In recent years, our yards have endured historic droughts, unprecedented ice storms and now increasingly fire weather. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2025/03/austin-has-had-5-high-risk-wildfire-days-this-month-alone-why-are-there-so-many-red-flag-warnings/ We desperately need our cooling trees to mitigate our urban heat island, but the climate conditions they face are truly extreme. Moreover, common landscaping practices worsen their plight by ill-timed or excessive pruning, depletion of organic material, soil compaction and erosion. There is simply too much taking and not enough giving.
Support the plants whose oxygen you breathe and who shelter you from the Texas summers that are even hotter in our urban heat island. Instead of just periodically hacking already struggling plants, give back by nourishing their soil and facilitating water retention. Learn about mulching, composting and aerating—you might even get a rebate: https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Water/Conservation/updated%202019-01-28_Landscape-Survival-Tools-FAQ.pdf
Finally, we do have to consider fire in our landscaping: https://travis-tx.tamu.edu/about-2/horticulture/basic-landscape-design/firewise-landscaping/ We may not consider ourselves conventional Wildland-Urban Interface here in North Loop, but we do have Waller Creek, the Intramural Fields and the Austin State Hospital Cemetery. You might be surprised by the pockets of high risk in our neighborhood as shown in the interactive Travis County Wildfires Hazard map: https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=ac1072648f9a407c8170a6c254bc540d&extent=-98.2555,30.1720,-97.3106,30.4719
North Loop Neighborhood Association 