"Over the course of 50 years, a single tree can generate $31,250 of oxygen, provide $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycle $37,500 worth of water, and control $31,500 worth of soil erosion." "Your trees will be silent sentinels, honorable monuments, and for decades to come, active participants in nature's plan." --National Arbor Day Foundation http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm
I have cut down 4 very mature trees around my house. :blink: I did this with a long term vision, however. They were all introduced species and two of them were highly invasive. One of the mature tree stands I ended up snagging so that it will eventually act as a nesting trunk for critters that require dead trees. It stands at about 14 feet tall. In lieu of the trees that I cut down, I've planted 4 trees (you can give me credit for 5 if you count a tiny sapling of a Shagbark Hickory that's only and inch tall) that are native to my area. All four of them act not only as a high value food source for birds and mammals, but they are all hosts for different types of butterfly species. I do still feel really, really guilty about cutting down such huge trees and wish my teeny tiny replacements would hurry and grow. My husband especially misses the Norway Maple.
