THE DEFORESTATION OF SPRING, TEXAS

When I moved to the Houston area in 1981 I began to hear about a place in the far northern suburbs that had a natural beauty to it that only a heavily forested landscape can provide. That was the Spring/Woodlands area. The Woodlands has managed to preserve its natural beauty in the face of heavy development but the same cannot be said of Spring. Since I have moved to the Spring area in 1988 I have seen hundreds of acres clear-cut for new developments. Unlike The Woodlands, the majority of the developments in Spring have not tried to preserve the natural beauty that trees bring, nor have they done an adequate job replacing the cut trees with new ones after their structures and streets have been built.

Environmental Benefits of Trees

Trees should be considered part of our infrastructure. The environmental benefits of a heavy tree cover are many. A tree canopy can remove millions of pounds of ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and other pollutants. Such loss of pollution eating trees contributes to the area air quality problems which we used to consider to be just a “Houston problem”.

Economic Benefits Are Many

Trees reduce stormwater runoff, energy use, and the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. Reducing the need for stormwater management when we are hit with those gully-washers that we occasionally get can reduce the need for construction of additional storm sewers, drainage ditches and retention ponds which costs all of us more money in the way of increased taxes to pay for such structures. Trees can and do reduce the amount of energy use in residential areas saving residents millions over a period of years.

Our tall green friends also reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere thus reducing potential greenhouse effects. How about he potential decrease in property values as the area is seen as less attractive due to reduced vegetation and shade?

The deforestation of Spring is bad for all of us. Let’s get the various Chambers of Commerce and developers together to agree on some minimum amount of tree conservation and replacement when developing land. Let’s begin the re-forestation of Spring.