Data to Advocacy – New Tools to Promote Trees

He invoked visions of his sisters playing in the shade of the threatened tree and birds singing in its branches. And thus went his argument for letting the old oak stand. 

Today, sentiment and even aesthetics are not enough to protect the trees of our communities. Instead, it takes powerful arguments based on economics and tangible benefits. It takes statistics that show property value increases or the amount of money saved in reduced energy consumption. It takes evidence that trees fight trends in climate change or help protect the quality of water supplies. 

To help shift the emphasis away from aesthetics and sentiments and toward the consideration of trees as an essential, contributing part of a city’s infrastructure, a whole tool kit of research-based, computer-dependent programs have been developed. In this issue, we highlight some that are available and explain what they can do to help you promote community forestry. When trees are viewed as a working community asset, there will be more trees planted and better care of those that already enrich our cities and towns. The new tools provide yet another means to develop the public support and the management necessary to help meet a goal of Tree City USA – continuous, systematic tree care through¬out America.

Even though beautification is an important contribution of trees and other plants in urban settings, today it is essential to highlight the practical benefits that trees provide. New research-based tools can show how much trees clean the air, protect water quality, and save money while at the same time make life more enjoyable.