What is a Tree Really Worth?

What is a Tree Really Worth?

Killen, Jim

Holdsworth, David
Department: Environmental and Resource Science/Studies

TP-189

2000

U-Links Office and online

Haliburton County

The focus of this paper will be limited to instrumental value considerations of how humans value trees. Despite the fact that pro-environment attitudes have been growing for decades and public awareness of the impact of human actions continues to increase, we remain a consumptive global culture dependent on excessive accumulation of material goods. There is a failure and reluctance to acknowledge values other than economic ones, a condition fostered by those in power while those who demand that these values have social importance have a lesser-heard voice. Trees are an important component and a reliable indicator of a healthy environment and given the vast open spaces allocated for parks in cities and increasing utilization of more sustainable forest management practices, the values we attribute to trees are increasingly acknowledged.

Trent University