Re: 鈥淚f a tree dies in Oak Bay, how much will it cost you?鈥� column, Dec.聽23.
Toronto determined its urban forest saves the city $28 million per year by filtering air pollution and moderating temperature. It has a structural value of $7 billion, and the carbon storage of Toronto鈥檚 urban forest is valued at $25聽million in 2013.
Toronto鈥檚 Every Tree Counts study found trees reduce energy use through cooling residential buildings by $10.2 million per year and improve air quality at a value of $16.9 million per year.
Portland鈥檚 Urban Forestry Management Plan estimated that a large tree will deliver $50 worth of benefits every year in the first 20 years of its life and $100 in the next 30, producing roughly $4,000 worth of benefits in 50聽years.
There are many other benefits that have not had economic value attached to them but are still well documented, such as the mental-health benefits or decreased child obesity and asthma from having trees present in neighbourhoods.
I am replacing a downed mature chestnut on our property for about $200 retail, so the $48,000 penalty price for a downed public mature Oak Bay chestnut would provide 240 new trees for our boulevard canopy brought down by drought, storms, development, etc.
Further, I would like developer costs to include the cost of replacing mature private property trees they kill or remove when building new houses, especially where there was mature landscaping from a previous home on said property.
Tree canopy takes at least 20 years to develop from a replacement sapling.
Susan Rowntree
Oak Bay
