Fact: Trees make neighborhoods more safe. A study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported that buildings with high levels of greenery surrounding them had 48 percent fewer property crimes and 56 percent fewer violent crimes than buildings surrounded by barren land.
The reason? Trees help make outdoor spaces more enjoyable to be in More people on the street/porches = more eyes on the street = greater risk of criminal activity being noticed = less crime. Well-cared for green spaces also serve as signal to would-be criminals that the residents of an area care about their surroundings and are engaged in the community.
And now a plea to water your trees. When you sit down to enjoy an ice cold lemonade on these hot summer days, remember that your trees get thirsty too. Practice 25 to Stay Alive and give your trees 25 gallons of water per week.
2 comments:
sorry to hijack this with an off-topic comment, but have you seen this?
i would think that the city would fight like hell to save this tree if it's truly possible.
IMGoph,
We appreciate any and all information regarding threats to our tree canopy. I want to share with you and other readers my response on The Triangle blog related to this issue.
"Thank you all for your interest in protecting the District’s tree canopy.
One of our committed Citizen Foresters brought this matter to our attention this past Thursday. We have requested a copy of the Special Tree Removal permit from DDOT so we can know more of the particulars.
DC does not have a legal historic tree designation, only a Special Tree designation (meaning a tree is larger than 17.5” in diameter). There is no “no” in the Urban Forest Preservation Act. Any applicant can remove any tree provided they commit to plant the requisite number of replacement trees or pay the required amount into the Tree Fund.
Unfortunately, the Tree Fund was recently, by an act of Council, wiped clean to pay for agency operations rather than to plant replacement trees.
As you can imagine we are very concerned about this. An opinion piece from our Executive Director on the removal of funds from the Tree Fund ran in Sunday’s Washington Post. Cut and past this link (http://bit.ly/cRNCKa) to read “Breaking a promise to protect D.C.’s tree canopy”
We will formulate a course of action when we know more about the details. It is possible that an ISA Certified Arborist deemed the tree a Hazard Tree, meaning it poses a threat to persons or property due to a defect or defects. The permit should help us know more.
Thank you again for your concern. To learn more about how you can help restore, enhance and protect the tree canopy of the Nation’s Capital, visit our website at http://www.caseytrees.org."
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