What do trees mean for a city? They filter air and water. They sequester carbon. They provide habitat and shade. They boost property values.
And that’s only a few of their benefits.
Several years ago the city of Pittsburgh realized its 900 miles of streets had only about half as many trees as ideal for a city of similar size. Realizing that trees provided more to the community than simply shade, the city responded to the issue by monetizing its urban forests.
The non-profit Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest (now Tree Pittsburgh) utilized the modeling program i-Tree to determine that the city’s street trees — as in only those in sidewalks or medians — added approximately $2.4 million in environmental and aesthetic value annually. In other words, a return of about $3 for each of the $850,000 spent each year on street tree planting and maintenance. Using these data, the city was able to justify and develop a long-term master plan to expand its urban forest.
“The data has been extremely valuable,†said Matthew Erb, Tree Pittsburgh’s director of urban forestry. “The data is really the backbone of our master plan. Without that data, it would be kind of generic recommendations that you could apply to any city’s master plan.â€
