Erosion increased and the decline of the Bay began. Trees properly located around homes and other buildings provide cooling summer shade, offer protection from chilling winter winds, and maximize energy gains from winter sunlight. Heating bills can be reduced by 30 percent, while cooling costs can be reduced by as much as 50 percent. Trees and shrubs can replace fences and walls by functioning as visual screens and sound barriers. Trees, with their spring blossoms and their fall foliage colors, add much to the beauty and tranquillity of a community.
Trees soften harsh city landscapes by interrupting the vistas of steel and concrete.
Through photosynthesis, trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, helping to control the greenhouse effect which leads to global warming. All these benefits to urban forests produce another attractive advantage - the increase in the real estate value of a home site or other property. The presence of trees has been known to add up to 20 percent to property values. We are losing the benefits of the urban forest at an alarming rate as our forests disappear because of development, pollution, insects, disease and sadly, because of neglect. This loss of forest land is robbing us of the many good things they provide.