5 Little-Known Benefits of Urban Forests that Boost Quality of Life

By John Campanini

Urban forestry is vital to the health and well-being of today’s cities and towns. Technically, urban forestry includes planting, maintaining, caring for, and protecting trees in urban areas. It also includes the planned connections of the city’s green spaces, including landscaped boulevards, parks gardens, side tree boxes, and river and coastal walkways. Put simply, Urban forestry makes a difference in our lives often without us knowing it.

Urban forestry recognizes that trees are a critical part of a city’s urban infrastructure—from individual street trees and urban green spaces to shady school groves and suburban forests. Urban forests comprise much of America’s canopy. Altogether, over 140 million acres of America’s landscape are in the country’s cities and towns. Rhode Island is notable for its 286,000 acres of urban and community land with 52% overall tree cover.

Rhode Island also is among the top five of all US states for urban and community land as a percent of total state land area. Forests in Rhode Island cover 56% or 368,373 acres of state land. An estimated 213 acres or 58% of the state’s forested land is considered core forest, defined as blocks of forested land greater than 250 acres in size. The state’s 38,000 private landowners collectively control about 68% of the state’s forestland.

Benefits of Urban Forests

The Value of Rhode Island’s Forests, a joint project of the Rhode Island Advisory Committee and the Rhode Island Tree Council, provides a more in-depth look at what the state’s forests contribute to the community. The project was developed for the RI DEM Division of Forest Environment and made possible with funding from the USDA Forest Service. Below are some little-known benefits that Urban forestry in the state provide:

·         Trees cut air pollution.

Trees generate their food by combing carbon dioxide (CO2), water, sunlight, and soil elements. The process cleanses our atmosphere and releases oxygen for us to breathe. Trees also trap particular pollutants, like ash, pollen, smoke, and dust, and absorb CO2 and other dangerous gases harmful to living beings. Plus, trees produce enough oxygen on each acre for 18 people daily.

·         Trees fight the greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect occurs when our atmosphere prevents heat from the sun from radiating back into space by air-polluting gases. That boosts temperatures globally and threatens everyone on the planet. Trees reduce the greenhouse effect. They shade homes and office buildings, cut air conditioning needs by about 30%, and reduce the impact the burning of fossil fuels for electricity has on our atmosphere.

·         Trees conserve water, cut soil erosion

If cities lacked trees, they’d have to increase sewerage and storm water drainage channels and add waste treatment capacities to deal with more water runoff. That can boost a city’s infrastructure costs dramatically. Trees help cut those costs. Tree roots, for example, increase soil permeability. That, in turn, reduces surface runoff of water from storms, cuts soil erosion and sedimentation, increases groundwater recharge, and reduces wind erosion of soil.

·         Trees reduce heat-related health problems

Excessive heat and airborne pollutants can dramatically increase health-related problems within an urban community. Trees reduce these problems. The moderate city temperatures decrease respiratory ailments caused by lowering airborne pollutants and supply relief in an often-stressful city life. Residents are also encouraged to walk in their neighborhoods daily when a beautiful tree landscape exists. This activity keeps people fit and encourages social interactions.

·         Trees boost economic stability

Cities that feature significant urban forestry thrive compared to those that don’t. Studies show that have an expanded urban forest:

• Attractive more businesses and tourists
• Help landlords rent apartments and offices faster
• Boost employee productivity while cutting absenteeism
• Encourage shoppers to shop longer along tree-lined streets
• Boost a city’s pride and community spirit

Trees also help block or absorb city noise in an urban environment and help create a positive first impression among visitors.

Practical, Productive, and Practicable

The five items mentioned above are just some of the benefits urban forests provide. They also decrease crime, lower levels of social disorder, boost commercial property values, increase perceptions of safety, moderate local climate, and provide forage for humans and animals. These benefits grow over time. Trees strategically planted and maintained over time can generate returns up to three times the costs of planting and maintaining them.

Put simply, urban forests are not only productive and cost-effective but also practical and healthy. They provide economic, physical, social, emotional, and psychological benefits to a city’s residents. They also provide benefits for children. A recent study indicates the more interaction children with ADD have with nature, the more manageable their symptoms. With all these things going for urban forests, creating more of them makes sense.

 John Campanini is technical director of the Rhode Island Tree Council (RITree). A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, he was city forester for Providence for more than twenty years before retiring.