Benefits

URBAN TREES:

  • Provide sound buffers for large urban areas.
  • Reduce utility bills (air conditioning in summer, heating in winter) when planted properly.
  • Heating: Using trees as windbreaks allows savings of 10% - 20%* Cooling: Shading windows and walls can lower AC costs by 25% - 50%* Reduction of our energy demands reduces our use of fossil fuels.
  • Reduces flooding by intercepting rainfall.*
  • Produce a sense of rootedness and community.
  • Help to cool cities by reducing heat sinks. Heat sinks are 6-19 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than their surroundings (Global Releaf-Georgia). A tree can be a natural air conditioner. The evaporation from a single large tree can produce the cooling effect of 10 room size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. (USDA pamphlet # FS-363)
  • Cleans the air. Removes dust, particulates, absorbs ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants. (ISA Pamphlet, 1991)
  • Soften harsh contours of buildings.
  • Increase commercial and residential property values. Homes on lots with many trees have 6% - 12% higher appraised values. * Trees can help increase the value of your property, sometimes by 10% - 20%. (USDA pamphlet # FS-363)
  • Reduce urban blight by adding beauty.
  • Trees act as a carbon-sink by removing the carbon from CO2 and storing it as a cellulose in the trunk while releasing oxygen back into the air. * Trees can absorb carbon dioxide at the rate of 26 pounds per year - especially young trees that are still growing. (Global Releaf-Georgia). One tree that shades your home will also save fossil fuel, cutting CO2 buildup as much as 15 forest trees. (The National Arbor Day Foundation pamphlet # 90980005
  • Prevent soil erosion
  • Freshen the atmosphere with the trees own pleasant fragrances. For example, 1 cherry tree can perfume the air with 200,000 flowers. (USDA pamphlet # FS-363)
  • Provide wildlife habitats for birds, squirrels, etc.
  • Provide Privacy.
  • Direct Pedestrian Traffic.

* Enviro News/Louisiana Gateway 2020. Spring/Summer 1993, Vol IV
A recommended article about 'Urban Forestry and Your Home' posted by the online, home improvement organization Networx.


FOREST TREES:

  • Trees store carbon and clean the atmosphere. In 50 years, one tree generates $30,000 in oxygen, recycles $35,000 of water, and removes $60,000 of air pollution. **
  • Prevent or reduce soil erosion. **
  • Prevent or reduce water pollution. **
  • Recharge groundwater and sustain streamflow. **
  • Supply material for houses, furniture, paper products, etc...
  • Crop yields of fields with windbreaks are significantly higher than those without windbreaks. **
  • Provide food: nutmeats (walnuts, pecans, hickory, etc.), fruit (plums, peaches, apples, pears), berries for jams and jellies, sap for maple syrup. **
  • Living snowfences, strategically placed, hold snow away from roads, reducing maintenance costs. **
  • Provide watersheds for city reservoirs
  • Absorb dust and heat. Reduce glare.
  • Add oxygen to the air.
  • Reduce soil, water and air pollution.
  • Increase atmospheric moisture; reduce environmental water consumption.
  • Some trees even provide key medicinal ingredients for illness cures and treatments.
  • One out of every four pharmaceutical products used in the US comes from tropical forest plants. **
  • Provide oxygen, reduce carbon dioxide.
  • Provides necessary habitats for thousands of animals from birds to land animals to water animals.

** Source: USDA Forest Service Pamphlet# R1-92-100

RIPARIAN (RIVERSIDE) TREES

  • Slow floodwaters
  • Filter runoff and sediment from slopes next to the stream.
  • Increases groundwater supply, which we use as a water supply for cities.
  • Provides shade so water animals can survive, keeps the river cool, provides food for water-loving animals. Fish require healthy riparian areas and will sometimes die without them.
  • Provides necessary homes for a variety of birds.
  • Provides habitats for animals such as beavers and otters.

NOTE: All riparian information taken from USDA pamphlet # FS-445, January, 1990