(chorus from Isaiah 55)
When last winter's ice storm ravaged Toronto's tree canopy it was pointed out that one of the "savings" of the Rob Ford regime was eliminating several million dollars worth of tree maintenance. With all the mayor's scandalous behavior the lack of arboreal hygiene may seem rather insignificant. But I though of this when TD Bank released a report on the value of Toronto's urban forest. Here is an excerpt from the Globe and Mail newspaper:
Toronto’s 10 million trees are worth an estimated $7-billion or about $700 per tree and the benefits of maintaining an urban forest outweigh the costs, says a new report.
“The replacement value (what it would cost to remove a tree and replant a similar one) of the 10 million trees that make up Toronto’s urban forest is valued at over $7 billion,” TD Economics chief economist Craig Alexander said in an analysis published Monday.
The city’s urban forest provides residents with over $80-million -- about $8 per tree -- in environmental and cost savings every year, the report found.“For the average single family household, this works out to $125 of savings per annum.” Every dollar spent on annual maintenance of the tree stock returns between $1.35 and $3.20 worth of benefits and cost savings per year, according to the report’s estimates.
Among the annual benefits provided by the more than 116 tree species:
- $53.95-million from the reduced strain on water transportation and infrastructure thanks to rain and wet-weather flow interception
- $19.09-million from air pollutants absorbed, removed and avoided by street trees
- $6.42-million from energy saved through shading and climate moderation
- $1.24-million from carbon sequestration and emissions avoided through energy savings
Like, wow. I don't know what is more impressive, the analysis, or that a bank has done the research. The bible tells us that trees are creatures, and gifts from God. I think they are probably applauding this report.
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