Inside Report for Dec. 20, 2011

With Christmas coming up, most people in south Louisiana are busy buying presents, attending parties and making plans to spend time with family.

Planting trees is probably not on the top of their things-to-do lists.

Which is a shame. Because there’s a timely reason this season to start thinking about roots, branches and foliage.

Not too long after New Year’s Day, Louisiana holds its salute to trees, months before much of the rest of the nation does.

Nationally, Arbor Day is celebrated in the spring.

Louisiana, on the other hand, will celebrate its Arbor Day in 2012 on Jan. 20.

Louisiana Arbor Day is normally held on the third Friday of January, said K. Diane Losavio, executive director of Baton Rouge Green.

Why so early?

Because the optimum season for tree planting in Louisiana ends in March, Losavio said.

Planting trees is certainly a concern of Baton Rouge Green, a nonprofit organization that works to educate and inspire local residents to plant, conserve and sustain trees and green spaces in the community. Founded in 1987, Baton Rouge Green has planted more than 30,000 trees at schools, in parks, in neighborhoods and along roadways, according to the organization’s website.

Through the financial help of corporations and residents, Baton Rouge Green hires licensed and insured contractors to take care of almost 5,000 trees that line Interstates 10, 12 and 110, as well as other roadways in the Baton Rouge area, Losavio said.

Right at the I-10/I-12 split sit almost 600 trees, including 223 live oaks, planted by Baton Rouge Green, Losavio said.

Because people are usually traveling down the highway in their vehicles when they see the split, they might not have the opportunity to get a really good look at the trees there.

Losavio said she has heard people say that they don’t know if they have ever noticed the trees at the split.

She said she bets they have.

“If the trees were not there all of a sudden, you would notice it. Believe me,” Losavio said.

Noticing trees and appreciating their beauty are two concepts Baton Rouge Green tries to get across to younger members of the community. On Louisiana Arbor Day, members of Baton Rouge Green will plant trees at three schools in Baton Rouge, yet to be determined, and teach the students how to maintain them.

“We hope that the students can carry the message through the rest of their lives,” Losavio said.

The message is this: Trees are good.

The Arbor Day Foundation’s website lists lots of reasons to plant, nurture and protect trees.

Here are a few:

• The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
• If you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in five years your energy bills should be 3 percent less. In 15 years the savings will be nearly 12 percent.
• Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent.
• Trees can be a stimulus for economic development, attracting new businesses and tourism to an area.
• The planting of trees means improved water quality, resulting in less runoff and erosion. Wooded areas help prevent the transport of sediment and chemicals into streams.

Baton Rouge Green will host the city’s Arbor Day celebration beginning with its annual luncheon Jan. 17 at noon at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Conference Center, 2323 Kenilworth Parkway.

For more information about the luncheon and Louisiana Arbor Day, visit http://www. batonrougegreen.com.

Steven Ward is a general-assignment reporter for The Advocate.

He can be reached at [e-mail] or [phone].