COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Summers are hot in Texas, and even hotter in urban areas where there is a lot of concrete and not a lot of trees. This is known as the Urban Heat Island Effect.
“What that really is, is in our more built environments, especially in these areas where we're growing like crazy. We're removing a lot of green space, but we're also adding in a lot of more what we call impervious surfaces, roads, buildings, infrastructure, and so a lot of that surface is actually going to absorb and retain heat during the day and it's gonna radiate that heat back out into the community. And so trees are a great strategy to help reduce that,” said Mac Martin, a Program Leader at Texas A&M Forest Service, who tells 15ABC how that occurs.
To combat the rising temperatures, the City of College Station initiated a 5-year comprehensive plan called “Cool Down College Station”, where they will plant trees in specific areas to help lower the temperature over time.
Martin says that trees can help lower the temperature with shade, and a biological process called evapotranspiration
“So when trees use water, it's gonna move through the tree and actually exits through the tree's leaves through water vapor, and that water vapor actually provides community cooling effects. So you get kind of a two-pronged impact when reducing heat with trees,” said Martin.
The planting began in early 2024 and targeted parks, municipal areas, residential neighborhoods, and grassy medians. Laurie Brown from College Station Parks and Recreation tells 15ABC that you shouldn’t plant trees during the summer, so the next round of planting will come at the end of the year.