BTC/125/2018 - Ecobuild - Tree value; the missing metric in built-environment management
Tree value; the missing metric in built-environment management
Few ancient relics are more enduring than the Pyramids of Giza, still showcasing the achievements of one of our oldest civilisations more than 4,500 years after they were built (Cover image). Yet Nature frequently manages to trump our best efforts, with the grove of bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) in the Inyo National Forest in California, illustrating the point (Figure 1). At 3,000m above sea level in the most hostile of mountain environments, these ancient twisted lumps of gnarled dead wood, with slithers of living bark tissue linking roots to leaves, were already 500 years old when the Pyramids were built, and still alive today after 5,000 years.