Trees in California communities are working overtime. From removing carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air, intercepting rainfall and increasing property values, California’s 173.2 million city trees provide ecosystem services valued at $8.3 billion a year. However, according to a recent study, more benefits could be realized if the Golden State’s urban forests didn’t have the lowest canopy cover per capita in the nation. “The structure, function and value of urban forests in California communities,” recently published online in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, reports that California’s 109 square yards of city tree canopy per person lags behind other urban canopy-poor states, such as Nevada (110), Wyoming (146) and Montana (148). And there’s no comparison with well-treed states, such as New Hampshire (1,514), Connecticut (1,214) or Alabama (1,182).