by Josh Lofy
Staff Writer
Imagine if someone invented a self-assembling device that purifies the air, produces micro-climates, creates jobs, increases the wealth of properties and makes food. Well, we won’t have to wait long. Trees have been growing on our planet for millennia, and they can do all of the above mentioned wonders and much more.
According to UrbanForest.org, the website for our local Tree Foundation of Kern, urban trees that live for 50 years can create an economic benefit to the tune of $57,000 per tree. They do this through air conditioning savings, preventing erosion, sequestering storm water runoff, providing wildlife shelter for a variety of different animals, and controlling air pollution. This is especially important in downtown Bakersfield, where trees are few and far between.
This is where Urban Forest comes in, supplying the knowledge for trees and, as it stands, jobs. They have a page where you can find 50 different careers that trees help to produce. These careers range from: accountant, ecologist, nature photographer, soil scientist, urban planning, grounds keeper, wildland fire manager and much more.
So what keeps Bakersfield from growing new jobs everyday? One reason is a lack of education. Invest From the Ground Up is a statewide campaign that is currently targeting Bakersfield and is helping our local community to get the information that they need. They have helped bring a new light to way the trees in Bakersfield, and around the state, are seen and grown. One of their current targets is business. The organization is working with businesses to improve our tree infrastructure, giving businesses new reasons to grow trees.
On the Invest From the Ground Up campaign website, “Trees are an effective, cost-efficient and mutually beneficial way for businesses to boost productivity, and keep their customers and employees happy, satisfied and loyal. Simply put: Invest from the ground up in our community trees and watch money fall like leaves in autumn.”
The organizer for the state campaign, Nancy Hughes, also said that by planting these trees it shows that the local companies care about the community.
The Tree Foundation for Kern also offers several tips about what to do about pruning. Their first tip, don’t. Not all trees need to be pruned every year. Sometimes businesses want to feel like they get their monies worth for tree pruning and ask for branches to be lopped off left and right. Pruning can actually kill the tree, and kill your investment.
Urban Forest has several free classes that are going to be available over the next few months that will educate anyone about trees. The classes are hosted on the Bakersfield College campus once per month. The next classes will be on Nov 16, Dec 21, and Jan 11 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Even if you can’t make it to one of these classes, the websites for Urban Forest and Invest From the Ground Up are full of helpful advice on how you can have your trees working for you and acting as a benefit to the environment and economy.
