GALVESTON - When you live on a narrow strip of sand next to the ocean, resilience isn't optional.

But even storm-toughened Galvestonians weren't prepared for a second wave of tragedy that washed over them some six months after Hurricane Ike struck the city in September 2008.

Many of the trees that blanketed the island were not leafing out in the spring of 2009. Saltwater from the hurricane's storm surge was killing the great live oaks on the esplanade of Broadway Boulevard. Enormous trees that had shaded elegant Victorian homes for 100 years were meeting the same fate.

"When everything went brown, it was like going to Mars," said Rebecca Jaworski, who has lived in an East End home since 1995. "There was a canopy of oaks that shaded about three-quarters of our side of the block - the houses as well as the yards. They all were lost."

Like many others around the city, the Jaworskis turned the remains of a beloved tree into a shrine. A sculpture fashioned from the trunk of a live oak stands on a pedestal in their front yard with an inscription: "In Memoriam - Galveston's Lost Oaks."

More than 40,000 trees were lost to Ike, according to the nonprofit Galveston Island Tree Conservancy. A replanting campaign that began in 2010 has made significant progress: Volunteers have spent more than 17,000 hours planting more than 16,000 trees, including 250 live oaks and 60 palm trees on Broadway.

Now this effort faces a new threat - not from nature, but from politicians in the state Capitol. Gov. Greg Abbott wants the Legislature to strip cities of the authority to regulate - and essentially protect - trees on private property. It's one of 21 items the Republican governor has placed on the agenda for a special session that begins July 18.

This action would weaken tree-protection ordinances in more than 50 Texas cities.

Local leaders across the state oppose the idea, but the issue has particular resonance in Galveston because of Ike's devastating effect on its tree canopy.

In the storm's aftermath, trees became precious jewels. Homeowners agonized for months, hoping in vain that their treasured oak or magnolia would somehow recover, before accepting the inevitable. Every dead tree that was felled and hauled away left the island a little barer, its people a little more sorrowful.

"Everyone was just so devastated by the loss," said Jackie Cole, president of the nonprofit Galveston Island Tree Conservancy.

To bolster the recovery effort, the City Council passed a tree-protection ordinance in 2015. The measure requires property owners to seek a permit before removing trees considered significant based on their size or other factors. Trees that are unhealthy, that pose a hazard or that meet certain other criteria may be removed without penalty; others may be cut down only if the owner replaces them with trees of a specified size or pays into a local tree fund.

Issue of property rights

Many of the large trees that survived Ike stand on private property. Most qualify for protection under the ordinance, but they would be at risk if Abbott gets his way. The current owners might be devoted to the trees, but property is often sold and redeveloped.

"With the huge loss of trees that Galveston suffered, the idea that these magnificent trees would be lost because a developer wants to save some money makes me very sad," Jaworski said.

Abbott and his supporters say laws like Galveston's trample on property rights. Abbott, who has complained about his personal experience with Austin's tree regulations, has called such rules "socialistic."

"I feel like those who own their trees have the right to do with their trees what they want," state Sen. Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, told the Texas Tribune.

Urban infrastructure

Comments like those push the right buttons among Abbott's conservative base. But property rights must be balanced against broader community interests.

That tree in your front yard belongs not only to you, but also to your neighbors; its roots and its shade don't recognize property boundaries.

Jackie Cole makes a persuasive case that trees should be regarded as essential urban infrastructure, like streets and sewers.

Trees absorb massive quantities of water that otherwise might rush into people's houses during floods. They improve air quality. They cool off everything around them. They increase property values. They make people healthier. And, of course, they're pretty.

Galveston is grieving its lost trees. Now its leaders must worry about losing an important tool to help replace them and maintain those standing.