TAMPA, Florida — Tampa’s urban tree canopy is decreasing, and tree advocates explained it’s happening at an alarming rate.
On Thursday, the city council will hear from advocates about Tampa's tree canopy analysis reviewing data from the last five years.
One of the founding members of the Tampa Tree Advocacy Group, Carroll Ann Bennett, explains that trees offer a lot of economic and environmental benefits.
"They save the city several million dollars a year in costs like avoided runoff, flood mitigation, cooling and health benefits," she said. "They are being cut down at an alarming rate and it is getting to a critical point."
In the five-year Tampa Urban Tree Canopy analysis, Bennett uncovered over four percent of Tampa that was covered in shade is now in sun. She said Tampa lost 3,300 acres of trees. For perspective, that's four times the size of Davis Islands, according to Bennett.
She believes the main factor in this is development.
"What we’re seeing is Tampa is experiencing a lot of growth and the trees are the collateral damage of that growth," Bennett explained.
The area seeing the most amount of trees being cut down is South Tampa.
"South Tampa has had the highest rate of development and we also have the highest rate of tree loss. It goes hand in hand," she said.
That’s why Bennett plans to go before the city council on Thursday evening to explain why Tampa needs to do more. She said there are actions the community can take.
"Basically, you save the trees you have and you plant more trees," Bennett said.
The purpose of going before the city council is so that in the event council members are faced with a permit to cut a tree down, she hopes this data weighs heavily on their decision.