The Benefit of Trees

---

• Trees make life nicer. It has been shown that spending time among trees and green spaces reduces the amount of stress that we carry around with us in our daily lives.
• Hospital patients have been shown to recover from surgery more quickly when their hospital room offered a view of trees.
• Children have been shown to retain more of the information taught in schools if they spend some of their time outdoors in green spaces.
• Trees are often planted as living memorials or reminders of loved ones or to commemorate significant events in our lives.

• Even though you may own the trees on your property your neighbors may benefit from them as well.
• Through careful planning trees can be an asset to your entire community.
• Tree lined streets have a traffic calming effect, traffic moves more slowly and safely.
• Trees can be placed to screen unwanted views or noise from busy highways.
• Trees can complement the architecture or design of buildings or entire neighborhoods.

• Trees offer many environmental benefits.
• Trees reduce the urban heat island effect through evaporative cooling and reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches parking lots and buildings. This is especially true in areas with large impervious surfaces, such as parking lots of stores and industrial complexes.
• Trees improve our air quality by filtering harmful dust and pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide from the air we breathe.
• Trees give off oxygen that we need to breathe.
• Trees reduce the amount of storm water runoff, which reduces erosion and pollution in our waterways and may reduce the effects of flooding.
• Many species of wildlife depend on trees for habitat. Trees provide food, protection, and homes for many birds and mammals.

• Well placed trees can reduce your cooling costs in the summer by shading the south and west sides of your home. If deciduous trees are used they will allow the sun to pass through and warm your home in the winter.
• Evergreen trees on the north side of your home and shrubs around the foundation of your home can act as a windbreak to reduce the cooling effects of winter winds.
• The value of a well landscaped home with mature healthy trees can be as much as 10% higher than a similar home with no or little landscaping. (Topping will reduce the value of your trees)
• Some indirect economic benefits of trees are that if we reduce the energy we use then utility companies will have less demand placed on the infrastructure, thus reducing operating costs which can be passed on to the consumer.

from the Tree Advisory Group of Bowling Green, Kentucky

Improve water quality in Crooked Creek and White River
Demonstrate the effect of wetlands on water quality in small watersheds
Serve as a local and regional watershed and wetland education center

Crooked Creek is an urban stream that originates in southern Hamilton County, flows southerly through Pike and Washington Townships in Marion County, and discharges into the White River through Lake Sullivan, a lake dredged from a large wetland complex in northwest Center Township in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Crooked Creek watershed drains an area of approximately 20 square miles and includes well established residential areas, highly intensive commercial uses, both light and heavy industry, and land in agricultural use, most of which is expected to be developed in the coming years. Crooked Creek has been dredged periodically and is degraded by urbanization. Water quality problems include heavy sediment loads from uncontrolled construction sites, septic effluents, the discharge of raw sewage from surcharging sewers during moderate rainfalls, and nonpoint source pollutants such as pesticides, fertilizers, and petroleum products that enter the creek in stormwater runoff. Flooding also is a problem in the watershed. More than 100 homes are located in the 100-year floodplain, and floods of record have resulted in significant damages.

From The Center for Earth and Science IUPUI