The tree canopy is shrinking across thousands of California schoolyards, which may leave children more vulnerable to the harmful effects of extreme heat, according to a recent study.
In the research, published in the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, scientists looked at snapshots of more than 7,000 public schools in urban areas across the Golden State. The analysis included schoolyards and the areas immediately surrounding them. One image, taken in 2018, provided baseline information about each school's existing tree canopy. The next, taken in 2022, showed whether that canopy had increased, decreased or stayed stable.
