The Time For Trees Is Now

An arboretum is a fancy word for a collection of trees. This collection can be purposed for education, science, propagation, beauty and aesthetic, research, or any other mix of reasons. In the case of the Urban Arboretum, the collection is mainly for beauty and education.

An urban forest is also a collection of trees that grow within the confines of a municipality. This urban forest provides a direct link to nature and the benefits this link provides while still residing symbiotically within the city or town. We support planting the “right trees in the right places” to best leverage every available benefit from the tree while avoiding any potential adverse effect from the tree’s presence.

Aside from the obvious benefit of making a space more aesthetically pleasing, the arboretum and, more specifically, the urban forest provide positive health, economic, social, and environment impacts. This positive role can be utilized by a city, town, or neighborhood for the benefit of the residents and municipality as a whole.

Street Trees- filtering air, sunlight (70-90% of the sun’s energy is reflected back into the atmosphere), and water; safer local conditions; shade (neighborhood temps drop by up to 10 degree); local business benefit and tourism; improved property values, etc.

Parks- recreation, improved mental and physical health, family space, community space, etc.

Residential- systematically planting strong, fast growing trees around your home can reduce energy consumption by 20%, provide shade for more play/enjoyment outdoors, lower resting blood pressure by 15%, and increase property value all without negatively impacting your home.

Health- decades of research shows that exposure to nature can help improve mood, lower blood pressure, boost immunity, and even reduce recovery times in the hospital. Planting trees close to/in sight of where you spend time will lower cortisol levels and merely living within 100 meters of a tree reduces rates of depression. The simple act of planting a tree can naturally improve your mood by exposing you to a microbe, Mycobacterium vaccae, which has been found to increase the brain’s production of serotonin. This microbe is ubiquitous in the soil and new research has discovered this positive effect. Even the Mayo Clinic, the nations best-ranked hospital, is using trees for more than just landscaping- they’re leveraging trees as part of the treatment plan.

Rainwater/Runoff Management- a mature tree can intercept 1,000+ gallons of rainwater per year. This lessens the stress on municipal drains/sewers, decreases or eliminates the need for detention ponds, and improves water quality through the ability of trees to filter and intercept pollutants.

Wildlife- Planting trees where previous habitat was lost or to support movement between habitats can improve bodiversity and support species for generations to come.