To the editor:
I went for a walk around my neighborhood this morning as I have often done in the almost 30 years I have lived in town.
It was the first sunny morning I have been able to walk in a while. While it was enjoyable, it was also almost alarmingly striking how very hot it seemed even though it was only 8:30 in the morning and the reported temperature was 74 degrees.
What made it seem so hot? Full sun. Blazing sun. The reason I have likely worn tracks in the streets around my house is because our neighborhood was so lovely, green and wooded.
Both of my kids were born in late spring. I was so grateful I didn’t have to worry about excessive heat or sun damaging their new skin when I walked my babies because the streets were cool and shaded.
No more. Developers seem to have it in for our trees. What were once beautiful wooded lots with pines that often hosted great horned owls are now barren, marginally-landscaped altars to pavement and grass.
Sometimes, even when the developer left a tree or two, the new owners cut them down. This is happening all over town. It’s amazing what a difference a few trees can make.
I took the temperature at the corner of Bourque and Pillings Pond roads. According to my phone, the ambient temperature was 84 degrees; the pavement was 138 degrees. At the other end of the street, by the path to the high school, where there are a lot of trees, the pavement was 59 degrees. Even in the sun, at this end of the street, the pavement was only 81 degrees.
Out of curiosity, I also took the temperature of the grass in the shade behind the crumb-tire fields and it was 62 degrees; the fields were 148.5 degrees, which is not too bad.
A couple of summers ago, I wondered about the fields on a hot summer day and I got a reading of 178 degrees on the turf.
Again, it’s amazing what a difference trees can make. It’s not just the shade, which is glorious on a hot day. They also cool the air through evapotranspiration. They provide beauty, privacy and habitat. They control stormwater and clear the air. Houses get so much hotter when there are no trees around, significantly increasing energy consumption in homes that use air conditioning.
In many cases, the decision to remove trees significantly affects the entire community. As we lose trees, we lose free vector control as owls and insect-eating birds leave the area; air quality decreases; other trees become more likely to experience damage; flooding increases and energy consumption increases, further increasing climate effects. When asphalt replaces trees, it creates a significant loss in groundwater recharge as well as a significant net increase in water usage and wasting.
Property values significantly decrease. You don’t often see beautiful, treeless landscapes in a real estate description. Who wants to live in a parking lot?
Once a tree is gone, it cannot be replaced. Think before you cut.
Patricia Fabbri
Lynnfield
