Senate Bill SB14 which endangers the urban forest and neighborhoods throughout Texas has been sent to committee. Contact the committee members and express your concern about this egregious legislation. You can find the list of committee members on the SB14 page.
Urban forest. It seems a complete contradiction — like jumbo shrimp or bureaucratic efficiency. But a recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests that almost 80 percent of U.S citizens live in urban ”forests,” which the agency defines as “all publicly and privately owned trees within an urban area.”
Those trees aren’t just sitting there looking pretty. They’re providing tangible benefits in improved air, water soil and even commerce to the entire community, according to studies referenced by the USDA. Among them:
In Texas — as in most states — real estate is conveyed to its owner under the concept of “fee simple,” or absolute ownership of the land and whatever is on it, in it or under it. It’s like a bundle of sticks and you can do what you want with all of ’em. Sort of.
In practice — there are restrictions on what you can do with some of your sticks:
So it’s not unusual to see limits on the freedoms enjoyed by landowners. More than 50 cities in Texas choose to mitigate damage with restrictions on what an owner can do to his piece of the urban forest. The question is who’s better suited to decide those — your friends and neighbors or the State. And who’s most likely to enforce them.
