Feel the Heat. Plant Some Shade
August 8, 2007
Des Moines, IA
Des Moines, IA (August 8, 2007)- During the first few days of August, Trees Forever volunteers were out canvassing all four quadrants of Des Moines gathering temperatures in the sun and the shade. It was a fairly overcast week, and if the sun had been shining more often, the temperatures would have been even more dramatic.
Meredith Borchardt, field coordinator with Trees Forever, explains how temperatures were measured in the shade and in the sun across Des Moines this past week.
The importance of shade trees is the topic of a meeting sponsored by the Trees Forever organization at 10am at the Armory Building, 602 E. First St. Speakers will include Deann Fordham of Atlanta, national program manager of the Trees Forever NeighborWoods program, and Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie.
Volunteers have checked temperatures this week in various neighborhoods around the city using infrared thermometers. Organizers say shade can reduce the temperature by up to 40 degrees. One volunteer, John Gersib, helped tally the numbers and commented, "This is something you know intuitively, but to actually go out with laser thermometers and see that there is often a 30 to 40 degree temperature difference from pavement to shade, is amazing."
Trees Forever planned the survey activity, "Feel the Heat. Plant Some Shade", as a way to draw attention to hot spots or "heat islands" around the City of Des Moines.
It won't surprise you that Shannon Ramsay, Founding President of Trees Forever, believes in the valuable role that trees play in cooling our communities, "Trees make our cities and neighborhoods livable and are essential to our quality of life. We need to think of trees and our living green areas as "green infrastructure" that deserve capital investment and quality management because they provide very real benefits such as energy savings, storm water offsets and improving air quality."
In the four quadrants of Des Moines, Trees Forever found these averages:
Sun Shade Difference
Along Streets 112 degrees 92 degrees 20 degrees
On Sidewalks 110 degrees 89 degrees 21 degrees
Parking Lots 116 degrees 89 degrees 27 degrees
Yards 101 degrees 84 degrees 17 degrees
With support from the Home Depot Foundation, individual sponsors and partners, Trees Forever is helping plant and care for trees in Des Moines neighborhoods and parks. Since 2005, in partnership with neighborhood associations, the City of Des Moines Public Works and Parks & Recreation Departments, Trees Forever volunteers have planted 640 trees and logged more than 1000 volunteer hours. Annually, Trees Forever helps over 200 Iowa communities with tree planting funds and project assistance.
The effort, known as Trees Forever Des Moines NeighborWoods, held its first steering committee on the same day the temperature survey was compiled and released. Sierra Club leader and Des Moines resident Jane Clark is serving on the committee, which is a sub-committee of Mayor Frank Cownie's Energy and Environment Task Force.
For more information, visit Trees Forever.
