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What trees give us

This little blue planet floating in space that we call home has given us so much to appreciate, and trees are one of those magical growing components. The multiple benefits of trees are wide and varied, and we might not always think of how trees affect our lives daily but here are some thoughts to ponder in your daily life about the trees that surround us.

Trees combat climate change: Trees absorb CO2, removing and storing the carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air.

Trees provide oxygen: In one year, an acre of large trees can give enough oxygen for 18 people to breathe.

Trees help in cleaning the air: Trees can absorb various pollutants, gases, sulfur dioxide, and ammonia plus filter these particulates out of the environment.

Trees conserve energy: By placing three trees strategically around the family home, you can cut summer air conditioning needs by up to 50 percent. “Trees are cool.”

Trees help prevent water pollution: Trees help reduce runoff by breaking up the rainfall. This slowing of rain runoff helps the storm-water pollutants from being carried off to the oceans of the world.

Trees help prevent soil erosion: Trees on hillsides or along stream slopes, can slow runoff and hold the soil in place through their root systems.

Trees cool our city environments: Trees cool the city “heat islands” by up to 10 degrees, and shade our homes

Trees can save water: Shade given from trees slows water evaporation from thirsty lawns. Most newly planted trees need 15 gallons of water per week, depending on where you live and various soil conditions until they get established.

Trees shield children from ultra-violet rays: Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Trees can reduce UV-B exposure by 50 percent, thus providing protection to children on school campuses and playgrounds.

Trees heal: Studies have shown that patients with views of trees out the hospital windows heal faster and with fewer complications. Exposure to trees and nature aids concentration by reducing mental fatigue and stress. Horticultural therapy is becoming more practiced in helping patients with health care.

Trees provide food and shelter: A mature apple tree can yield 15 bushels of fruit per year and can be planted on a small urban lot. Aside from fruit for us to eat, trees provide food for birds and wildlife. Plant fruit trees in your landscape setting.

Trees reduce violence: Neighborhoods that are barren of trees and greenery have shown to have a greater incidence of violence in and out of the home. Trees and creative landscaping help to reduce the level of fear in one’s life it is said in the tree industry.

Trees are teachers and playmates: Be it a tree house for kids or a spiritual inspiration for adults, trees can be a calming sanctuary.

Trees can mark the seasons: You can relate to the seasonal time-clock by just looking at the leaves on trees; they can be your arboricultural calendar by watching the changing seasons, like fall.

Trees bring us joy: Whether in a hammock, a tire tree swing or perhaps dancing around the Swedish Maypole at mid-summer, trees give joy.

Trees create economic opportunities: Fruits from farms can be sold; the green world of growing ornamental trees, landscaping, and caring for trees have value. The house building industry benefits from all types of trees, from framing to fine cabinetry.

Trees bring diverse groups of people together: All cultures, ages, and genders have an important role at tree plantings and the stewardship of trees like the Save Our Forest group in Fallbrook

Trees provide habitat for wildlife: Native oaks and sycamore trees are among many urban species that provide excellent homes for hawks, owls, bees, ravens and assorted fauna.

Trees provide wood: Trees build our homes and businesses, and firewood warms our homes, while wood is also used in craft projects.

Trees add unity: Trees can be landmarks and give us a neighborhood identity and encourage civic pride. A tree-lined street with branched canopies reaching over the street is a wonderful sight to behold, like a tree tunnel.

Trees block and screen: Trees can screen unsightly parking lots and unsightly views. Trees can muffle sound from streets and freeways and give us an eye-soothing canopy of green foliage. Trees can reduce solar glare and absorb dust and wind.

Trees can increase property values: A well-landscaped home and its surrounding tree-lined streets and neighborhoods can raise property values, it is said in the real estate industry.

Trees increase business traffic: A street tree planting can enhance a business area and will aid in slowing traffic in order that the public can view the storefronts instead of whizzing by.

With this understanding about the merits and multiple benefits of trees, maybe you’ll appreciate the trees around your home, your neighborhoods, and the tree plantings of your hometown anywhere in America.

Don’t take trees for granted, for without them life would not exist on this planet we call home. So give thanks to trees once in a while; tree hugging is acceptable.

These benefits show the need to pre-plan, preserve, protect and plant for the future. The earth’s trees are undergoing some major environmental changes today, and we as their stewards must “plant the right tree in the right place” for trees can give us hope. Fall is a good time to plant trees.

Roger Boddaert, the Tree Man of Fallbrook, Calif., can be reached at (760) 728-4297.

 

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