Twenty Percent of Georgia Forestland is Located within Metro Areas.

A recent article in Georgia Forestry Today reviewed a recent study by Drs. Jack Siry, Pete Bettinger, and Krista Merry, that found there is a substantial area of urban land that can be planted with trees and help reduce atmospheric concentrations of green house gases with  "more than 150,000 acres are in or near 15 cities in the Piedmont region of the southern US alone."  Nearly 20% percent of Georgia's forestland is located within metro areas. 

The article goes on to discuss that while the land exists, there is little incentive to plant trees as carbon forest credits have not come online.  However, as the carbon footprint of energy use continues to grow, perhaps sometime in the near future, Urban Forestry could become more than a cause, but also a market and a source of revenue for land owners and cities.