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TREE FACTS
Reference Item 26 1. Trees are the biggest living things. A sequoia can weigh 1000 tons (2,000,000 pounds) and grow over 350 feet tall. 2. Ginkgo trees provided food for dinosaurs, and yet they can still be found along Baltimore's streets today. 3. The single oldest living thing on Earth is a tree, a 4,700 year old bristlecone pine growing in California. It was growing when the Egyptians built the pyramids. 4. Mankind has destroyed one third of the world's forest. One acre of forest is destroyed every second. 5. Maryland is currently about 41 percent forested. 6. About 82 percent of Maryland's forests are privately owned. 7. Trees and other natural vegetation help reduce stress and anxiety in individuals. 8. Up to 90 percent of a tree's roots, including the fine feeder roots that gather nutrients, are in the top 12-18 inches of soil. 9. The root spread of a tree is usually 1-2 times tree height. 10. One large sugar maple can remove the airborne lead emitted by cars burning 1000 gallons of gasoline. 11. One tree can absorb 50 pounds of particulates per year. 12. One tree can absorb 26 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, or 2.5 tons per acre, and replace it with oxygen. 13. One acre of forest land gives off 4,280 pounds of oxygen per year. 14. To grow a pound of wood, a typical tree uses nearly 1-1/2 pounds of carbon dioxide and gives off more than a pound of oxygen. 15. In an old forest, trees barely grow, and start to use more oxygen than they produce. When more wood decays than grows, a pound of oxygen is used for every pound of wood decaying, and nearly 1-1/2 pounds of carbon dioxide are released into the air. 16. A large (2-inch caliper), newly planted tree needs about 10 gallons of water a week in dry weather. 17. A large leafy tree may pump up to a ton of water from the soil every day through transpiration. 18. On a hot day, a tree may transpire 900 gallons of water into the air, cooling as much air as six room-size air conditioners. 19. Forest soils can absorb up to 18 inches of precipitation (up to six inches per hour), then gradually release the water into surrounding streams and rivers. 20. Younger forests are better at filtering out pollutants from water than over-mature forests. 21. City trees can help reduce the urban heat island effect by 10 degrees. 22. Trees that shade air conditioning compressors can increase cooling efficiency up to 10 percent. 23. A few well-placed trees will provide shade that can reduce summer air conditioning costs 15-35 percent or more. 24. Trees, through shade and transpiration (giving off water), provide natural, low-tech cooling. 25. As windbreaks, trees can shield against winter winds and snow and reduce heating costs by 30 percent. 26. Thanks to today's new technologies, close to 100 percent of a tree can be used with hardly any waste. A cord of wood (a stack 4 x 4 x 8 ft.) can produce: a. up to 2,000 pounds of paper b. 1,200 copies of National Geographic magazine c. 2,700 copies of an average daily paper d. 12 dining room tables 27. More than 5,000 things are made from trees. Every day, Americans use thousands of products made from the forest - from computer paper and lumber to rayon and cosmetic by-products. 28. Other items that contain wood products and by-products include vanilla extract, cereals, baked goods, vitamins, plastics, paints, carpeting, toothpaste, and photographic film. 29. Each American consumes the equivalent of a 100-foot tree each year. 30. Each American on average uses about 600 pounds of paper products per year. By comparison, a resident of China uses only about 13 pounds of paper per year. This page was last updated on 05/06/04 |
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The Forest Conservancy District Board for Baltimore County 9405 Old Harford Road Baltimore, Maryland 21234 (410) 665-5820 Email Robert Prenger ....... rprenger@dnr.state.md.us Melvin Noland ....... mlnoland@bcpl.net
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