The cover we need: triple El Paso's tree canopy — at almost no cost to the General Fund.

In short

El Paso's tree canopy covers 5.1 percent of the city; U.S. Forest Service research puts a realistic baseline for desert cities at about 15 percent — nearly triple, about 10,024 acres of new canopy, roughly 618,000 mature trees, which at realistic survival rates means planting about a million. This plan is honest about three things most tree plans are not. Time: a tree planted in 2027 delivers meaningful canopy around 2045, so 15 percent is a 2050 goal, and the 2030 deliverable is the machinery running at rate. Money: installed under contract this would cost $515 million — that path does not exist. The volume comes instead from development code that makes new growth plant its own shade at zero cost to the General Fund, plus giving trees away at nursery cost; the City's own share runs $1.2 to $2.5 million a year, with at least four non-tax sources for it. Water: at maturity, 15 percent canopy needs about 3.38 million gallons a day — real, but a tenth of what the same footprint under bermuda turf would need. At this scale turf conversion is not a slogan; it is the water plan. A giveaway tree costs a homeowner about $8 a year from the hose, against $79 for the turf it replaces.