Establishing new trees is about to get a lot harder
According to a report published in Science, the future climate in this region will not be favorable for growing trees. According to the report:
There is a broad consensus among climate models that this region will dry in the 21st century and that the transition to a more arid climate should already be underway. If these models are correct, the levels of aridity of the recent multiyear drought or the Dust Bowl and the 1950s droughts will become the new climatology of the American Southwest within a time frame of years to decades.
This does not bode well for the success of proposed tree ordinance revisions. City Council directed staff to develop an ordinance that would achieve 40% tree canopy cover citywide.
However, city staffers are banking on much of that tree canopy coming from a tree-planting requirement. Preservation requirements alone fall far short. Consequently, predictions of 40% future tree canopy will likely turn out to be a mirage.