The Grey Lady had an article last Friday (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/climate/trees-cities-heat-waves.html) about urban trees and their value in keeping cities cool. That's definitely the case in ABQ where trees make the difference between a comfortable stroll or a sweaty hike.
At the BioPark, the main walkway is always cool under a cathedral-like canopy of velvet ash trees stretching 430' from the entrance plaza to the Vitex in front of the conservatories. Meanwhile, the wide open Camino de Calores has almost no effective shade until late in the day. It can be a real scorcher for someone pushing a stroller or using a walker.
The City of Albuquerque has an ambitious program to plant 100,000 trees. They also are spearheading a citizen-science effort on July 9th to generate a heat map of the metropolitan area. Bicyclists and automobile drivers will fan out early in the morning with specially configured GPS-thermometers to collect data. I look forward to the results.
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