Benefits of trees

Ever wonder what role trees really play in our lives? When a tree is lost, it becomes clear the role that missing tree played in our landscape. In our corner of northeast Colorado, we cherish our trees. Investing in trees is a high priority whether the trees are for a windbreak or adding to the landscape.

When people think of the benefits of trees, they think about shade and the oxygen they provide or what aesthetic feature they bring to the landscape, such as a pretty flower or wonderful fall color. But their benefits go much deeper than that. One single tree removes 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air, according to onetreeplanted.org. As a tree matures to age 40, the tree has captured 1 ton of carbon dioxide. Studies show the longer a tree grows and the bigger a tree gets, the more carbon dioxide it can store.

Trees have amazing cooling capacity. When a car is parked under a tree, the temperature in the shade can be from 20-45 F cooler. This doesn’t even speak to the cooling capacity of a tree. One single young, healthy tree has as much cooling capacity as 10 single-room air conditioners operating 20 hours a day, according to the Arbor Day Foundation. The U.S. Forest Service states that trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30% and can save 20%–50% in energy used for heating.

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