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--></style><title>Urban forest earns its keep via support of
residents' prop</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Times" size="+1">California 'street tree' benefits
valued at $1 billion</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande">USDA FOREST SERVICE - PACIFIC
SOUTHWEST RESEARCH STATION</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande">PUBLIC
RELEASE: 14-JUN-2016</font></div>
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face="Lucida Grande"
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<div><font face="Lucida Grande">" They even bolster property
values and home sale prices to the tune of $838.94
million.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande">"39 of the 49 studied communities
were over-reliant on a single species, potentially making their urban
forest susceptible to a species-specific disturbance or
pathogen."</font></div>
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face="Lucida Grande"
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<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
Albany, Calif. - Streets lined with gold? Not exactly, but a new
report from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research
Station estimates trees lining Californian streets and boulevards
provide benefits to municipalities and residents worth $1
billion.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
"Structure, Function and Value of Street Trees in California,
USA," published in this month's issue of "<i>Urban Forestry
and Urban Greening</i>," is the most up-to-date and comprehensive
inventory of "street trees" within California. Using
municipal inventories analyzed in i-Tree, a computerized tree
inventory and management suite, researchers were able to create a
composite picture of not only the number of California's street trees,
but also their species, size, location and associated
benefits.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
With an estimated 9.1 million trees lining California's streets and
boulevards, it averages to about one street tree for every four
residents. But according to the recently published study, room remains
for another 16 million street trees to be planted, if resources
allowed.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
"Sometimes it's easy to think of trees along city streets as mere
aesthetics, or worse, a nuisance with falling leaves and limbs or
uprooting sidewalks," said research forester and lead author Greg
McPherson. "But what our study shows is that these trees have a
real monetary benefit to the municipalities and residents who care for
them.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande">"</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande">From carbon storage ($10.32 million)
and removal of air pollutants ($18.15 million) to interception of
rainfall ($41.5 million) and energy savings from both heating and
cooling ($101.15 million), California's street trees are paying big
dividends. They even bolster property values and home sale prices to
the tune of $838.94 million.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
"We've calculated for every $1 spent on planting or maintaining a
street tree, that tree returns, on average, $5.82 in benefits,"
McPherson said. "These trees are benefiting their communities 24
hours a day, 365 days a year."</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
The report also highlights trends and tree demographics McPherson and
his colleagues say they hope will guide urban foresters in future
decisions regarding what trees to plant and where.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
For example, while the number of street trees have increased from 5.9
million in 1988, tree density has actually fallen from 105 to 75 trees
per mile, nearly a 30 percent drop. And while statewide species
diversification appears respectable with only one species claiming
more than 10 percent relative abundance (London planetree at 10.5
percent), individually, 39 of the 49 studied communities were
over-reliant on a single species, potentially making their urban
forest susceptible to a species-specific disturbance or
pathogen.</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande"><br>
"Municipal foresters can use data from this study to see how
their trees compare to other cities in their climate zone or in the
state," McPherson said. "It might help allocate resources,
whether it be to increase planting to address low density or species
diversification, increase pruning to manage predominately younger
trees for structure and form, control pests and disease or intensively
manage older trees so as to not lose them prematurely."<br>
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<div><font face="Verdana"
color="#000000">^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<br>
"Just remember, this is not your grandfather's atmosphere. Things
are different now, and will get even more-so in the coming
years Š "<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#FFFF00"><u
>http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2015/12/02/the-coming-winter-pa<span
></span>rt-two-the-elephant-in-the-room/</u></font></div>
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