While the members of CityTrees may not be poets themselves, they appreciate the sentiments Kilmer expressed in his most famous poem. Moreover, CityTrees is working to increase the size of Redwood City's urban forest, not just because trees are lovely, but because they are useful, and without an active advocate, their benefits can be overlooked and underappreciated.

The aesthetic benefits of trees are probably the ones that people are most likely to mention when naming them. Everyone experiences them, and they have been the subject of human meditation for countless centuries. Who has not, at one time, watched the sunlight play on the ground beneath a tree, listened to the wind rustling the leaves, or stopped to look at the spectacle of a Liquidamber's fiery red leaves in the fall? A tree-filled landscape is the most familiar environment for people, and the most pleasant. It is why, even in arid regions that are not naturally full of trees, people plant them in proximity to where they live.

Besides being pleasant, trees have economic benefits. Indirect benefits, although hard to quantify exactly, include increased property values for individual homes, and whole neighborhoods, with mature trees. Direct benefits may come from home energy use for cooling and heating. A tree-shaded house uses less energy for air conditioning in summer, and a house with trees acting as a windbreak has reduced heating costs in winter. The energy saved individually, when totalled for an entire community, can reach thousands of dollars. Look at this calculator devised by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District that estimates electricity savings for cooling based on trees planted adjacent to a home.

Trees also have environmental benefits. They prevent soil erosion, and reduce rainwater runoff. They cool the air around themselves, by absorbing the sun's heat. Conversely, they prevent heat loss from the ground during the night, so that frost and dew fall are less common under trees. They absorb carbon dioxide, and give off oxygen. They absorb air pollutants, such as ozone and carbon monoxide. In short, they make the environment around them livable.

Unlike trees in non-urban spaces, urban trees need people. People must choose to plant and care for the trees that grow in their communities, on both public and private property. CityTrees members work with the city of Redwood City to ensure that its urban forest is healthy and growing.

• The number of municipal trees has increased from about 7 million in 1988 to an estimated 8 million in 2003.
• The ratio of plantings to removals has actually decreased from about 7 to 1 in 1988 to about 4.5 to 1 in 2003. Overall, cities have averaged roughly a 4% net increase per year in their tree inventories since 1988.
• About 22% of the cities and counties reporting removing more trees than they planted in 2003, up from 18% in 1988 having declined to 15% in 1992 and 1998.
• The lack of growing space for street trees is increasingly the leading factor in constraining species choice. This led to the growing dominance of small-stature, short-lived species for street tree use led by Crape Myrtle followed by Chinese Pistache and pear species (mainly Bradford pear).
• Urban forestry is still heavily dependent upon taxpayer support through city or county general funds. The average city tree budget per resident has declined in constant dollars from around $3 in 1988 to $2 in 2003; the median has declined from over $4 to about $3. However, small cities have actually increased spending somewhat while cities with populations over 100,000 have sharply reduced spending since 1992.
• Large city programs are adding full-time staff while a greater number of smaller programs have reduced staff.
• Community support for municipal tree programs has improved slightly since 1988 but still over 40% do not have Tree Boards and just over one-quarter have a tree advocacy organization.
• In 1992, 65% of the respondents had a tree ordinance with about the same number feeling they needed one. As of 2003, programs with an ordinance and those needing one increased to 80%. The ordinance provision that seems most effective is requiring tree planting as a condition for a new development.
• The most frequently and consistently cited benefits of their green infrastructure are in the areas of community pride and the economic contribution to business and property values.
• The #1 need of tree programs is more funding and citizen support (#3). Planting space was ranked # 2. The need for better tree care has dropped to # 4 rank probably due in large part to the push for certified tree care workers, both in the public and private sector.

Please return soon!

Please return soon!

1. Safety - Work safely for yourself and others around you.
2. The leaves are the food producing parts of the tree that feed the tree. Removal of too many leaves can stunt growth.
3. Every cut made to a tree is a wound. Properly made pruning wounds can be naturally grown over and have inherent decay resistance.

Other objectives of pruning:

• Remove crossing and rubbing branches so that each branch has its own open area in which to grow.
• Perform correct pruning cuts so the tree retains natural decay resistance.
• Identify temporary branches and permanent branches. On small trees, temporary branches can be left along the lower trunk to help the trunk attain a larger diameter sooner. The temporary branches are removed before they exceed one to two inches in diameter so the pruning wound will be relatively small.
• A correct pruning cut will result in the removal of a branch back to a lateral branch that is at least ½ the diameter of the branch that is being cut.

See this website by Professor Ed Gilman of the University of Florida for comprehensive information about pruning.

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