Sent:
Subject: CEC:
TREES IN REGION WOULD COST $205
BILLION TO REPLACE
by Ella Tyler
Houston's Regional Forest, a report
representing a three-year collaboration between federal, state, and local
researchers to measure and evaluate the tree and forest resources of Harris
County and the seven counties that surround it, was released Monday. Data was
collected from 332 field plots throughout the eight counties.
The report concludes that the region
has 663 million trees with a replacement value of more than $205 billion. Very
large trees - twenty inches in diameter or greater - contribute 90 percent of
the $205 billion.
In other quantifications of the
dollar value of trees, it was determined that trees store $721 million worth of
carbon; that they generate $456 million worth of environmental benefits
annually, and that they save $131 million in residential energy costs and
avoided power plant emissions each year. Our trees annually remove over 60,000
tons of air pollution.
The trees that have the most
environmental benefit are the large and very large trees: 30 percent of the
region's trees are five inches in diameter or greater, but they generate more
than 60 percent of total environmental benefits.
Land use changes and invasive tree
species are significant threats to the regional forest. Between 1992 and 2000,
forest cover declined by 17 percent, resulting in a net loss of over 78 million
trees.
The most common tree is the invasive
Chinese tallow, which now makes up 23 percent of all trees in the
The full, 28-page report may be
obtained from the