When is a Tree Worth $7 Billion?

One of the biggest challenges faced by builders in city development is trees. Yes, trees.

Just about every municipality in Canada now has some form of tree bylaw, which in effect states that nobody can do damage to a tree without the consent of the city manager (or the department, anyway), unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as the removal of a damaged tree due to disease or acts of nature (such as that caused by the ice storm of 2013).

In Toronto, that means that even on your private property, you are not allowed to injure or destroy a tree unless you get approval from the city. And that’s an intensive process that requires forms to be filled out, fees to be paid, evaluations to be submitted by experts and, finally, permits to be issued. Basically, the law requires you to plant a new tree to replace the one you are destroying. That’s meant to preserve the city’s canopy cover, which is currently estimated at about 27% to 40%.

So now imagine proposing to remove dozens of trees in order to create a new development. It becomes an expensive and onerous task not because of the city’s ideals but because there are countless inspections and reports to be filed (concerning the trees to be removed and the ones to act as replacements, because naturally they can’t go in the same place as the ones you’re removing to make room for the building or buildings), and a number of departments that have to be involved before a permit is even issued. And then there is the cost of removal and replacement.

All of this is not at all a bad thing, because a city needs its trees to remove carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygen. The city estimates that its trees negate the effect of roughly 733,000 cars per year. If you were to put a dollar figure on what trees contribute to the city, it would represent the equivalent of $28.2 million dollars per year in ecological services, air filtration to the tune of $16.9 million per year, and a further $10.2 million annually in heating and cooling costs for residential buildings. The city estimates its urban forest is worth about $7 billion dollars.

But trees also create a nicer environment in which to live, which is one of the things cities want to do — attract more residents to the downtown cores. Reports show that people actually place a higher value on properties abundant in trees than they do on those with few trees. And the main reason is that trees have a psychological effect on us. We feel better when we’re surrounded by trees. We’ve all heard people talk about how good they feel when they’re walking in the woods. It’s not just them; it’s everybody.

Statistics show that people tend to socialize more in tree-intensive urban locations than those who live in more barren places. And, all that socializing does more than just bring you closer to your neighbours; it also helps you keep an eye on your community and, by extension, reduce crime. Crime statistics seem to bear out a correlation between treed neighbourhoods and decreased criminal activity, including fewer violent crimes.

While developers certainly wish the process of arranging for permits was less bound in red tape, it’s in their best interests also to make sure there are lots of trees on their properties.  Tree preservation is something we should all throw our support behind, because it really does benefit everybody.