11
November/December 2021
|
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
"The climate will change rapidly enough that it will have
to be taken into account when making decisions about
what trees to select for planting in clients' landscapes,"
Herms said. "The fact sheets will help raise awareness of
the threats and opportunities that will be associated with
increased frequency of tree damage from storms, pests,
and plant health care and water management opportunities."
HOW DAVEY CAN HELP
The good news is Davey provides an abundance of services
all designed to help trees and plants thrive and manage
impacts from pests, drought, wildfire, severe weather,
poor soil conditions, changing climate and other variables.
Scott Maco, director of research and development, said
these services are critical because humans increasingly rely
on the ecosystem benefits trees provide in order to adapt
to the effects of climate change.
"The bottom line is that weather is changing," Maco said.
"Some places are going to be wetter. Some places are going
to be drier. All will be hotter for sure. Regardless of what
we do, and even if we turn the spigot off on CO2 emissions
today, the climate is still going to continue to change. So,
what cities and people have to start doing is anticipating
that and coming up with some resilience strategies."
Trees are a proven component in climate change adaptation
and resilience strategies, Maco said.
"There are two approaches to address climate change,
mitigation and adaptation, and trees are effective at
doing both," he said. "Trees provide long-term carbon
sequestration. They filter air pollution, absorb stormwater,
reduce temperatures through shade and transpiration, and
have been proven to improve human health, among other
benefits. We know this thanks to tools like i-Tree, which can
quantify the value of the ecosystem services trees provide
in terms of pounds of carbon stored, gallons of stormwater
absorbed and the positive effects on human health.
"Cities are all facing the need to provide some kind of
climate resilience because things are going to change,"
Maco said. "In terms of adapting to that new climate,
trees are a tangible part of that solution that can be
implemented today."
Read the
"Davey Climate
Change Fact
Sheet Series," at:
davey.com/climate
Turn to pages 12-13
in this Bulletin
issue to learn more.
DAVEY INSTITUTE 'CLIMATE CHANGE FACT SHEET SERIES'
EXPLAINS PROJECTED CHANGES BY U.S. REGION
In 2017 Hurricane Harvey hammered Houston Texas and other
communities, delivering a historic 60 inches of rain in a matter of days.
It led to severe flooding where mature trees were submerged up to
their canopies. Davey R/C offices in Texas spent weeks managing work
from the storm, which had sustained 130 mph winds. A 2018 report
released by the federal government warned that due to climate
change, more storms like Harvey are anticipated to strike Texas.
LEARN MORE ONLINE @ WWW.DAVEY.COM/CLIMATE
