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Green Infrastructure: Trees can be an important tool for retention and detention of stormwater runoff. Trees provide additional benefits, including cleaner air, reduction of heat island effects, carbon sequestration, reduced noise pollution, reduced pavement maintenance needs, and cooler cars in shaded parking lots.
Information: Tree trenches and tree boxes are bioretention practices. However, because of differences in design, construction and maintenance, we have created a separate section for trees.
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*The tree interception credit has been updated. See the technical memo *This blog site has numerous blogs that may be of interest.
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Use of trees to manage stormwater runoff encompasses several practices. Tree trenches and tree boxes (collectively called tree BMPs), the most commonly implemented tree BMPs, can be incorporated anywhere in the stormwater treatment train but are most often located in upland areas of the treatment train.

Tree BMPs are one component of urban forestry. Urban forestry is a broad term that applies to all publicly and privately owned trees within an urban area, including individual trees along streets and in backyards, as well as stands of remnant forest (Nowak et al. 2001). This page includes three sections covering general information about trees, tree trenches and tree boxes as BMPs, and urban forestry.

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General information on trees

Tree trenches and tree boxes

Links to tables with tree information

Urban Forestry

For more information on urban forestry, we suggest visiting the following websites.

Related pages

This page was last edited on 26 January 2023, at 11:42.