White paper provides guidelines for urban tree plantings
14 Apr, 2011 Get GrowingDeep Root and Kestrel Group paper provides stormwater and urban forest design guidelines.
Deep Root Partners, L.P. and The Kestrel Design Group have released a white paper to help communities make the best investment for stormwater management and urban tree planning. The paper, Lifecycle Cost Analysis: Investment vs. Returns for Healthy Urban Trees is available at no cost from Deep Root, an urban landscape products and services supplier. Landscapers can use it to justify urban tree planting practices.
Spring thaws and thunderstorms underscore the need to integrate effective, low-impact stormwater management strategies into landscape projects. Lifecycle Cost Analysis indicates that using “green utilities” like trees for stormwater management can mean a higher upfront investment, but offers substantial savings over the long-term.
The white paper was created to help communities understand the lifecycle costs and benefits of enabling long-term urban tree growth. As a tree matures, the environmental benefits it provides increase exponentially. The lifecycle cost-benefit analysis compares the costs and benefits of planting trees in a traditional 4-x-4-ft. tree opening vs. in 1,000 cubic ft. of a bioretention mix in a suspended pavement system. The calculations were made using i-Tree software and based on data for trees in Minneapolis.
“It makes sense to perform a Lifecycle Cost Analysis of your urban forest to ensure the community is getting the most from its investment — particularly if a project is on the drawing board now,” says Graham Ray, executive vice president of Deep Root.
According to the white paper, the average tree in urban environments dies within 13 years due to insufficient soil volumes for root growth. Consequently, they are never able to make a significant ecological contribution to their community, and are replaced. This cycle of planting and replacing trees is expensive and wasteful, especially when one considers the average lifespan of a healthy tree is 100+ years and that the benefits of full-grown trees are considerable and quantifiable.
“A long-term planning model for the urban forest, focused on 50+ year old trees, needs to be implemented. We need to do things differently if we are to pass along the most valuable environmental benefits to future generations,” says Peter MacDonagh of the Kestrel Design Group. “A new way can save time, money and resources down the line. And a life cycle cost analysis can help determine the best course to take.”
Deep Root Partners manufactures and distributes the Silva Cell tree and stormwater management system.
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