Neil sends in this interesting short history of the Decatur area’s tree canopy and provides a link to maps – like the one above – showing tree canopies around the state of Georgia…

In the 19th century, DeKalb County was mostly farm land. As cotton became less profitable, dairy farming gained favor and by the early part of the 20th century DeKalb County was the largest dairy producing county in the country outside of Wisconsin. Much of the land in DeKalb and Decatur was open pasture. In aerial photos from 1925 20-30% of the land in Decatur was covered by the canopy of trees. This period was followed by growth of residential areas around Decatur. Between the years 1920-55, before the advent of air conditioning, it was common to plant or encourage large overstory trees around your home to reduce summer heat and block cold breezes in the winter. There were also a large number of planned neighborhoods that included tree landscaping. Trees also grew in spaces that were not being managed. In 2001 the City of Decatur Canopy Coverage was estimated using satellite data at 50%. Sometime in the last twenty years canopy coverage has been decreasing. While there are not numbers for Decatur, in DeKalb County between 1991 and 2005 total tree canopy was reduced from 51% to 44% while impervious (covered by cement) has increased by 62% from 14% to 21%.