TREE WEEK

TREE FACTS

Genreral facts:

Trees keep our air supply fresh by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. In one year, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven up to 8700 miles.

Trees provide shade and shelter, reducing yearly heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.

Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.

The average tree in metropolitan area survives only about 8 years!

A tree does not reach its most productive stage of carbon storage for about 10 years.

Trees cut down noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.

Tree roots stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.

Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds.

Trees provide protection from downward fall of rain, sleet, and hail as well as reduce storm run-off and the possibility of flooding,

Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife.

Trees located along streets act as a glare and reflection control.

The death of one 70-year old tree would return over three tons of carbon to the atmosphere.

Tree Biology:

Trees are the longest living organisms on earth.

Trees and other plants make their food through a process called photosynthesis.

The inside of a tree is made of cork, phloem, cambium, and xylem.

The xylem of a tree carries water from the roots to the leaves.

Trees and the Environment:

Trees renew our air supply by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.

The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually. One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year.

One acre of trees removes up to 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Shade trees can make buildings up to 20 degrees cooler in the summer.

Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.

Tree roots stabilize soil and prevent erosion.

Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water, as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds.

The cottonwood tree seed is the seed that stays in flight the longest. The tiny seed is surrounded by ultra-light, white fluff hairs that can carry it on the air for several days.

Trees and Science:

Dendrochronology is the science of calculating a tree's age by its rings.

Tree rings provide precise information about environmental events, including volcanic eruptions.

A mature birch tree can produce up to 1 million seeds per year.

Moon trees were grown from seeds taken to the moon by Stuart Roosa, Command

Module pilot of the Apollo 14 mission of January 31, 1971. The effort included 400-500 seeds, which orbited the moon on the first few days of February 1971. NASA and the USFS wanted to see if being in space and in the moon's orbit would cause the seeds to grow differently than other seeds.

Australia

Australia is globally recognised as the country with the seventh-largest forest area, covering 3% of the world’s total forest area.

39% or 51.8 million hectares of Australia’s forest is within the vicinity of Queensland and is the country’s largest area of forest.

Australia’s Northern Territory covers 23.7 million hectares of forest, while Western Australia and New South Wales cover 21.0 million hectares and 20.4 million hectares.

Eucalyptus forests cover 77% of Australia’s national forest land, while acacia forests make up 8 %. The melaleuca and rainforest form 5% and 3% of the total.

Forests are typically preserved and confined to regions where the annual average rainfall exceeds 500 millimetres.

Of the 132 million hectares of native forest, 47.2 million hectares are on leasehold land, and 41.0 million hectares are on land under a private freehold title.

88.2 million hectares or 67% of the country’s native forest is under some type of private and restricted management.

Consequently, 21.7 million hectares (17%) of Australia’s native forests are within formal nature conservation reserves, while 9.8 million hectares (7.4%) are in multiple-use public native forests.

Australia’s 134 million hectares of forest is equivalent to 17% of the country’s land area.

One hundred thirty-two million hectares or 98% of Australia’s total forest area, are considered ‘Native forests’. ‘Commercial plantations’ cover 1.95 million hectares, while the 0.47 million hectares are ‘Other forests’.

The country has a staggering 24,000 species of native plants and trees. Acacia, grevillea, emu bushes, and gum trees (eucalyptus) are among the most common Australian trees found in native forests.

The King’s Holly from Tasmania is Australia’s oldest-known tree. It has been around for about 43,000 years.

The tallest living tree in the register is a 99.8-metre gum known as the Centurion in the Arve Valley, Tasmania. It was identified and measured in 2008.

A study from the University of Technology Sydney showed that the greenest capital city of Australia is Hobart, with tree canopies covering about 59% of the Tasmanian capital.

Tree canopies cover 49% of Brisbane and 28% of Darwin. They make up the top three greenest cities in Australia, with Hobart as the number one.

Sydney and Melbourne are in the bottom two ranks of the greenest cities, at 15% and 13%, respectively.

Approximately 500,000 hectares of native woodlands and forests are destroyed across Australia every year.

Due to excessive tree-clearing, an estimate of 750 million native animals in Australia will die by 2030.

There are about 24 billion standard trees in Australia. These trees have a trunk diameter of 30 centimetres and stand approximately 15 metres tall.

Australia has lost 62 hectares of humid primary forest from 2002 to 2021. In the same period, the country’s total humid forest area reduced by 0.49%.

2.9 % of tree cover loss in Australia occurred in areas where the dominant drivers of loss spawned deforestation.

The top 2 regions, namely New South Wales and Western Australia, were responsible for 59% of all tree cover loss from 2001 to 2021.

New South Wales recorded the most tree cover loss at 2.88Mha, significantly higher than the average of 970 kha.

Australia is currently facing a land clearing and deforestation crisis, with an MCG-sized area of woodlands and forests bulldozed every 86 seconds.

About 50% of the country’s forests and bushlands from the pre-European arrival have been permanently destroyed and cleared for other land use. Most of these areas are now regrowing vegetation, classifying them into degraded forests and bushlands.

As of today, only 50% of Australia’s historical forests and bushlands remain intact.

Since 1750, the country has lost 27% of the total rainforest, 28% of mallee forest, 19% of open forest, and 11% of the woodland forest.

In recent years, Australia’s aggressive level of land clearing has ranked the fastest among the developed countries.