Trees are vital, functional parts of our communities, our homes and yards, and our lives.
Just as importantly, most of us simply like trees. We especially like large, mature trees to shade our homes and streets and beautify our communities. Large trees are also more effective than small trees in cooling urban areas, using carbon dioxide from the air, reducing water runoff and soil erosion, and generally improving our environment. Unfortunately, trees in our cities and communities often do not grow long enough or well enough to become nearly as large or as old as they would in typical forest conditions. Forest trees may live to be hundreds of years old or more, but the average city tree lives only 32 years and inner city trees only seven years.