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Tree Leaves Fight Pollution - ScienceNOW

Tree Leaves Fight Pollution - ScienceNOW:

Missing the green in our deciduous midwest? Soon the leaves will begin their work for us. Ever asked what we do for them?

"Environmental organizations keep reminding us that we need to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. But plants are already doing their part. Research in Science shows that deciduous tree leaves suck up far more atmospheric pollutants than previously thought."

In the News...

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Plant 7 Trees A Year And You’re Carbon Neutral

"According to carbonfootprint.com it is estimated that the average person needs to save about 7,000 kg of CO2 per year. So planting just 7 trees each year is one strategy for achieving this...
Tree planting is recognised the world over as a practical short-term solution to offsetting carbon dioxide and it’s probably the easiest and most tangible way to offset your carbon emissions. Each tree planted ‘offsets’ your environmental impact by ‘breathing’ in about 1 tonne of CO2 emissions over its lifetime of 100 years."
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Tree study gets to root of diversity, growth link

"Trees do not make good neighbors, at least to their own kind."
Young seedlings tend to die if an adult tree of the same species is nearby. This is one way forests maintain diversity. Now, a group of researchers show that abundant tree species are less susceptible to disease inflicted by soil-borne organisms.

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City Park Facts

The Center for City Park Excellence maintains the nation's most complete database of park facts for the largest 85 U.S. cities.

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Open Space Conservation

"Close to 80 percent of the U.S. population (220 million people) lives in urban areas and depends on the essential ecological, economic, and social benefits provided by urban trees and forests. However, the distribution of urban tree cover and the benefits of urban forests vary across the United States, as do the challenges of sustaining this important resource. As urban areas expand across the country, the importance of the benefits that urban forests provide, as well as the challenges to their conservation and maintenance, will increase. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the current status and benefits of America's urban forests, compare differences in urban forest canopy cover among regions, and discuss challenges facing urban forests and their implications for urban forest management."

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Complete Streets: Streets as Public Space

Streets should be community assets, compatible with built and natural environments, and reflect the balanced needs of the community and transportation networks - part of public spaces, green and attractive.

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Top 50 Forestry Blogs

Top 50 Forestry Blogs

Find everything you need to know about trees, forest management, urban forestry, conservation, and everything in-between.

Trees a 'low-cost' solution to air pollution and biodiversity loss in cities

"Native woods and trees in urban areas, including gardens, provide haven for wildlife, reduce air pollution, surface run-off and flooding. Reversing the declining numbers of native trees and woods in cities would provide numerous benefits at 'relatively little cost', says a report from the Woodland Trust. As well as access to green space, the report, 'Greening the Concrete Jungle', says trees provide a wide range of free ecosystem services including reducing the risk of surface water flooding and improving air quality that could save millions in flood defence and healthcare costs."

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Evergreen Summer

Summer is the best time for Evergreens!
Find out why...

Exposure to Plants and Parks Can Boost Immunity

"In a series of studies, scientists found that when people swap their concrete confines for a few hours in more natural surroundings — forests, parks and other places with plenty of trees — they experience increased immune function."

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Green Streets for All

"The National Building Museum’s Smart Growth lecture series featured Adam Ortiz, Mayor of Edmonston, Maryland, who put forward his community’s innovative green street as a model, saying that the time has come for green infrastructure best practice to become common practice. Edmonston’s green street, which cost some $1.3 million and took 2-3 years to complete, represents his community’s attempt to “take responsibility” for remedying unsustainable stormwater managment practices. “If a small town can do this, anyone can.”"

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Two groups ring up dollar value of local trees

In an attempt to educate the public about the monetary value of trees, 2 groups in Liberty, MO recently fastened oversized price tags to trees around the downtown area bearing a monetary value on the potential lifetime benefits the tree will pay back to the community.

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Tree census: Chicago-area trees to be counted

"Working in close collaboration with the Forest Service, arboretum census takers are counting the trees in the Chicago region this summer. The aim is to get an accurate count of each species living in yards, parkways and parklands in every city, town and unincorporated area of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties."

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Denver tree program trains veterans to be urban foresters - Alliance for Community Trees

Veterans City Canopy is a new program training homeless veterans to be urban foresters. Veterans Green Jobs, a Denver nonprofit that helps homeless veterans get the skills and experience to join the green-jobs economy, has a contract to plant free shade trees in homeowners' front yards.

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Urban trees help migrating birds

"Even a small urban forest can help migrating birds, a study has said. US researchers found that birds used the patches of greenery to rest and refuel in the middle of their journey between winter and breeding sites."

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Trees Mean Jobs

The proposed reauthorization of a national tree-planting program will produce an estimated economic impact of $741 million over the next five years according to a recent study. In addition, the program would create a total employment impact of more than 6,000 jobs during those five years, generating more than $87 million in revenue for federal, state and local governments at a time when municipal greening budgets continue to be cut.
The Small Business Environmental Stewardship Assistance Act (SBESA) is currently being considered in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. Read more about how you can help ANLA's effort to reauthorize the national tree planting program at www.treesmeanjobs.com."
ANLA.org American Nursery and Landscape Association

Designing Wildlife Habitats

During the Dumbarton Oaks symposium on “Designing Wildlife Habitats,” a range of ecologists and landscape architects analyzed various aspects of the relationship between people and nature, and how these relationships take form in natural, managed, and even restored wildlife habitats. Speakers also explored cutting-edge thinking on “ecological infrastructure” and ”human-nature interaction design,” ideas that can guide the future development of both designed landscapes and conservation systems.
Restoring the Balance between People and Nature through Wildlife Habitat Design

Ecologists and landscape architects also explored challenges and opportunities with wildlife habitat restoration in urban areas, and the impact of climate change. Speakers offered more variations on the idea of ecological infrastructure, arguing that interdisciplinary design teams are needed to create these multi-use systems. Speakers also concluded that designers and scientists must work harder to tell stories that spark the imagination of the broader public. Otherwise, the value of biodiversity won’t be understood.
Recreating Wildlife Habitat in Cities

The benefits of an urban forest in the concrete jungle

Their benefits go far beyond aesthetics. 'The roots and the canopies make a natural stormwater filtration system. It would also be a lot hotter here, and trees do their part in keeping the air clean, too,' said Jorgenson, whose Community Forestry Office operates under the Parks and Recreation Department. 'For us, it's not about planting trees because they look pretty. We recognize all the benefits they have and try to bring as many trees in as we can.'"

Each year, street trees intercept 19 million gallons of stormwater-a service worth more than $96,000 to the City of Boise. City-owned street trees also absorb and trap air pollutants like carbon dioxide, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Researchers estimate that a full 900 tons of CO2 emissions are either pulled from the air or foregone because of photosynthesis each year, along with almost 7,000 pounds of ozone and 1,350 pounds of nitrogen dioxide. All that pollution control is worth a total of $6,292.

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