Four things to know about trees

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Trees, oh beautiful trees, make for a lot of work each fall when their leaves pile up in yards, leaving homeowners with the chore of blowing, raking and disposing of the annual crop of leaves.

  • It might be a little hard to think fondly of trees in a few weeks, but here are four things to keep in mind about the wooded world.
  • In the Southeast, an average hardwood tree can live 150 to 200 years.        
  • Each year, a lone tree soaks up as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
  • Shade from one tree is equals the cooling capacity of a 10 room-size air conditioner on a daily basis.
  • When it comes to stormwater, 5 percent of tree cover cuts runoff by 2 percent.

Source: http://www.americanforests.org/discover-forests/tree-facts/