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Quantifying urban forest structure, function, and value: the Chicago Urban Forest Climate Project

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Abstract

This paper is a review of research in Chicago that linked analyses of vegetation structure with forest functions and values. During 1991, the regions trees removed an estimated 5575 metric tons of air pollutants, providing air cleansing worth 9.2 million. Each year they sequester an estimated 315 800 metric tons of carbon. Increasing tree cover 10% or planting about three trees per building lot saves annual heating and cooling costs by an estimated 50 to 90 per dwelling unit because of increased shade, lower summertime air temperatures, and reduced neighborhood wind speeds once the trees mature. The net present value of the services trees provide is estimated as 402 per planted tree. The present value of long-term benefits is more than twice the present value of costs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, co Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    E. Gregory McPherson

  2. USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Syracuse, NY, USA

    David Nowak & Gordon Heisler

  3. Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Sue Grimmond

  4. Department of Geography, Indiana UniversityPurdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Catherine Souch

  5. Department of Agronomy, Purdue University West, Lafayette, IN, USA

    Rich Grant

  6. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany, CA, USA

    Rowan Rowntree

Authors
  1. E. Gregory McPherson
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  2. David Nowak
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  3. Gordon Heisler
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  4. Sue Grimmond
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  5. Catherine Souch
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  6. Rich Grant
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  7. Rowan Rowntree
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McPherson, E.G., Nowak, D., Heisler, G. et al. Quantifying urban forest structure, function, and value: the Chicago Urban Forest Climate Project. Urban Ecosystems 1, 49–61 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014350822458

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