Trees are everyone’s business

By The Gazette Editorial Board

--

“We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted. ... So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life.”

- “Arbor Day-A Message to the Schoolchildren of the United States,” President Teddy Roosevelt, April 15, 1907.

Today's annual observance of Arbor Day deserves more than lip service. Follow-up is needed - because we need trees, more of them. And in today's world, too many existing trees are at risk.

Growing trees remove carbon dioxide from the air, store carbon in the trees and soil, and release oxygen into the atmosphere. They help reduce the buildup of carbon dioxide that many scientists blame for global warming.

Trees provide many other benefits. Cooling shade that can reduce energy bills. A shield from cold winter winds. Sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. Soil erosion prevention. Water purification. And beautification of our homes and communities.

We need trees.

But intensive urban and rural development and the spread of invasive species such as the emerald ash borer and gypsy moth most recently and oak blight disease for at least a decade are claiming or will threaten millions of trees in our state and many others.

Communities everywhere have much at stake and a collective effort is needed to offset the recent and anticipated losses. For example, Cedar Rapids last year began removing structurally unsound ash trees and replacing them with other species.

Farmers, businesses and homeowners also can make a difference by planting more trees. You can get advice from, among others, the Arbor Day Foundation, Trees Forever, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State University Extension and local nature centers and tree nurseries. It takes some work and money.

But we can't afford to live without enough trees.

n Comments: thegazette.com/

category/opinion/editorial or

editorial@sourcemedia.net