Chicagoland’s trees are some of the most hardworking plants around. The 172 million trees that make up the regional forest help regulate air temperature, create oxygen, soak up stormwater, store carbon and reduce energy bills with the shade they cast. They also clean the air, removing 18,600 tons of pollutants from car exhaust and industrial emissions every year.

Increasingly, scientists and doctors are viewing trees and nature as a public health tool to prevent and treat disease. The benefits of trees clearly extend far beyond their branches.

But not everyone has the same access to them.

Guests:

• Matt Ueltzen, Manager of Restoration Ecology, Lake County Forest Preserves

Forest Preserves Mentioned

• Greenbelt Forest Preserve (North Chicago)
• Lyons Woods Forest Preserve (Waukegan)

Selected Links and Sources:

• “2020 Chicago Region Tree Census Executive Summary,” The Morton Arboretum
• “Air Quality Index (AQI) Basics,” AirNow.gov
• American sycamore, The Morton Arboretum
• Carbon monoxide
• Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
• “Green Infrastructure Model and Strategy,” Lake County Forest Preserves
• Ground-level ozone
• “Health, Equity and Nature: A Changing Climate in Illinois,” Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods
• “Heat Island Effect,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• “How Cities Can Harness the Public Health Benefits of Urban Trees,” The Nature Conservancy
• “How Much Nature is Enough? 120 Minutes a Week, Doctors Say,” The New York Times
• “Maps and Data to Guide Local Action for Trees,” The Morton Arboretum
• “Nature as a Community Health Tool: The Case for Healthcare Providers and Systems,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• Nitrogen dioxide
• “Outdoor Air,” Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
• Particulate matter
• Preservation Foundation of the Lake County Forest Preserves
• “Since When Have Trees Existed Only for Rich Americans?”, The New York Times
• Sulfur dioxide
• “Thermal performance of cooling strategies for asphalt pavement: A state-of-the-art review,” Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
• Tree Equity Score, American Forests
• “Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP),” Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
• “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery,” Science
• “Visibility and Regional Haze,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Volatile organic compounds

***

If you like what the forest preserves do for you, please consider donating to the Preservation Foundation of the Lake County Forest Preserves’ endowment campaign. Your gift will help provide a perpetual, dependable funding source and ensure every acre of habitat we restore remains ecologically healthy. Learn more and give at LCFPD.org/donate.

Have questions or comments? Send them to WordsOfTheWoods@LCFPD.org.

This episode of Words of the Woods was written, hosted and produced by Brett Peto, Environmental Communications Specialist at the Lake County Forest Preserves. Featuring research and expertise from The Morton Arboretum, the Brushwood Center, Eileen Davis, Rebekah Snyder and Matt Ueltzen. Script editing by Eileen Davis, Alyssa Firkus, Kevin Kleinjan, Ty Kovach, Jeanna Martinucci, Kim Mikus, Matt Mulligan, Rebekah Snyder, Matt Ueltzen and Pati Vitt. Music and sound effects from Storyblocks. Audio editing and mixing by Brett Peto. Episode cover art © R. Scott McNeill.

Words of the Woods is a production of the Lake County Forest Preserves in Libertyville, Illinois.