Shade, Heating and Cooling Costs

“The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.”—U.S. Department of Agriculture

Certainly a well placed pine can protect soil and provide a net cooling effect for a home. Tree designed wind screens can reduce structural damage, prevent snow drifting and wind damage can be reduced and icing over of roads can be prevented.

Utilizing the National Tree Benefit Calculator, I selected a lodgepole pine with a 20 inch diameter located in Red Feather Lakes, CO 80545

I found out out some interesting things about my tree:

• provides overall benefits of: $131 every year
• intercepts 3,435 gallons of stormwater runoff this year.
• raises the property value by $77 this year.
• conserves 88 Kilowatt / hours of electricity for cooling and reduce consumption of oil or natural gas by 10 therm(s).

Macro effects

The type of town you live in will effect the value of your property. Towns in Colorado and Utah have seen significant economic impacts where the pine beetle struck. That is why protecting high profile trees is so important. Perception creates reality and tourists will understand the natural cycle beetle cycle while still enjoying the beauty of pine trees.

For homeowners in beetle kill areas such as Colorado, Wyoming and Alberta, tough decisions need to be made about what pine trees to actively protect. It is not economically feasible or biologically desirable to spray all pine trees.

“If you are looking out your window at a 60 foot pine tree, it reminds you why you live in the mountains,” said Denver arborist David Merriman. “The most valuable pines are in the eye of the beholder.”

Beyond the obvious affinity you have for certain pines on your property I wanted to introduce three theoretical arboricultural strategies that might broaden your decision process about what constitutes a high profile tree.

1. Tree Value

Pine trees are part and parcel to why people live in the Rocky Mountain West. In communities driven by second home or lifestyle movers, pine trees are a core benefit to that lifestyle. The loss of tree cover can effect skiing. It can make homes harder to sell due to fire danger. And a beetle kill property won’t be as likely to attract wildlife such as deer.

The paradox is that a tree can be valued like a bottle of wine or like a car. Like a bottle of wine, an older tree becomes more valuable the taller and fuller it is. As they grow larger, their beauty or “curb appeal” to use a real estate term, increases.

These benefits are delivered over time and the replacement cost if a beetle colony settles in can be measured in dollars and decades. However, when a tree goes into decline, a new perspective can take hold.

Like that old 1985 Impala, you could argue it has little to no value as it’s about to die. Or worse, the tree could be upside down in that it’s more valuable to remove than to keep. That’s why in a real estate closing, the buyer is able to negotiate a tree removal in the same way he could negotiate a new roof or water heater.

Strategies 2 and 3 in the next post…

Both of the staff arborists I work with are taking part in the ASCA Academy with the end result (if they pass!) a designation to value trees. As we say in Boston, the ASCA test is “wicked haad.”

This got me to thinking about the value of a pine tree to your property. Certainly, your trees have benefits to the neighborhood, the town. I want to focus on the best guess of how a given pine benefits your property exclusively and create a ranking system as a tool for deciding which trees you would emphasize in an anti mountain pine beetle program.

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There are many random facts I’ve run into.

Trees themselves have value.

“A mature tree can often have an appraised value of between $1,000 and $10,000.”

—Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers

Trees reportedly increase property values.

“In one study, 83% of realtors believe that mature trees have a “strong or moderate impact” on the salability of homes listed for under $150,000; on homes over $250,000, this perception increases to 98%.”

—Arbor National Mortgage & American Forests

Trees provide oxygen (Duh)

“One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people.”

—U.S. Department of Agriculture

All great points. But what does it mean to you? If you have half an acre mountain property there could be dozens of pines. Which one are the most valuable?

Matt Johnson is a blogger and reporter covering arboricultural and tree care issues. He writes for Mountain Pine Beetle Treatment and ArborScape.