How Trees Pay Us Back

Oak Forest and Under-story Growth

Of all the benefits that trees provide, those that are economic in nature are least understood. We naturally recognize the benefits we can see and feel. For instance, we love the visual appeal of leafy neighborhoods. And it does not take a Ph.D. to know that trees make it cooler. Seats in the shade are invaluable on a blisteringly hot day.  What we do not see or feel is that trees do so much more.

Trees play a vital role in human well-being. They cool our neighborhoods, purify the air we breathe, and lift our mood. When mature, trees shade buildings in the summer and block wind in the winter, reducing the use of air conditioners and heaters — saving people money on utility bills. Trees also help slow climate change. Our urban forests are responsible for almost one-fifth of the country’s captured and stored carbon emissions.” Trees toil 24-7, invisibly multitasking to improve the bottom line of households, businesses and communities every day.

Boosting Property Values

The American dream house may or may not be a single-family home with a white-picket fence, but it definitely sits on a tree-lined street. Anton Neelsen and Associates, who pioneered the use of Visual Preference Surveys for community visioning, queried residents across the country about how their community should look. Consistently, one of the highest-ranked community scenes was the "cathedral street," or a street where tree canopies form a green ceiling and create a sense of complete enclosure. When 250 residents of Detroit were interviewed concerning their preference of trees in urban areas, eight out of 10 respondents stated that trees would have an influence on their choice of a place to live.

A "cathedral street" lined with trees.

One of the most astonishing studies comes from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.  They found that trees have a huge impact on sale prices in modest row-house neighborhoods with low tree cover.  The presence of just one new street tree boosted sale prices 10 to 15 percent, or approximately $15,000 per house.  That single new street tree also lifted the values of other row houses within 50 feet.  Amazingly, a $500 investment in one new street tree resulted in a combined property-value gain of over $50,000.

Saving Energy

With energy costs rising sharply, people are increasingly looking for ways to save. Trees conserve energy through direct shading and evapotranspiration (the release of cooling moisture through their leaves).  According to the U.S. Forest Service, three or more large trees planted on the southwest side of a house can reduce air-conditioning costs as much as 30 percent.  Just shading an air conditioning unit can capture a 10-percent savings.  And in some locations, winter heating costs can be reduced 5 percent by using evergreen trees to buffer prevailing winds and severe cold.

Other Bottom-line Benefits

Public works budgets can also achieve big savings with trees. The Center for Urban Forestry recently reported that streets shaded by trees need less maintenance. For example, shaded asphalt requires only two-and-a-half slurry seals over 30 years, slashing resealing costs by 60 percent. Because trees intercept rainfall and reduce stormwater runoff, investing in them, or preserving existing trees, can preclude the need for costly stormwater systems. An American Forests study of the Delaware Valley estimated that the existing tree cover in the nine-county region detained 53 million cubic feet of stormwater. Without trees, the region would have had to spend over $105 million to build retention ponds and other engineered systems to intercept this water.

Pollutant Removal

Trees improve air quality by removing nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon

monoxide (CO), ozone(O3), and particulate matter 10 microns or less (PM10) in size. The

Delaware Valley study calculated that, in one year, the Delaware Valley region’s trees removed 73 million lbs. valued at $167 million. Trees help clean the air by storing and sequestering carbon in the wood. Total storage and the rate at which carbon is stored (sequestration) can be measured. In one year, the Philadelphia region’s urban forest stored 26.8 million tons of carbon and sequestered 8,585 tons per year.

The Delaware Valley study focused on four urban watersheds including the Big Timber Creek in Camden and Gloucester counties. Three different types of sites in the watershed were selected for in-depth analysis, including an area within a manufacturing park, a neighborhood in Lindenwold with several multi-family residential buildings, and a single-family home development in Washington Township. The benefits of trees in these three sites are as follows:

Building A Forest With how important trees are it is easy to see why South Jersey Land & Water Trust (SJLWT) is restoring a forest and establishing a pollinator meadow on its Oldmans Creek Preserve in Auburn, NJ this spring! To build this forest we need your participation and financial support to acquire and plant the trees.

Contribute to Funding a Forest!  Your support will create a new forest on the South Jersey Land & Water Trust’s Oldmans Creek Preserve but we must begin the process now for the greatest success.  To get the forest started at the Oldmans Creek Preserve, we need to plant now! This will give the mix of deciduous and evergreen trees an opportunity to establish themselves during the spring rains. Click here or below to learn more and help fund a forest!

Help Build A Forest!