NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Making our community a better place, one tree at a time—that's the goal behind the City of North Las Vegas' free tree giveaway held Saturday morning at Valley View Park near Lake Mead Boulevard and Losee Road.
This is the third time that North Las Vegas has done a tree giveaway in partnership with the nonprofit Nevada Plants, and each time, the events have been wildly popular, with people lining up for hours to try and snag one.
There were 100 trees of all different shapes and sizes given away on Saturday, and one of the lucky people who received one was Belinda Strong, who lives in the neighborhood.
"Our children, our grandkids need to see trees!" Strong said when asked why she felt it was so important to get a tree for her home. "They need to be amongst trees, and we're in the valley, so we need shade!"
That last part is so important, especially in North Las Vegas.
Research shows parts of North Las Vegas and the east valley have the least amount of tree canopy in the Las Vegas metro area and subsequently feel the worst impacts from what's known as the urban heat island effect.
They have more concrete and blacktop, which captures heat during the day and releases it much slower overnight than other materials, causing those areas to have–on average–the highest temps in the area.
That's why North Las Vegas' Municipal Forester Eddie Rodriguez says adding more trees is key.
"Just how important they are to health and well-being, and what they do for us as far as not just shade alone, but they cool our environment," Rodriguez said. "[Trees are] one of the only things that cool our environment."
Seeking shade from a tree is a quick way to get some relief from the Mojave Desert sun, but there's new science that tells us exactly how much benefit that means for us in Las Vegas, as previously reported by Channel 13's Climate Reporter Geneva Zoltek in November.
Researchers at the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) studied our valley's trees for three years, and they found that our city's urban canopy gets an eight-degree cooling benefit compared to urban heat islands. There's even more cooling the hotter it is.
"For every 12% increase in tree canopy, the intensity of a heat wave drops by one and a half degrees," USGS Research Ecologist Peter Ibsen told Channel 13 in November. "It's this great power of trees to cool the air, but there's this consideration that it is coming at the cost of water."
It might sound strange, but the study revealed that because Las Vegas is so hot and, at the same time, extremely dry, we get more benefits from tree cooling than any other city in America.
While water demands remain top of mind for many of us here in Las Vegas, at the same time, we're learning relief from extreme heat is in high demand, too.
If you missed out on Saturday's free tree giveaway, North Las Vegas officials say they're planning on holding another one in April, though details haven't been finalized yet.
To read more about the tree cooling study, read Geneva's full story by clicking here.
