Benefits of Trees

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

Benefits of Trees

Most trees and shrubs in cities or communities are planted to provide beauty or shade. These are two excellent reasons for their use. Woody plants also serve many other purposes, and it often is helpful to consider these other functions when selecting a tree or shrub for the landscape. The benefits of trees can be grouped into social, communal, environmental and economic categories.

Social Benefits

We like having trees around us because they make life more pleasant. Most of us respond to the presence of trees beyond simply observing their beauty. We feel serene, peaceful, restful and tranquil in a grove of trees. We are “at home” there. Hospital patients have been shown to recover from surgery more quickly when their hospital room offered a view of trees. The strong ties between people and trees are most evident in the resistance of community residents to the removal of trees to widen streets. Or we note the heroic efforts of individuals and organisations to save particularly large or historic trees in a community.

The stature, strength and endurance of trees give them a cathedral-like quality. Because of their potential for long life, trees frequently are planted as living memorials. We often become personally attached to trees that we or those we love have planted.

Communal Benefits

Even though trees may be private property, their size often makes them part of the community as well. Because trees occupy considerable space, planning is required if both you and your neighbours are to benefit. With proper selection and maintenance, trees can enhance and function on one property without infringing on the rights and priviledges of the neighbours.

City trees often serve several architectural and engineering functions. They provide privacy, emphasise views or screen out objectionable views. They reduce glare and reflection. They direct pedestrian traffic. They provide background to and soften, complement or enhance architecture.

Environmental Benefits

Trees alter the environment in which we live by moderating climate, improving air quality, conserving water, and harbouring wildlife. Climate control is obtained by moderating the effects of sun, wind and rain. Radiant energy from the sun is absorbed or deflected by leaves. We are cooler when we stand in the shade of trees and are not exposed to direct sunlight. In countries that experience winter, people value the sun’s radiant energy. Therefore, we should plant only small or deciduous trees on the south side of homes.

Wind speed and direction can be affected by trees. The more compact the foliage on the tree or group of trees, the greater the influence of the windbreak. The downward fall of rain, sleet and hail is initially absorbed or deflected by trees, which provide some protection for people, pets and buildings. Trees intercept water, store some of it and reduce storm runoff and the possibility of flooding.

Temperature in the vicinity of trees is cooler than that away from trees. The larger the tree, the greater the cooling effect. By using trees in the cities, we are able to moderate the heat-island effect caused by pavements and buildings in commercial areas.

Air quality can be improved through the use of trees, shrubs and turf. Leaves filter the air we breathe by removing dust and other particles. Rain then washes the pollutants to the ground. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air to form carbohydrates that are used in the plant’s structure and function. In this process, leaves also absorb other air pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide to produce oxygen.

By planting trees and shrubs, we return to a more natural and less artificial environment. Birds and other wildlife are attracted to the area. The natural cycles of plant growth, reproduction and decomposition are again present, both above and below ground. Natural harmony is restored to the urban environment.

Economic Benefits

Individual trees and shrubs have value but the variability of species, size, condition and function makes determining their economic value difficult. The economic benefits of trees can be both direct and indirect. Direct economic benefits are usually associated with energy costs. Air-conditioning costs are lower in a tree-shaded home. Heating costs are reduced when a home has a windbreak. Trees increase in value from the time they are planted until they mature. Trees are a wise investment of funds because landscaped homes are more valuable than non-landscaped homes. The savings in energy costs and the increase in property value directly benefit each home owner.

The indirect economic benefits of trees are even greater. These benefits are available to the community or region. Lowered electricity bills are paid by customers when power companies are able to use less water in their cooling towers, build fewer new facilities to meet peak demands, use reduced amounts of fossil fuel in their furnaces and use fewer measures to control air pollution. Communities can also save money if fewer facilities are built to control storm water in the region. To the individual, these savings are small, but to the community, reductions in these expenses are often in the thousands of dollars.

Source: International Society of Arboriculture - http://www.treesaregood.com