Put Trees to Work in Your Community
Urban trees improve our lives by benefiting our economy,
our environment, and our health. You can improve
your community by being proactive, developing green
infrastructure, and putting trees to work for you. Thriving
communities that adopt community tree programs
improve the economic, social, and environmental
wellbeing of their citizens. Green spaces attract
people, commerce, and tourism. Conservation of urban
forests and green space is a low-cost, multiple-benefit
community investment.
Trees Benefit the Economy
By controlling erosion and reducing urban runoff, trees
help communities to save money on storm damage
repair. They lower temperatures through shade and
evapotranspiration, which reduces energy needs and
costs. Trees and the atmosphere they create raise the
value of homes and attract businesses and tourism,
thereby increasing tax revenue.
A tree-filled community has increased
> income,
> jobs,
> worker productivity, and
> customers.
■ Trees in the landscape lead to higher home values
and rapid real estate sales, which raise tax revenue.
■ Trees reduce air pollution. The American Forest
valued reductions in air pollution costs because of
trees in Mecklenburg County at $40 million.
■ Trees control stormwater costs. For example,
researchers estimate that in Charlotte, North
Carolina's largest city, runoff control from trees saved
$2.8 billion in water storage unit costs.
■ Shade from properly placed trees can reduce cooling
costs for a business or home up to 50 percent.
Sources
Coder, K.D. 1996. Identified Benefits of Community Trees and
Forests, www.ottawaforests.ca/city_trees/values_e.htm
Rosenfeld, A FI., J .J. Romm, FI. Akbari, M. Pomerantz & FI. G.
Taha. 1996. Policies to reduce heat islands: magnitudes of
benefits and incentives to achieve them. In Proceedings
of the 1996 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in
Buildings (Vol. 9), p.177. Pacific Grove, CA: ACEEE.
American Forests. 2010. Urban Ecosystem Analysis —
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
www.americanforests.org
Trees Clean the Air and Water
Trees remove harmful gases that contribute to smog,
acid rain, and the greenhouse effect. They capture
sediment and toxins that lower water quality, which
reduces the need for costly stormwater control
measures.
■ Trees remove harmful gases, such as nitrogen
oxides, sulfur dioxides, carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide, and ozone. For example, trees remove
14.9 million pounds of air pollutants each year in
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
■ Street trees capture toxic heavy metals, such as
cadmium, chromium, nickel, and lead.
■ Urban trees reduce the "heat island effect,"
cooling our cities by as much as 9°F.
■ One tree cools as much as five air conditioners
running 20 hours a day.
Sources
Akbari, Fl„ S. Davis, S. Dorsano, J. Huang, S. Winnett
(Eds.). 1993. Cooling our communities: A guidebook
on tree planting and light-colored surfacing. EPA
Publication No. PM-221. Washington, DC: U.S. EPA.
American Forests. 2010. Urban Ecosystem Analysis —
Mecklenburg County, www.americanforests.org
