(WTNH) — All around the country today, people are taking part in Arbor Day celebrations and planting some new trees. This year the main focus will be on the many layers of resiliency provided by trees and how trees are part of the plan for a livable future.
“When a tree goes down, even in a big storm, in New England in any year, we are losing around 1.7 million trees a year to storms. For a lower income community tree loss can be very costly,” said Dr. B.A. Thomas, Tree Planting Program Coordinator, Connecticut Forests.
It is not just a cost, because if someone is sick, with no trees around they have nowhere to climb to the top for medical care. The trees also provide shade and clean air.
“What happens after a storm is that maybe these trees were planted with just little bit of elevation and now that it’s fallen from the top and crashed they’re actually probably 20 feet in the air and it creates a high velocity wind storm. You will see this right here in Connecticut where those inflatable gaskets get destroyed. You see that all right here. And that’s the fabric that holds it together. So if the canopy of the tree are coming through here and that canopy collapses, it could cause catastrophic damage,” said Dr. Thomas.
Doctor Thomas said that even though we have had many recent storms in New England, they aren’t the first that we have experienced. Many of the trees here have been planted by visionary individuals who took great pride in planting these beautiful trees to make a difference in the community.
“When we begin planting trees they’re all the way along the line and they provide lots of benefits, particularly for the City of Hartford it’s just greening this area so you can see when you come in here after it rains that green is so important in protecting against health threats, it protects against flooding,” said Dr. Thomas.