Dollar signs

• The New York City Parks Department determined the nearly 600,000 street trees in its five boroughs provide an annual benefit of $122 million—more than five times the cost of maintaining them.
• Studies by Geoffrey Donovan, an economist and research forester at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, and David Butry, an economist with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, found that Portland’s street trees have a capital value of $1.1 billion, which translates to $45 million in benefits annually.
• The Ohio State University Extension’s Why Trees Matter Signature Program discovered Toledo’s street trees provide $15.1 million in annual benefits, including energy benefits (electricity and natural gas savings) and stormwater remediation.
• In Minneapolis, street trees resulted in savings of $6.8 million in energy costs and $9.1 million in stormwater treatment. The trees also increased property values by $7.1 million.
• Shade trees in Washington, D.C. provide more than $10 million in annual carbon, air quality, stormwater, energy and property value benefits.

Although these amounts are impressive, let’s take it down to the homeowner level. Tell the buyer how trees put money back in their accounts.

Homes shaded by trees have 10-30 percent savings in air conditioning costs compared to homes without shade. And homes with trees sell for an average of 10-20 percent more.

The city of Portland wants to plant 33,000 yard trees and 50,000 street trees by July 2013 as part of its five-year, $50 million Grey to Green initiative. The city’s Treebate program offers a utility-bill credit to homeowners who plant trees in their yards. And it’s still funded for this year. Applications will be available in September.

These are quantitative dollar amounts that consumers can grasp.

Bailey Nurseries in St. Paul, Minn., created a tag and point-of-purchase program called Trees are Cool. The program informs customers that a healthy tree cools the air equivalent to 10 room-sized air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

Urban trees also provide natural resource management jobs including tree inventory, inspection and care, landscape maintenance, and environmental impact field work and planning.

For more: Spring Grove Nursery, www.springgrovenursery.com. Bailey Nurseries,  www.baileynurseries.com. Sustainable Sites Initiative, www.sustainablesites.org.