‘Immeasurable.’ Charge developers full value of trees when they come to pave paradise

We’re not charging enough for trees.

That much is clear as the relentless war against the trees of Beaufort County marches right on past our best intentions.

Trees here are like the Pyramids of Giza, an ancient gift, a birthright that keeps on giving.

Yet we’re treating even our live oaks as something we could easily do without.

Would they tear down the pyramids to put up a doublewide?

So why would we destroy live oaks to put up an apartment complex?

Our local governments have made tree protection a priority, because that’s what the people have demanded.

But what they’ve done is not enough.

We now see clear-cutting to make way for crowded, cookie-cutter neighborhoods on Hilton Head Island and Lady’s Island and elsewhere.

We have a live oak in limbo in the heart of the town of Port Royal, spared at the last minute by a concerned citizen witnessing it being sawed to a nub, limb by gracious limb, to make way for a house.

It now stands with no arms, like Venus de Live Oak, an awkward symbol of the tug of war between the quaint town’s motto of “far from ordinary” and what one resident sees as “ordinary as hell.”

On the other side of town at the Cherry Hill Plantation site, 30 or more landmark live oaks would disappear to make way for an apartment complex under plans submitted to the town. And though the developer’s plan calls for sparing Beaufort County’s grande dame of live oak trees – the county’s largest – arborists warn that the so-called protection for this rare specimen would likely not work as it struggled to survive in a parking lot.

The public needs to buy that 12-acre tract to end forever threats to that magnificent tree.

We’re not placing enough monetary value on our trees as a deterrence to all these people who want to degrade them or get rid of them.

Developers whine that they cannot make top dollar if they don’t get their way, as if that’s our problem. And to them, trees are a problem.

Developers treat fines for destroying trees as a tiny cost of doing business – not even a speed bump for their bulldozers or bank accounts.

Despite all our ordinances and Tree City USA designations, we’re slowly giving away the franchise, like tearing down the pyramids to put up a doublewide.

“The benefits that trees produce for us are immeasurable, but also kind of hidden,” said arborist Michael Murphy. “People don’t think about it much. And it’s becoming more and more important.”

A nice tree is known to increase the value of a lot.

But there’s much more to it than a tree here and a tree there.

In the bigger picture, the county’s shrinking tree canopy has immense value. It is cooling. It improves the atmosphere. Tree roots also control stormwater runoff, which pollutes the county’s precious waterways.

Developers need to know that trees come first in this county, not their bottom line.

And governments need tighten their tree ordinances, coordinate them with zoning, and charge the true value of trees – even the psychological value they have on humankind – to all who come to pave paradise.

This story was originally published September 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.