Trees we love

There are more than 60,000 species of trees on the planet. Their main role is to enrich the air with oxygen. Trees make the air moist and cleaner, they stabilize the temperature. Nature is amazing, and trees are an example of this.

Oak

In general, oak trees help the environment by providing habitats and nourishment to wildlife and help maintain a good quality of air by soaking up air pollutants. Oak tree canopies even prevent soil erosion by slowing rainfall and provide nutrients to the surrounding soil.

They are long-lived. A three-hundred-year-old White Oak named The Millennium Landmark Tree can be found at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

Oak trees can even help sustain a good balance between humans and animals by providing enough that these potential pests do not have to seek out food or shelter that may interfere with people’s daily lives.

Pine

The evolution of Pine trees has been recorded during the early Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era about 130–200 million years ago. These trees are evergreen and retain their leaves for at least two growing seasons before they are shed off.

Pine trees have a longer life span and can live for 100–1000 years, with some living for much longer. At roughly 4,600 years old, the “Methuselah” species, found in the White Mountains of California, is one of the world’s oldest existing life forms. An older tree, which has since been cut down, was 4,900 years old.

The Pine tree is a habitat for squirrels, raccoons, birds, and other forest animals.

Willow

Willows provide important ecological functions for erosion control along watercourses, and habitat and food for animals. For people, in addition to aesthetic and shade uses, the wood provides an important source of timber and the plant has a long history of medicinal use as the source of salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin.

Maple

They are very important for wildlife and the environment. They are often a major component of northern temperate forests. For example, their fruits, buds and twigs are a food source for several mammal and bird species, and many butterfly species consume their sap. They also provide shelter for many bird, mammal and insect species. The leaves of the maple provide habitat for around 300 moth and butterfly species.

Aspen

Aspen is a key species, not only for its brilliant shades but due to the wildlife it supports, making this native tree a high priority in forest restoration.

Aspen grows in a wide range of environmental conditions, from moist streamsides, to dry ridges, on talus slopes, in shallow to deep soils of various origins, and is tolerant of wide variations in climate. It is found in all mountain vegetational zones, from the basal plains of the mountains to the alpine. As a result, aspen communities are found associated with a diverse range of vegetation, from semi-arid shrublands to wet, spruce-fir forest.

Trees provide oxygen and limit carbon in the atmosphere. They reduce air pollution, provide food and shelter for wildlife, minimise erosion and maintain healthy soil, increase rainfall, and absorb sunlight as energy. That’s why we should stop deforestation and save our planet.