City can't ignore its massive tree losses - half it's tree canopy over past 23 years; Charlotte, NC

City can't ignore its massive tree losses - CharlotteObserver.com:
Lost last week in news about City Council's vote not to censure council member Warren Turner, Tuesday's primary and the release of the proposed city budget was a report with a shocking statistic: Since 1985 Charlotte has lost half its tree canopy. In a city that touts its trees as a major landscape feature, that statistic deserves some attention.
An urban ecosystem analysis from the nonprofit group American Forests used satellite images, GIS technology plus its own software to study the land cover in Mecklenburg County. In addition to Charlotte's canopy loss, the overall county lost a third of its canopy during the same time frame, 1985 to 2008.