Did You Know?
• Communities with trees are safer, more sociable and less prone to domestic violence. (University of Illinois Human-Environment Research Laboratory)
• Seattle’s EarthCorps is working with the local government and up to 10,000 volunteers to revive 3,700 acres of dying forests in the city’s parks. (EarthCorps)
• The city of Toronto would have to spend $16 billion to replace the trees making up its extensive urban forest. (Tree Canada Foundation)
• Portland’s volunteers have countered a trend toward diminishing urban forests by increasing the city’s canopy cover from 25.1% to 26.3%. (Friends of Trees)
• A community’s urban forest is not only an extension of its pride and community spirit. It can also increase property values by 10-15%, encourage shoppers to stay in a commercial district longer and spend more, and reduce rates of workplace absenteeism. (Michigan State University Urban Forestry)
• Windbreak trees can reduce home heating costs by 25%. (American Forests)
• Sacramento, California, which claims more trees per capita than any city in the world and savings of up to $40 million annually through reduced energy and infrastucture costs, is working with volunteers on a program to double its tree canopy cover. (Sacramento Tree Foundation)
• A typical large tree produces enough oxygen every day to supply four people. (International Society of Arboriculture)
• In Modesto, California, city officials increased the budget for trees after receiving a study showing that for each $1 invested in urban forest management, $1.89 in benefits is returned to residents. (Center for Urban Forest Research)
• The TreePeople group in Los Angeles has organized thousands of volunteers in planting more than 2 million trees. It now also advises the White House on urban ecology and is creating a stormwater retrofit plan for all L.A. (TreePeople)