“Urban forestry matters because that’s where people live. So, if we want to help people, we have to go where they are,” said Francisco Escobedo, a research social scientist with the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station. …Communities can plant trees and glean many benefits from urban forests, said Escobedo. These benefits include reducing summer peak temperatures, improving air quality, reducing stormwater run-off, increasing property values, providing wildlife habitat, and strengthening neighborhood social connections. …Los Angeles averages about 267 days of sun a year. Its rays beat down on rooftops, roads, parking lots, cars and the tops of heads. About a fifth of the city’s trees and the shade they provide grow where only 1% of its residents live. This scarcity is not lost on Los Angeles and county city planners, who have recently been coming together to grow urban forests in the nation’s second-largest city.