Central Florida Community Tree Guide: Benefits, Costs, and Strategic Planting

Trees make our cities more attractive and provide many ecosystem services, including air quality improvement, energy conservation, stormwater interception, and atmospheric carbon dioxide reduction. These benefits must be weighed against the costs of maintaining trees, including planting, pruning, irrigation, administration, pest control, liability, cleanup, and removal. We present benefits and costs for representative small, medium, and large broadleaf trees and a conifer in the Central Florida region derived from models based on research carried out in Orlando, Florida. Average annual net benefits increase with tree size and differed based on locations. Two hypothetical examples of planting projects are described to illustrate how the data in this guide can be adapted to local uses, and guidelines for maximizing benefits and reducing costs are given.