Tree Benefits

• Each dollar invested in Portland's trees returns $3.80 in benefits (Source: City of Portland study featured in Oregonian, Oct. 3, 2007).
• Portland's trees pull 25 million pounds of pollutants from the air each year (Source: City of Portland study featured in Oregonian, Oct. 3, 2007). As Nobel Laureate Al Gore notes, planting trees also slows climate change. To calculate how much carbon dioxide your household generates, check out this carbon dioxide calculator provided by The Climate Trust.
• Each year Portland's trees intercept half a billion gallons of stormwater to save more than $11 million in stormwater management costs (Source: Oregonian, Oct. 3, 2007).
• Every 1,000 urban trees we plant in the Northwest today will save our region more than a million dollars in stormwater management, pollution abatement, and energy costs (Source: Center for Urban Forest Research, Davis, California).
• Trees contribute to neighborhood livability by reducing city noise and glare, and by calming and slowing traffic.
• Trees improve habitat for endangered fish, migratory birds, and other wildlife.
• Trees stabilize soil, reduce erosion, and mitigate flooding.
• Shade from trees can cool buildings up to 20 degrees in the summer (Source: City of Portland). One large deciduous tree planted within 60 feet of the west side of an average-sized home in the Northwest reduces carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming and lowers the home's cooling costs by about $444 over a 40-year lifespan, assuming an average cost of $.0941 per kwh (Source of calculation formula: Center for Urban Forest Research, Davis, California).
• Unlike some other investments that depreciate, a tree's value increases with each passing year. Trees increase home property values 7 to 21 percent, depending on the number and size of the trees (Source: City of Portland).