Economic Benefit of Trees

Contents

• What is the Value of Trees?
• Measuring the Value of Trees
• Related MRSC Pages
  • Urban Forestry
  • Trees and Climate Change

What is the Value of Trees?

• Benefits of Trees - National Arbor Foundation
• Benefits of Trees, Treelink - Links to articles on the benefits of trees
• The Benefits of Urban Trees, Urban and Community Forestry: Improving Our Quality of Life, Forestry Report R8-FR 17/USDA Forest Service
• Greenbacks in the Greenery: Never Forget the Economic Value of Trees, Parks and Open Spaces, by Catherine Benotto of Weber + Thompson,  Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, April 18, 2002
• Grow for the Gold: Trees in Business Districts, () by Kathleen L. Wolf, Center for Urban Horticulture, University of Washington. Tree Link, Spring 1999.
• Human Dimensions of the Urban Foresty Fact Sheets, Center for Urban Horticulture, University of Washington November 1998. Research funded by the USDA Forest Service, Project Director Kathleen L. Wolf. Reprinted with permission.
  • Urban Growth Benefits: Psycho-Social Dimensions of People and Plant, Fact Sheet #1 ()
  • Growing with Green: Business Districts and the Urban Forest, Fact Sheet #2 ()
  • Urban Forest Values: Economic Benefits of Trees in Cities, Fact Sheet #3 ()
  • Trees in Business Districts: Comparing Values of Consumers and Business, Fact Sheet #4 ()
  • Trees in Business Districts: Positive Effects on Consumer Behavior, Fact Sheet #5 ()
• Trees Mean Business: Trees and the Retail Landscape, Kathleen L. Wolf, Mainstreet News,  No. 263, August 2009, Entire Issue MRSC Library Loan
• Values of Urban Trees - A Technical Guide to Urban and Community Forestry, US Forest Service, Saint Paul Field Office  - Includes method of inventory and appraisal

Measuring the Value of Trees

• Center for Urban Forest Research, US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
  • STRATUM - A street tree management and analysis tool for urban forest managers that uses tree inventory data to quantify the dollar value of annual environmental and aesthetic benefits: energy conservation, air quality improvement, CO2 reduction, stormwater control, and property value increase
  • Municipal Forest Resource Analysis - List of reports with links
• National Tree Benefit Calculator 
• Regional Ecosystem Analysis (REA), American Forests - Process that uses a combination of satellite data, field surveys, CITYgreen software and other Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology

Related MRSC Resources
MRSC Index – Urban forest management