As spring arrives in Richmond, we are beginning to have a canopy of beauty as our wonderful trees sprout their flowers and their leaves. The value of all the great trees in our community is often underestimated, so think of these facts:
• Beauty: perhaps you memorized the poem in high school that began, “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree…” and we can understand the poetic language that describes the trees around us. They also become homes for birds and other animals. Few things add more beauty to a home or to a town than lots of trees.
• Savings: Their shade cools in the summer and breaks the cold winds in the winter. Properly placed trees saves energy: 30% in air conditioning and 20-50% in heating. Also, their ground-hugging properties prevent erosion and run off.
• Property value: if you want to increase your property’s value then include some trees since a mature tree adds $1,000 up to $10,000 or even 10% to a property’s value.
• Health: one acre of forest absorbs 6 Ton of carbon dioxide and puts out 4 Ton of oxygen—enough for the annual needs of 18 people. Also, studies show that trees decrease stress, blood pressure, and muscle tension.
• Recreation: how about a nice picnic or relaxing on a blanket or a hammock in the shade of a tree? Or, as Robert Louis Stevenson writes: “How do you like to go up in a swing? Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it is the pleasantest thing ever a child can do?”
If you already make Richmond home, enjoy the great trees we have and plant some more. If you live elsewhere, consider our invitation to come and live “under the trees.”
