Community members will plant more than 600 mature trees on February 11 in the Kashmere Gardens Super Neighborhood as part of a Texas A&M Forest Service Green Futures partnership.

The event will be from 9 a.m. to noon at 6405 Cavalcade Street in Houston and includes a free tree giveaway. More than 500 seedlings will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Volunteers will be planting trees along the Homestead Road and Cavalcade Street rights of way. Anyone interested in participating can register at tfsweb.tamu.edu/KGLovesTrees. Volunteers are asked to wear closed-toed shoes and bring gloves. In the event of rain, the planting will be rescheduled to Feb. 18.

The Green Futures project is coordinated through Texas A&M Forest Service in partnership with the Northeast Houston Redevelopment Council, the City of Houston, Caddo Sustainable Timberlands, Texas Conservation Alliance, Houston Galveston Area Council and Sun Coast Resources.

The project is made possible through the support of Repsol, an international multi-energy company, and is an effort to address the impacts of the urban heat island affecting the Kashmere Gardens community. Once planted, the trees will provide a cooling effect by providing shade and reducing temperatures.

A recent heat-mapping initiative identified Kashmere Gardens as one of the most at-risk communities from dangers of the urban heat island, a micro-climate where urban temperatures are higher than in outlying areas because of the lack of green spaces and an abundance of heat-absorbing structures, such as buildings and parking lots.

Green Futures is a corporate sustainability partnership initiative coordinated by Texas A&M Forest Service. This highly collaborative, scalable program connects corporate funding to local nonprofit organizations to address global issues and social responsibility through investment in people, community and trees.