Mikaylah Elcock, Write
October 1, 2019
It was reported that 37 million trees are lost annually due across the U.S alone. According to the US Forest Services, this number has taken a significant jump over the past 5 years. These trees have been cut down for city resources such as parking lots, stores, and buildings. It is questioned just how important this report is to the people of the United States.
Do you know how important trees really are? Trees have very significant features such as:
Heat Reduction: Trees provide shade and help with cooling surface temperatures. They also take in and evaporate water, cooling the air around them.
Air Pollution Reduction: This is an obvious one, trees absorb carbon and remove pollutants from the atmosphere then release oxygen.
Energy emissions reduction: Trees reduce energy costs by $4 billion a year, according to Nowak’s study.
Water quality improvement: Trees act as water filters, taking in dirty water, absorbing the nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil.
Flooding reduction: Trees reduce flooding by absorbing water and reducing runoff into streams.
So how do we plan for the trees?
Great question. All we can do is manage, not build forests because nobody wants trees in the middle of a football field.
Prune the dead limbs out of your trees: If they’re small enough, do it yourself. The risk of limbs damaging your house is significantly lowered when trees are well-kept.
Notice when your trees are in trouble: You can observe when things are wrong, such as when branches are losing leaves, breaking or when mushrooms are growing on the trees. You can also contact your local agricultural extension office for advice.
Don’t remove old trees if it’s not necessary: Instead, try taking smaller actions like removing branches. “It takes 50 to 100 years for trees to really get big. Once they’re grown, they can live a long time. However taking a big tree out and trying to replant, isn’t guaranteed.
These are small ways to make a difference or even provide for your community. Trees are important to our daily life and provide for us, it’s our job to provide for them too.
Protect our trees at all costs!
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