How do you place value on a tree? Maybe it blocks the sun, which is priceless here

Having recently been quizzed pretty hard about what trees cost, and what their value might be under certain conditions, as I personally find that a very interesting subject, I thought I might get into that a little.

First of all, the value of any item is in the "eye of the beholder."

While I personally have a mesquite tree growing in front of my house and I like it, not everybody would be as happy that tree is there. Not to mention that if I had a quarter section of land somewhere that was covered with mesquites, I might consider those particular trees to be pests that are interfering with the use of my property (because they would be).

On the other hand, if those very same mesquites on that same property were fulfilling some purpose I valued, such as providing good habitat for quail, I might feel entirely differently about them.

Frankly, how much a tree is worth is a very multi-faceted subject.

For instance, you have the physical body of the tree, and sometimes that has some value. While there certainly are some lumber-type uses for the mesquites that I mentioned above, mesquites don't grow a lot of good timber, and that kind of use for mesquites is definitely a niche market. Don't get me wrong, mesquite lumber can be beautiful, with a very unique color, but you're going to have to go through a lot of mesquite trees to find any usable pieces of it, in any size.

Mostly, the value, if any, of a cut down mesquite tree is going to be as firewood, or for barbecuing. Beyond that, there just isn't much value in a cut down mesquite tree. On the other hand, a cut-down black walnut or cherry tree could quite possibly be worth thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars, just for the wood.

However, a mesquite or any other tree, regardless of species, can be a pretty valuable plant. That depends on where it is, and what it's contribution to a piece of property may be.

As a consulting arborist, one of the things that I sometimes do is appraise trees for value. This is a much more complicated process than you would think. While what species a tree is and how well suited it is to where it is growing is important, location and contribution to the property are huge factors in determining value.

For instance, I lost an ash tree in the 2021 freeze, and while ash trees are not especially valuable, that particular tree was on the west side of my west-facing house. The shade and protection that it furnished for my house was important. My house is now not as comfortable, or protected, and my summer cooling bill was much higher than it would have been if the tree was still there.

I'm going to miss that tree, and its contributions to my quality of life. If I were to appraise that particular tree, almost certainly how much it was worth would turn on where it was located, and what it did for the property, more than what species it was.

One of the things that I emphasize around the holiday season is that trees make good Christmas gifts. As far as I'm concerned, a tree is one of the few things that increases in value, size and usefulness every year. The main thing here isn't that trees can help you with your Christmas list (that is helpful, though), but rather that a tree is almost always going to give some benefit to a piece of property (value added), and properly selected and place, that benefit should increase from year to year.

Bruce Kreitler is a certified arborist in Abilene.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: How do you place value on a tree?