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 The scope and condition of a community's trees and, collectively, its urban forest, is usually the first impression a community projects to its visitors. A community's urban forest is an extension of its pride and community spirit.
Studies have shown that:
* Trees enhance community economic stability by attracting businesses and tourists.
* People linger and shop longer along tree-lined streets.
* Apartments and offices in wooded areas rent more quickly and have higher occupancy rates.
* Businesses leasing office spaces in developments with trees find their workers are more productive and absenteeism is reduced.
* Property values increase 5-15 percent when compared to properties without trees (depends on species, maturity, quantity and location)
* A 1976 study that evaluated the effects of several different variables on homes in Manchester, Connecticut, found that street trees added about $2686 or 6% to the sale price of a home.
* A more recent study indicated that trees added $9,500, or more than 18 percent, to the average sale price of a residence in a suburb of Rochester, New York.
Two University of Illinois researchers (Kuo and Sullivan) studied how well residents of the Chicago Robert Taylor Housing Project (the largest public housing development in the world) were doing in their daily lives based upon the amount of contact they had with trees, and came to the following conclusions:
* Trees have the potential to reduce social service budgets, decrease police calls for domestic violence, strengthen urban communities, and decrease the incidence of child abuse according to the study. When Chicago officials heard that message, the city government spent $10 million to plant 20,000 trees.
* Residents who live near trees have significantly better relations with and stronger ties to their neighbors.
* Researchers found fewer reports of physical violence in homes that had trees outside the buildings. Of the residents interviewed, 14 percent of residents living in barren conditions have threatened to use a knife or gun against their children versus 3 percent for the residents living in green conditions.
* Studies have shown that hospital patients with a view of trees out their windows recover much faster and with fewer complications than similar patients without such views.
* A Texas A&M study indicates that trees help create relaxation and well being.
* A U.S. Department of Energy study reports that trees reduce noise pollution by acting as a buffer and absorbing 50 percent of urban noise.
A large front yard tree in a San Joaquin Valley community like Modesto (dry like Colorado) provides the following benefits each year:
* Saves $30 in summertime air conditioning by shading the building and cooling the air (250 kWh), about 9 percent of total annual air conditioning cost.
* Absorbs 10 lbs of air pollutants, including 4 lbs of ozone and 3 lbs of particulates. The value of pollutant uptake by the tree is $45 using the local market price of emission reduction credits. Uptake of NO by the tree is equivalent to NO emitted by a typical car driven 3,600 miles.
* Intercepts 760 gal of rainfall in its crown, thereby reducing runoff of polluted stormwater and flooding. This benefit is valued at $6 based on local expenditures for water quality management and flood control.
* Cleans 330 lbs of CO2 (90 lbs C) from the atmosphere through direct sequestration in the tree's wood and reduced power plant emissions due to cooling energy savings. The value of this benefit is $5 assuming the California Energy Commission's price of $30/ton. This tree reduces the same amount of atmospheric CO2 as released by a typical car driven 500 miles.
* Adds about 1 percent to the sales price of the property, or about $25 each year when annualized over a 40-year period. This assumes a median residential property sales price of $100,000.
* The value of all benefits is $111 in this example. Typically, a city will spend $20-$40 per year to maintain a street tree of this size (sometimes located in a front yard easement) and a resident will spend about $10 per year maintaining a large yard tree. Our benefit-cost analysis for Modesto's 90,000 street/park trees found $1.89 returned annually for every $1 invested in stewardship.
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