Abstract

Payne, B. R. 1974. The twenty-nine tree home improvement plan. Nature History 82(9): 74-75.

The economic importance of trees near homes is often overlooked. When decisions affecting land use and value are made, there is a tendency to place much greater weight on measurable dollar costs than on so-called intangible factors such as trees. The value of such trees has to be measured by their contribution to property values. To do this, a research team from the United States Forest Service selected land suitable for building and constructed a scale model of it. After photographing both the actual site and the scale model, they “planted” varying numbers of trees on the model and rephotographed it. The photographs were shown to real-estate appraisers. On the average, the results showed that trees contributed as much as 27 percent of the appraised land value. A related study of lots and houses was conducted with real-estate appraisers and homeowners. The results showed that trees contributed 7 percent to the value of the average property and as much as 15 percent to some lots.

• Download figure
• Open in new tab
• Download powerpoint

• © 1975, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.