Benefits of Trees
By Robert Weaver, publisher of Gateway Gardener
In recent years, a movement has been growing among horticulturists and gardeners to direct attention toward the value of native trees as feeders of insects, and as such, feeders of songbirds whose young rely on those insects to grow. It’s true a single oak tree can support hundreds of different species of insects, and thousands of individuals to feed growing young birds.
But even if one didn’t care a twit about birds or insects, trees have a sometimes unappreciated value to we home-dwelling humans, too. And not just in terms of ornamental esthetics and “curb appeal” enhancements. By using a “National Tree Benefit Calculator,” you can actually see, in hard, real dollars, how trees in your landscape are saving you money, and will continue to increase those savings as it grows. You can check it out at www.TreeBenefits.com.
Just type in your zipcode, then select a tree species, tree size and land-use type (single family dwelling, for example), and find out how your tree is affecting stormwater runoff, property values, carbon sequestration, and energy costs.
For example, I have a large pin oak on my property, 48” in diameter. Based upon the calculator’s results, here’s how that tree is working for me:
- Stormwater Management. My pin oak will intercept 15,146 gallons of water every year—almost 50 gallons a day on average! According to the site, urban stormwater management washes chemicals and litter from surfaces into streams, wetlands, rivers and oceans. Excessive stormwater runoff increases our community costs of treatment and sewage system construction and maintenance, and can adversely affect the quality of drinking water, aquatic life and ecosystem health. My tree is a mini-reservoir, intercepting and holding rain on leaves and branches, increasing infiltration and storage in roots, and reducing soil erosion.
- Energy Savings. If strategically placed, my pin oak could conserve up to 227 kilowatt/hours of electricity or 8 therms of natural gas/oil consumption per year. And trees don’t have to shade the dwelling directly to provide benefit. Shading paved areas reduces the heat island effect and ozone formation; transpiration cools the air around trees, wind blocks reduce air infiltration in homes, and the aggregate energy savings reduce power plant emissions.
- Air Quality. There’s a chart, but I don’t understand it, so let’s just say that trees in general, including my pin oak, improve air quality in several ways: by absorbing pollutants like ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide; by intercepting dust, ash and smoke; by releasing oxygen; by reducing the production of ozone, and by reducing energy use and the subsequent required emissions from power plants. That’s worth a lot!
- Carbon Sequestering. My pin oak is tying up or preventing a lot of atmospheric carbon, to the tune of 770 pounds! It does so in two ways; first by locking up CO2 in its roots, trunks, stems and leaves; and second, by reducing heat and air conditioning demands and subsequent power production emissions.
- Property Value. My pin oak—not the greatest landscape tree, admittedly—is raising my property value by a whopping $47. Okay, that’s not much, but studies have shown buyers will pay more for properties with more trees than fewer or none.
Overall, the calculator tells me, my 45” diameter pin oak is providing benefits of $177 every year. Not much, I know, but that’s just one tree, and I have about 30 trees in my small suburban lot. So I’m pretty happy about the value of my trees, and so are the birds and bugs!
The National Tree Benefit Calculator was conceived and developed by Casey Trees and Davey Tree Expert Co.
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