Arlington is certainly well-rooted.
Native Arlington White Oak
The County is proud home to some 755,400 trees of at least 122 species. If you had to put a price on all that priceless foliage, it’d be worth more than $1.4 billion.
But the benefits are invaluable.
Beyond providing beauty, shade and homes for wildlife, our trees
- reduce storm and floodwater runoff by 10,730,168 cubic feet per year, equal to 122 Olympic-sized pools.
- remove about 1,235 tons per year of air pollution a year, making us healthier by preventing disease and hospital visits.
- store about 30,900 cars’ worth of carbon emissions right now, and add 1,500 more cars’ worth of carbon every year.
- prevent more than $1 million annually in avoided energy costs through shade and reflected heat.
How do we know all this?
Over the past year, County Parks and Recreation staff – with help from tree stewards and Arlington Regional Master Naturalist volunteers – have been capturing forestry analysis and benefits assessments using i-Tree, a powerful suite of software tools from the USDA Forest Service.
Like the trees themselves, this valuable field data will continue to help grow a clean and sustainable Arlington in our backyards, parks and forests.