Trends and Issues in City Forests    (View PDF)

J. James Kielbaso

Abstract: A survey of 2,787 city tree managers in 1986 resulted in a 38% return. Only 38% know with certainty how many trees are on their streets. There are an estimated 61,654,000 street trees in the 7,043 U.S. cities represented. If spaced 30 feet apart they would occupy 1,937 square miles. It is estimated that there are 10 private trees for each street tree. The average value per street tree in 47 cities able to estimate, is $525. Annual expenditures to maintain these trees average $10.62. At 6% interest this expenditure would reach $500 in 23 years. Tree care remains only .49% of city budgets, and although increasing to $2.60 per capita from $1.63 in 1974, has increased less than other city services. The ten most often occurring and planted trees are enumerated. Street trees are spaced about 105 feet apart, which is about 43% of potential stocking. A goal of the American Forestry Association, in cooperation with ISA, is to plant 100 million trees in cities by 1992 in the Global ReLeaf project to help ameliorate the CO2 buildup in the global atmosphere. This is an action program requiring input from everyone possible in order to attain success.

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https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.1990.020