Big Steps in Building: Plant a Tree
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.10.08
Developers don't like saving trees; it forces them to adjust the lot grading and road patterns for tree preservation rather than efficiency. The installation of services and construction disrupts the water table and the trees sometimes die anyways. Purchasers complain that crap from the trees is sticking to their cars. It is just easier for everyone to flatten them and stick in some cheap twig.
Now the State of Virginia is going to insist that developers preserve "some percentage" of their parcel's original trees. Environmentalists tell the Washington Post that "Losing a big tree means losing a valuable sponge for storm water, a root system that prevents erosion, and a filter that removes carbon dioxide and the precursors of smog.
"You get dirty water, and polluted everything," said Gary Moll of the conservation group American Forests. In a 2002 study, his group found that the Washington region's trees contained enough carbon to offset the annual emissions from more than 2,900 cars.
If saving old trees proves impossible, the developers would replant trees or pay to preserve them elsewhere. But local jurisdictions have the option of following it or not; most local jurisdictions are controlled by developers, which is why one needs state-wide rules.
Also, planted trees rarely get big; the soil is usually over-compacted and the species chosen do not grow as tall as the old elms and other trees that have grown up in older areas. It should not just be an either-or.
A deciduous tree planted on the south side of a house is the ultimate passive solar system; it shades in summer and lets the sun through in winter. Let's use this time out in the housebuilding industry to develop codes and bylaws that make appropriate tree planting part of the requirements for the construction of any home.
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This will be a good step in the right direction.
Old trees present on site before construction provide links between the new development and the heritage of the site, it helps the development fit in with the surrounding area and will ultimatly add value to the finished development.
Its a win win situation, if the proper time and care is taken to incorporate existing trees into the development plan.
How much more would you pay for a home to save a bunch of tree's?
Most people in the US make between 30K and 50K a year. If we force developers to do anything, that cost gets passed on down to the consumer which will price these people right out of home ownership.
Lets explore how much this would cost:
Attouneys fee's:
extra government (federal)employee's to process paperwork:
extra government (state)employee's to process paperwork:
extra government (local)employee's to process paperwork:
extra government(federal) employee's to force compliance:
extra government(statel) employee's to force compliance
extra government(local) employee's to force compliance
Photographer to take picture by airplane of site
Photographer to take pictures of each tree and document their size and core sample for paperwork.
survey of tree removal
survey for tree planting
moving tree's that are in the way :
replanting tree's that were in the way:
extra goverment paperwork(will probably kill more tree's than you save):
extra time it takes to complete project because of lost paperwork by governent employees
Complexity of filing paperwork and filing mistakes
replanting some tree 2 or 3 times because federal laws differ from state laws and communication problems between federal state and local officials.
Meanwhile contractor must pay for earth moving equiment loans and land loans while government employees go on vacationa and holidays.
Yeah as soon as there is a law saying there must be a tree on the south side of a house, someone will damn sure find a way to sue the government when the tree falls on their house.