The Tree Doctor: A Guide to Tree Care and Maintenance

The Tree Doctor: A Guide to Tree Care and Maintenance

The benefits of trees

For many of us, trees are a constant force in our lives. They flourish in our backyards, city streets and neighborhood parks, lending an air of humble nobility to the frenetic pace of our daily routines. In northern climates, the changing characteristics of deciduous trees signal the arrival of new seasons. The blazing foliage of red, orange and yellow leaves sheds with the approach of winter, and fresh buds and green growth appear during spring, a time of renewed life. In the south, the live oak, a popular and characteristic shade tree, remains stately and vibrant all year long. Many tree species throughout Canada and the United States, such as the giant Douglas fir of the Pacific Northwest, the flowering magnolia of the Deep South and the syrup-producing sugar maple of the Northeast, are cherished symbols of home, valued for their distinct features, their strength and their beauty.

The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), the largest and most influential organization of its kind, serves the tree-care industry as a scientific and educational organization. The ISA has published a brochure on the benefits of trees, which are outlined in this chapter. Tree owners know that the impact that trees have on a landscape transcends their size and stature. Trees make life pleasant for us and also offer social benefits.

Time spent amidst a grove of trees is often relaxing. While painters and writers have been inspired by the aesthetic and spiritual appeal of trees, hospital patients have been known to recover from surgery more quickly when their rooms offer views of trees. We see the strong ties between people and trees when community residents protest the removal of trees to widen city streets and when individuals make valiant efforts to save large or historic trees. Trees benefit our communities by bringing groups together in neighborhood plantings.

We often become personally attached to trees — and why not? Trees are fun! No play equipment will ever replace a good climbing tree. Trees add color, form and dimension to our gardens. They are our steadfast companions, lasting for lifetimes.

Because of their potential for long lives, trees are frequently planted as living memorials, establishing links to our past. Counted among the Earth’s longest living and largest organisms, many trees last between 100 and 200 years, or even longer. The eastern hemlock, for example, can live between 600 and 1,000 years. Even smaller trees, which are considered short-lived, typically survive between 60 and 80 years.

In addition to providing social benefits, trees alter the environment in which we live by moderating the climate, improving air quality, conserving water and providing refuge to wildlife.

Trees help make our city streets more aesthetically pleasing and natural looking. Trees help prevent soil erosion in hills and ravines, and along waterways. Trees also support an underground network of life, which helps keep the soil around them healthy.

Radiant energy from the sun is absorbed or deflected by leaves on deciduous trees in the summer and is filtered by their branches during the winter. Trees also combat wind speed — the more compact the foliage on the trees or group of trees, the greater the influence of the windbreak — and have an impressive ability to muffle noise. Leaves and small branches act as baffles, absorbing and deflecting sound. Trees divert the downward fall of rain; they also intercept water and store some of it, thereby reducing storm runoff and the possibility of flooding.

Leaves filter the air we breathe by removing dust and other particles. They absorb carbon dioxide from the air to form carbohydrates that are used in the structure and function of woody plants. In this process, leaves also absorb other air pollutants, such as ozone, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. The combined chemistry of the thousands of leaves on each tree eliminates an enormous volume of pollutants from the air. After processing all of the chemicals, trees give off water and oxygen.