A downtown beautification group announced Tuesday it will plant 1,000 trees across the city’s center by 2036.
Centro San Antonio launched the Trees Everywhere Project along San Pedro Creek Culture Park with the debut of a new watering truck. Centro is partnering with the City of San Antonio on the project, which addresses the need for more shade downtown.
The initiative will enhance climate resilience, support pedestrian activity and create a more comfortable and connected urban core, according to a statement from Centro.
The group is planning to sow trees in areas identified through an analysis of the existing tree canopy, heat maps and pedestrian usage data from Centro’s 2022 Shade Study and the 2025 Downtown Tree Potential for Sidewalks Report, developed in collaboration with Campbell Landscape Architects and UT San Antonio.
Jacque Lucio, director of strategic outreach for Centro and the initiative’s project manager, said street locations considered priority for tree planting include Nueva, Navarro, Convent, Augusta, Richmond, Baltimore, West Pecan, West Martin, Flores, Dolorosa, Savings, Soledad, Bowie, East Pecan, Jefferson, Avenue E, Travis and East Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard.
These corridors are among the most heat-exposed and pedestrian-heavy areas downtown, she said, where tree planting will have the greatest impact.
A report by Nielsen-Gammon and funded by the bipartisan policy-focused nonprofit Texas 2036 found that over the next three decades Texans can expect increased drought severity, more triple-digit days, a significant increase in urban flooding, more intense hurricanes and larger storm surges.
Trees are one of the most effective natural tools to cool cities, Lucio noted.
Tree cover reduces temperatures by providing shade and through a process called evapotranspiration, the combined process of water transferring from the Earth’s surface into the atmosphere via evaporation from soil and water and transpiration from plants.
In San Antonio, heat intensity is concentrated in the urban core, creating an urban heat island effect, according to a report by an independent group of scientists and communicators known as Climate Central.
A young, healthy tree’s net cooling effect is equivalent to 10 room-sized air conditioners operating for 20 hours a day, estimates the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
Texas A&M Forest Service Urban Tree Canopy study from 2022 determined San Antonio needs a tree canopy increase of 30% to meet the pressures from new development put on the urban canopy. Based on that data, Bexar Branches Alliance has calculated that San Antonio needs 80,000 more trees to combat the urban heat island effect and ensure everyone benefits from a healthy tree canopy.
The project to plant 1,0000 trees downtown within the next 10 years will be rolled out in two phases with the first focused on replanting trees in empty tree wells and in-ground landscaping beds. Working in collaboration with the city’s urban forestry team, the first phase was completed in February 2026.
Already, 18 trees have been planted in this phase. See a map of locations on Centro’s website.
A second phase began on Tuesday with plantings where more substantial site work is needed, including curb cuts, new tree well installations and soil excavation. The work will continue through fall.
The project is bringing native and climate-adapted species of trees best suited for San Antonio’s urban environment, including Mexican sycamore, cedar elm, white Mexican oak, red oak and Texas mountain laurel. The trees are 2.5 to 3 inches wide in diameter, typically standing 12-16 feet tall.
Funding for the project will come from grants and corporate sponsorships, Lucio said.
The Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation contributed a $125,000 grant for the purchase of a 2,000-gallon Ledwell watering truck for the project.
The Centro Ambassador team will use the truck for ongoing maintenance of newly planted trees during the first three years.
In other parts of downtown San Antonio, trees also have been made a priority in recent years, including Civic Park, where 200 trees were planted along a promenade at Hemisfair, and in Main Plaza, which is about to undergo a renovation that will bring more trees to the “heart of San Antonio.”
