By Evelyn Alemanni

 In my garden, I have macadamia trees, five kinds of oranges, tangerines, tangelos, lemons, limes, plums and more. I know that my trees are giving me juice, fruit, nuts, and healthy snacks all year long. When I plant a tree, I consider the tangible things it will give me - flowers, fruit, foliage for flower arrangements.

But what about the trees in your community - a resource so often taken for granted - did you ever consider what they're giving you? Ok, we've all heard about the work trees do with carbon sequestration, we know about the value of shade in reducing the cost of and need for air conditioning, the value of the wood, and so on. To help cities quantify these benefits, Davey Tree and the US Forest Service have developed software called i-Tree which can be downloaded at no cost from itreetools.org.

One AIB city, Bloomington, Indiana, used i-Tree to calculate the economic benefits provided by its city trees. It was quite an eye-opener for residents to learn that their trees were working, for free, to provide literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in services each year.


Used in conjunction with the city's tree inventory database, the city decided to do one more exciting and important thing: plant a community fruit orchard to complement the community garden. Great idea!

Look at the trees around you. What are they adding to your life? Do you know anyone or anything else that works so hard to improve the environment?

Trees and the many benefits they offer our environment are often taken for granted. But Urban Forester Bill Hahn, the City Arborist and Horticulturist for Akron, Ohio, and an Americain Bloom judge, noted recently that towns participating in the America in Bloom program have really taken the matter of trees to heart.

For example, a year after entering the program, Logan, Ohio instituted a tree inventory which helps the town understand its tree mix and plan for maintenance and planting.Several other major revelations gleaned from an inventory are identification and removal of hazard trees to reduce liability exposure and improve public safety, improving communities’ overall attractiveness. Species diversity can be enhanced once areas of monoculture are identified, thus reducing the urban canopy vulnerability to insects and disease, and canopy density can be enhanced by flagging and planting empty sites.

Bemidji, Minnesota, another AIB town, developed a tree protection ordinance and includes a replacement policy and defines trees that need to be protected.Many towns have started appointing tree commisions, whose efforts include strengthening weak ordinances, giving teeth to enforce development codes and even define safe utility work around trees.

“It’s encouraging to see what towns are doing in expanding their understanding of the importance of trees, and the emphasis that is being placed on their care,” Hahn said. “In fact, some towns, like Rising Sun, Indiana, have an annual contest for children to identify the largest tree in the town and to learn about its characteristics.”

America in Bloom gives a special “Criteria” award to the town that does the best job of urban forestry. The award is sponsored by J Frank Schmidt and Son Co.and has been won by Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Greendale Wisconsin; Ithaca, NY; Ocala, FL and Riverside, CA.

It should be noted that those communities that have comprehensive tree programs share a pride of place and higher quality of life due to larger trees that lend a greater environmental impact.

America in Bloom features a carefully researched section on its website with more information. http://americainbloom.org/resources/Criteria-Resources/Urban-Forestry.aspx. An entire chapter of the organization’s Best Ideas book is devoted to urban forestry and includes initiatives from towns across the United States

One of the talks at AIB's national awards and symposium will be "Trees by the Numbers", explaining the benefits of tree inventories. It is sure to be an eye-opener. Details are at www.americainbloom.org.