PHOENIX - Good news: It may be easier to find shady refuge from the Phoenix heat in the future.
The city of Phoenix is looking to plant more trees -- aiming to cover about 25 percent of the city with a tree canopy by 2030.
Right now, vegetative cover for the Phoenix area is at less than 13 percent, according to the Arizona State University Global Institute of Sustainability. This includes cactuses and other plants, not just trees.
City officials say Phoenix averages 92 days of temperatures over 100 degrees annually, so the extra shade will come in very handy.
Trees offer more than just shade, too, according to American Forests, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems.
American Forests says trees can reduce storm water runoff, which pollutes local water sources, and absorb pollutants in the soil and the air.
As part of the effort to up the amount of urban trees, the city has made an inventory of existing ones in the area -- a total of almost 93,000 trees. City officials also tracked the benefits those trees have made.
The most common species found in the Phoenix area is the Velvet Mesquite, one of the most common plants in the American southwest. These trees are well-adapted to the dry desert climate and provide a wide, leafy canopy, though they sit relatively low to the ground.