Tree Guidelines for Inland Empire Communities

Communities in the Inland Empire region of California contain over 8 million people, or about 25% of the state’s population. The region’s inhabitants derive great benefit from trees because compared to coastal areas, the summers are hotter and air pollution levels are higher. The region’s climate is still mild enough to grow a diverse mix of trees. The Inland Empire’s climate is influenced by the ocean less than 15% of the time and extends from Ojai east to Simi Valley, Glendale, Alhambra and Riverside, as well as south to Escondido.

The role of urban forests – trees in parks, yards, public spaces, and along streets – is to improve environmental quality, increase the economic, physical and social health of communities, and foster civic pride. Urban forests will be important to quality of life as these communities continue to grow in the next decade. Urban and community forestry has been recognized as a cost effective means to address a variety of important community and national issues from improving air quality to combating global  warming.

This guidebook analyzes the multitude of benefits that trees can provide to communities and residents. By determining the community and homeowner savings from planting trees and subtracting the cost, this study found that trees more than pay for themselves. Over a 40-year period, after subtracting costs, every large tree produces savings of approximately $2,600 to $3,400 depending on whether it is a public or private tree. This amount decreases with the tree’s size with medium trees saving about $1,300 to $2,300 and small public trees costing $80 while small private trees save $560.

(CUFR-52)

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