urban forest

StreetsLA, the city bureau responsible for maintaining streets and the urban forest, said its teams confirmed a total of six trees vandalized downtown this past weekend: three ficus, two sycamore and one Chinese elm, according to a statement from bureau director Dan Halden.

Crape myrtles are so popular they’ve become the prominent trees in some cities, which means those cities could lose much of their urban forest if the trees were attacked by a disease or insect.

“All across California cities are getting push back from concerned citizens who refuse to accept clear-cutting their urban forest,” Hall said in a statement.

Participants in the study, “Rooted Connections: Understanding South Los Angeles Community Leaders’ Relationship to the Urban Forest,” expressed an awareness of the harms caused by tree disparity and the value of a cooling canopy.

As co-founder of the Seattle Merlin Project, which tracks the local population, McCormick asked that preserving the existing urban forest be at the forefront of the legislation.