Taking care of aging trees benefits community

To the editor:

Re: 'New trees would better serve city, Letter to the editor,' Aug. 19, 2010.

This letter is in response to Louise Hart's letter.

In her letter, Ms. Hart complains about the damage that mature trees can do to residential plumbing and suggests that they be replaced with saplings to "enhance the neighbourhood and revitalize the environment."

In fact, the older trees better enhance the neighbourhood and provide numerous environmental benefits such as shade, carbon sequestering, oxygen and habitat for our birds, squirrels and other wildlife. Trees are pleasing to the eye and soothing to the soul.

It's true that replacing plumbing can be expensive. My parents, who live in Mississauga, recently paid over $5,000 to have a contractor replace their pipes using a specific labour intensive technique to minimize damage to the trees.

Still, from a purely economical viewpoint, the benefits of mature trees still outweigh the costs. Mature trees improve property values by up to 30 per cent. Homeowners can also save on energy costs. My parents, for example, do not require air conditioning thanks to the shade provided by their mature trees (along with the ivy growing up the west wall).

Many of us have chosen to live in the High Park area because we love nature, including trees. A drive (or worse, a walk) through any new subdivision with struggling saplings makes one immediately appreciate our own tree canopied neighbourhood.

According to Professor Andy Kenney of the University of Toronto, most of the benefits of trees are directly related to leaf area, and leaf area increases exponentially with tree size.

Sadly, High Park, along with many other Toronto neighbourhoods has been losing its tree canopy. This is why we all need to do what we can to plant saplings while at the same time nurturing our aging trees.

Much of my information of urban trees comes from volunteering at LEAF, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving urban forests.

LEAF will be hosting a workshop at the Runnymede Library starting in mid-September. I recommend this workshop for anyone concerned about trees and who are looking for ways to better steward the trees in our care.

Denise Oliver