
Urban Forestry
City trees enhance and provide benefits to the environment physically,
aesthetically and economically. An urban forest helps to improve the urban
environment through absorption and/or retention of air pollutants, reduction
and absorption of heat and noise, reduction of wind velocity and reduction
of storm water run-off, erosion and the subsequent sedimentation of drainage
channels and stream-bottom ecosystems.
Trees aid in the reduction of stress that individuals may experience
in an urban setting. Tree cover provides shading, shelter, protective pathways
for movement and food sources for wildlife.
Many of the factors listed also have economic affects as well. Reduction
of energy costs through shading and heat absorption, the costs associated
with erosional repair and flood damage, the potential increase in property
values, and the value of the street trees themselves. A 1996 tree inventory
and management report of the City’s urban forest estimated that the appraised
value for all public trees at that time was approximately $2,890,000.
The City of Oxford has been recognized as a Tree City USA by the National
Arbor Day Foundation for the last five years. As a state, Ohio led the nation
for the number of communities to be named by the Foundation as a Tree City
USA, with a total of 220 communities as Tree City USA designees. To be considered
by the Foundation, a community most satisfy four standards: a tree board
or department, a community Tree Ordinance, an Urban Forestry program with
an annual budget of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day Observance.
If there are any questions regarding Oxford’s Urban Forestry program,
please contact the City’s Environmental Division at 524-5274. Additional
information concerning urban forestry in Ohio can be found at the web sites
for the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Department of Forestry (http://hortwww-2.ag.ohio-state.edu/ODNR/Urban/Urbanfor.htm)
and the National Arbor Day foundation (http://www.arborday.org/).
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