The purpose of the tree price tag project is to make people aware of the many benefits that trees provide to cities in terms of storm water reduction, improved air quality, higher real estate values (and property tax receipts), carbon storage, and energy savings. While trees are very beautiful, they are also a vital part of the region’s infrastructure, providing many benefits.

Every year during the month of April, HTA and its partners hang over 100 tree price tags in celebration of Arbor Day. The large tree tags are labeled with the annual, estimated cumulative dollar value created by a single tree. The dollar values were calculated using the U.S. Forest Service’s i-Tree Streets software, which calculates the benefits based on a tree’s species, diameter, the land use the tree is closest to.  Click here to estimate your tree’s annual value!

Why does each tree have a different value? Tall-growing shade trees such as oaks, maples, baldcypress and others provide many more benefits than short growing trees such as the crabapples, pears and redbuds. This is for 2 reasons: the taller trees have more impact on the environment with more shade, more carbon stored, and more leaf and root area to hold storm water. The taller trees also tend to live much longer than the smaller trees,  70-200+ years when cared for versus 30 years for the smaller trees.