For Ray King, trees are a key part of fishing in St. Louis’ Fairground Park. The Jennings resident comes here often, to find a peaceful moment by himself or to spend time with his family.
King tries to park in the shade of a tree and even had a favorite one to keep cool while fishing.
“My favorite tree was that one over there where you can see the big stump,” King said. “With the Midwest heat, you know, it can get pretty humid out here.”
But the May 16 tornado that swept through St. Louis hit Fairground Park hard, tearing down dozens of trees. The loss of tree cover here and across the city could have a longer-term effect: more heat.
As King threw a catfish back on Monday, crews were working to cut apart huge fallen trunks that marked the path of the storm. Similar work was happening outside homes and businesses nearby in the O’Fallon and Fairgrounds neighborhoods in north St. Louis.
In the week after the tornado, St. Louis’ nonemergency service data shows residents submitted more than 1,200 requests related to trees, with more than 400 on the day of the deadly storm.
Trees can significantly cool urban areas by providing shade and releasing water vapor, research has found. Without them, neighborhoods that were hit by the tornado could feel even hotter this summer, said Meridith Perkins, executive director of Forest ReLeaf of Missouri.
“We can put on new roofs, we can rebuild houses, but we can't physically build an 80-year-old tree,” Perkins said. “We have to wait 80 years for that.”
St. Louis officials and organizations still don’t know the full toll of the city’s tree loss. In Forest Park alone, about 3,000 trees were damaged or destroyed. Perkins said eventually, groups like hers and the city’s forestry department will need to do on-the-ground inventories, counting tree stumps. They’ll also look at tree canopy changes to understand what is happening in people’s yards.
Even before the storm, Perkins said tree distribution wasn’t equal across St. Louis.
“Typically, we see higher levels of tree canopy in more privileged neighborhoods across the city, and we have been working over the last number of years to really balance that tree equity,” Perkins said.
Along with tree canopy, heat is also unequal in the St. Louis region. Urban and suburban areas are hotter than their rural counterparts, according to a 2022 report from East-West Gateway Council of Governments. The land temperature differences can span more than 12 degrees, with a pocket of heat in the city.
Heat is the deadliest weather-related event, according to the National Weather Service. Extreme heat can cause dehydration, dizziness, heatstroke and even death.
Some of the worst health outcomes related to heat disproportionately occur in the Black community, according to Elyse Schaeffer, a policy coordinator at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment who has been working to develop recommendations on heat policy for the city.
“Already, north city, before the tornado, was at higher risk of experiencing the adverse effects of heat,” Schaeffer said.
Schaeffer also worries about the impact more heat could have on residents’ utility bills. The Sierra Club and Renew Missouri recently released a report that found low-income St. Louisans pay more for their utilities than wealthier residents.
“Without that tree cover, a lot of folks stand to have higher energy bills because the tree that maybe was shading someone's house and helping to reduce their bill a bit might not be there anymore,” Schaeffer said.
After the storm, she said work will also need to be done to rebuild trust in trees after residents saw the damage they can do. Perkins agrees.
“There's a real fear that if we replant something that is causing this danger, we're just setting ourselves up for failure again,” Perkins said. “But in reality, what we want to do is help people understand the value of the benefits of trees. Help people understand the real, immediate risk of urban heat.”
On July 19, Forest ReLeaf and InPower Institute are holding a workshop to support individuals who may have had a painful or traumatic experience with trees. Perkins said her organization will also work to understand what communities want in urban trees.
“We're really going to be looking at how we can build the new urban forest in a way that is going to be something that everyone could be really excited about,” Perkins said.
King, the fisher, lost more than a favorite tree in the storm; his stepmom Rena Scott-Lyles was killed when her home collapsed. He said he’s been shocked by the damage but amazed by the people who have come out to help. He wants to see trees planted in Fairground Park to replace what was lost.
“I'm pretty sure nature, it'll rebuild itself back,” King said. “Probably even better than before.”
Correction: The energy burden report was written by the Sierra Club and Renew Missouri with review by the Consumers Council of Missouri. A previous St. Louis Public Radio report listed the wrong organization.
