People in Portland Planted Trees.

Decades Later, a Stunning Pattern

Emerged
HEALTH 25 November 2022 By RUSSELL MCLENDON

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Money may not grow from trees, but something even better does.
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In a new study led by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Coming From Inside Your Mouth
researchers found that each tree planted in a community was associated with HEALTH 3 days ago
significant reductions in non-accidental and cardiovascular mortality among
humans living nearby. WHO Ranks The Deadliest
Pathogens, Including The
On top of that, the study's authors conclude the yearly economic benefits of Mysterious 'Disease X'
planting trees dramatically exceed the cost of maintaining them, by a factor of
HEALTH 3 days ago
more than 1,000.

Previous studies have linked exposure to nature with an array of human health
benefits. Access to nature is a major factor for mental health, and that doesn't
necessarily require the greenery to be primeval wilderness. Research shows
urban forests and street trees can offer comparable benefits.
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new study.

For their study, Dadvand and his colleagues capitalized on a well-documented

tree-planting campaign that unfolded in Portland, Oregon, between 1990 and
M O R the
2019. During those three decades, E O nonprofit
P T I O N S group Friends of Trees planted A G R E E

49,246 street trees in Portland.

Crucially, they kept records of where and when each tree was planted. The
researchers were thus able to look at the number of trees planted in a
particular neighborhood, or US Census tract – each home to about 4,000
people – during the previous five, 10, or 15 years.

Using data from the Oregon Health Authority, they then associated each census
tract's tree data with its mortality rate, due to cardiovascular, respiratory, or
non-accidental causes.

The results reveal lower mortality rates in neighborhoods with more trees
planted, and the researchers report this negative association is significant for
both cardiovascular and general non-accidental mortality, especially among
males and anyone above the age of 65.

The association also grows stronger as trees grow taller, the study found. Trees
planted in the prior one to five years were linked with a 15 percent drop in
mortality, while trees planted in the prior 11 to 15 years were linked with a 30
percent drop.

Older, larger trees were thus associated with greater reductions in mortality.
So, while planting new trees is great, this finding suggests preserving large
trees that already exist is even more important for public health (as it also is for
the well-being of wildlife).

While these links don't exactly explain how trees benefit human health, the
seemingly greater protection from larger trees would make sense, the
researchers point out, since size boosts a tree's ability to moderate known
mortality factors like air pollution, temperature, and noise.

"We observed the effect both in green and less green neighborhoods, which
suggests that street-tree planting benefits both," says Geoffrey H. Donovan, an
economist from the USDA and first author of the study.

If the value of a statistical adult human life is US$10.7 million, as some US

federal agencies have determined, the researchers calculate planting one tree
in each of Portland's 140 census tracts would generate about $14.2 million
annually in lives saved.

Maintaining those 140 trees would cost somewhere between $3,000 and
$13,000 per year, the study's authors estimate.

"Our results provide an important evidence base for tangible interventions (e.g.,
planting trees) to increase the longevity of urban residents," Dadvand says.

The study was published in Environment International.