When you map Wichita's tree canopy against its heat islands, the overlap is almost exact. The neighborhoods with the least shade are the same ones that bake hardest in July and August.
Wichita's overall canopy sits at around 18 percent, down from 22 in 2018. But that average hides a lot. Parts of the northwest side have coverage above 30 percent. Large sections of the north and northeast sides are under 8.
Surface temperatures on treeless blocks can run 10 to 12 degrees higher than shaded ones. For residents without air conditioning, or who work outside, that gap is not a statistic. It's a health risk.
ICT Trees focuses its free tree distributions on zip codes that show up consistently on both maps. That doesn't fix the problem in a season, but it moves things in the right direction, one yard at a time.
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