Trees can be very long lived. In a wild state, some trees can live for a few thousand years. Several hundred years is not uncommon in many forest species. However, the average age of human-planted, urban trees is likely less than ten years. This is true because a very high number of newly planted trees don’t survive the early establishment years. Reasons for this will be discussed below. Given good conditions, urban trees in Albuquerque should be expected to live 50-100 years, depending on species and location. Most of Albuquerque is not naturally a good environment for trees, so we need to care for them appropriately to get them to live longer. Older trees are larger trees, and larger trees provide more of the benefits that we get from urban trees.