I lived in Austin for two decades. I built a couple of custom homes while I lived there, and one of the lots was covered with native cedar elms, live oaks, and post oaks (true Lockhart BBQ wood, btw). Going through design and build, it was like directing thread through 40 needles that were scattered randomly. At the time I found it really obstructive to the building process, but also understood the importance of preserving the trees. We spent a lot of time and wound up losing one of the trees. 27" diameter, so we had to plant 27" diameter of Class I native trees on a tiny lot that was basically "the woods." The best we could do was under canopy trees like redbuds. In the end, we had what was basically a very cool treehouse with awesome, well adapted varieties growing where they were supposed to be growing.
Sorry for the distraction. My point is just that a momentary inconvenience can potentially be for the long term greater good. I'm guessing that's the case here. Native shade on Supercharging cars in Austin's intense heat is going to save energy, create beauty, and please the eye.
