Celebrate trees on Earth Day www.tricitynews.com
GREEN SCENE Elaine Golds Trees provide so many services
F
rom my childhood, I fondly remember a piece of my grandmother’s cross-stitched embroidery that she had framed and hung for display. It was a copy of Joyce Kilmer’s wellknown poem “Trees” (quote: “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree”). While some have criticized Kilmer’s work for being maudlin, as a child, I was impressed by his appreciation of trees. As we celebrate Earth Day on Sunday, April 22, such poetry should also serve to remind us of the many reasons we have to value our trees. In a region that can produce some of the most magnificent temperate rainforests on the planet, it seems all too easy to take trees for granted. After all, trees grow here seemingly like weeds. Like magic, any abandoned plot of land ignored for a few years will soon sprout some alder. If allowed to grow for a few years, this alder will enrich the soil for the next generation of trees and slowly transform into a grand forest of giant conifers.
As a prairie person, I had never heard of the term “trash tree” until I moved to the coast. It was even more surprising to learn this term was typically applied to one of our most valuable trees, the red alder, which fixes nitrogen into the soil, stabilizes streambanks and sustains an astonishing variety of wildlife. Indeed, trees have a large number of attributes, many of which are now called “ecosystem services.” As trees grow, their roots help to keep soil in place, an especially valuable benefit on steep hillsides in a region of high rainfall. Trees provide shade and help to create cool spaces within the urban environment. Through the process of photosynthesis, trees produce copious amounts of oxygen, which every animal on Earth — including we humans — needs to survive. Trees help to purify our air, reduce urban noise, add beauty to our neighbourhoods and support many species of wildlife, including birds, small mammals and countless beneficial insects. A 2010 report from the David Suzuki Foundation (www.davidsuzuki.org) and Pacific Parklands Foundation estimated a value of $5,900 per hectare per year for the ecosystem services provided by mature secondary forests.
Tri-City News Friday, April 20, 2012, A25
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Green Scene columnist Elaine Golds asks, given the value of trees to our environment, whether the loss of so many mature trees at Glen Park in Coquitlam can be justified.
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