Environmental Concerns
Pollutant Removal and Air Quality
If you are at all concerned about local air quality, trees play a significant role in cleaning our air. Trees help reduce the effects of particulate emissions such as those from diesel commercial vehicles that can cause problems for us and especially for our developing children. The trees can reduce dust and, of course, trees produce the oxygen that we breathe.
Wind Storms and Tree Health
When it comes to wind loads from storms, trees help each other out, both with dampening incoming winds from pushing as hard on other trees and by providing stability in the ground for root systems.
Groups of trees help distribute the wind load and the intermingled root systems improve tree stability, lowering the chance of tree failure.
When trees are cut down and solo trees are left here and there, those remaining trees become more vulnerable to higher wind loads because of lost dampening and become more vulnerable because of less stable ground keeping the trees' roots in place.
When neighboring trees are cut down, the remaining tree is exposed to increased wind loads and a less stable root system, increasing the trees vulnerability to failure during a storm.
Storm Water Runoff Control
Tree canopies, tree root systems, and the health of the soil around them all contribute to better storm water runoff control and help reduce pollution levels of our surrounding area.
With the trees removed and their former areas replaced with roofs, driveways, and sidewalks, our northwest rains turn into surges that erode the remaining soil and pollute our waterways with surface contaminants from vehicles and fertilizers.
Our abundance of trees help slow all of this down and moderate the impact that we and the storm water have on our surroundings.