Trees offer numerous benefits, including carbon sequestration and air purification, removing harmful pollutants like carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. They also contribute to energy savings in homes. While residential trees’ monetary values aren’t commonly considered, tools like i-Tree Design enable us to assign a dollar value to urban trees.
Established in 2006, i-Tree is a peer-reviewed software suite by the USDA Forest Service, offering forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools. It quantifies forest structure and the environmental advantages trees bring, supporting stronger forest management and advocacy.
Since i-Tree’s 2006 launch, it has been adopted globally by communities, non-profits, and researchers to assess everything from individual trees to entire regions. i-Tree helps users understand the tangible benefits trees offer, linking forest management to environmental quality and livability. It provides vital data for informed decision-making, whether examining a lone tree or vast forests.
In accordance with iTree:
i-Tree Design allows anyone to make a simple estimation of the benefits provided by individual trees. With inputs of location, species, tree size, and condition, users will receive an understanding of tree benefits related to greenhouse gas mitigation, air quality improvements, and stormwater interception. With the additional step of drawing a building footprint – and virtually “planting” or placing a tree – tree effects on building energy use can be evaluated.
Tree benefits are estimated for (a) the current year, (b) a user-specified forecast year sometime in the future, (c) the projected total benefits across that future timespan, and (d) the total benefits provided to date (based on estimated tree age). Multiple trees and buildings can be added to compare benefits or to provide a full accounting of a property’s trees.
To calculate the value of your trees, visit iTree MyTree here. From there you will be able to input the parameters of the tree. Ready? Let’s go!
Step 1
Input the details of the tree whose values you’d like to calculate.
Step 2
Input the parameters of tree in relation to your building location.
Step 3
This steps allows you to:
- Add trees
- Calculate the value of the trees you have inputed.
Final Step
Calculate the value of the trees whose data was inputted. In our example with the Western red cedar, labelled ‘Western red cedar 1’, the quantifiable value of this stand-alone tree amounted to $35.80 USD per annum, the breakdown of which is as follows.
