montgomery, Waller, and Liberty counties.  Also, the North Forest has the highest tree density at nearly 231,000 trees per square mile and has larger trees—compared to other areas in the regional forest. The study also stated that “large trees are disproportionately important in terms of forest benefits.” As an example, the study states that the urban areas in Houston’s Regional Forest “contain 28-million Chinese tallow trees compared to two-million live oaks, yet these oaks possess 16 percent more leaf biomass, thus contributing to greater total benefits.”  And, although large trees (more than five-inches in diameter) “comprise only 29 percent of the regional forest they provide more than 60 percent of the environmental benefits.”

Performing some rudimentary calculations and assuming that 40 percent of the developed area, associated with the two projects, will retain its trees, approximately 2.85 square miles (60 percent of 3,040 acres) of trees will be removed.  At a density of 231,000 trees per square mile then approximately 658,350 trees will be removed by the two projects. 

Using factors extrapolated from the regional study, the value of environmental benefits (includes air pollution removal and energy savings) lost by removing the trees is $452,945 per year and the value of the total carbon storage lost is $715,626 for just these two projects. According to the Houston Regional Forest study, ”land use change continues to pose the biggest threat (to the Houston Regional Forest): between 1992 and 2000, forest land declined by an estimated 17 percent – a decrease of 486-square miles, resulting in a net loss of over 78-million trees.”
Applying the extrapolated factors obtained from the study to the loss of 78-million trees results in a reduction in value of environmental benefits of $53,586,000 per year and a reduction in value of total carbon storage of $84,240,000. 

The point of concern is that development in the Houston area will continue and will increase in the more densely forested areas, resulting in the loss of more trees per year than in the past. While admitting that EarthQuest and Spring Woods fall far short of perfect (neither project proposes to replace the loss in leaf biomass), we cannot expect that all future development will be as sensitive to   our regional forest. Many industrial, commercial and residential developers clear the land completely of trees to facilitate contouring the land for drainage and the installation of infrastructure.

Thousands of us have seen the piles of bulldozed and burning trees on the northeastern segment of the Sam Houston Toll Way, which is currently under construction. We should expect that scene to be replicated with increasing frequency in the near future.

Without regulations in place, at every governmental level, to protect trees and to require mitigation for the trees removed, our air quality and therefore the health, property values and tax base of those people living in the Houston Region will continue to literally, “go up in smoke.”

More Commentary

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages