The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Urban Trees
A thorough understanding of the region's trees begins with an analysis of surface features that can be identified using satellite imagery and then separates the region into broad categories of vegetation, roads, and zones of urban development.
The Houston region has grown at a relatively fast pace and the accompanying development has altered land surfaces dramatically by clearing vegetation, constructing buildings, and paving roads. Shifts in agriculture and forestry have also affected the region's surface characteristics.
A comprehensive map of the region was developed from LANDSAT satellite data, images of surveyed field plots and other remotely sensed data. The five categories of land cover are shown in the UFORE Land Cover map. The region was further divided into North and South Forest zones, North and South Agriculture/Range zones and an Urban zone.
Forests: The Forest areas contain 71% of the region's tree population. The North Forest cover type occupies 22% of the region and has the highest tree density. The South Forest covers 7% of the region with notably fewer and different tree species from the North.
Agriculture and Rangelands: This is by far the largest land cover type, occupying 48% of the region, and although the tree density is low, there are over 100 million trees located in this land cover type.
Urban Lands: These lands occupy 24% of the Houston region and contain almost 84 million trees. Tree species are relatively diverse, approaching that of Forest areas.
 Previous Page |
 Table of Contents |
 Next Page |