The Trees of Wildwood at Oakcrest Add Beauty, Value, and Help the Environment

My wife, mother-in-law, and I live in Wildwood at Oakcrest. Wildwood at Oakcrest is a fantastic community located near Tomball and just north of Houston in Cypress, TX. Wildwood at Oakcrest is in an inviting place to call home thanks to miles of greenbelt trails, scenic ponds, and pristine common areas throughout the community.

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
— Chinese proverb

Trees can be a hassle. They have to be watered, trimmed, and mowed around as part of routine maintenance. Fallen leaves often need to be gathered and disposed of. On the other hand, towering trees on property provide more than beauty — they increase the value of homes. Several recent nationwide surveys show that mature trees in a well-landscaped yard can increase the value of a house by 7% to 19%. A lush lawn with flower gardens is pretty, but didn't add to the value of a house, the surveys showed.

Hence it is no surprise that the deed restrictions for Wildwood at Oakcrest stipulate that "no trees shall be cut or removed except to provide room for construction of Improvements or to remove dead or unsightly trees; provided, however, that removal of any tree in excess of a four-inch ( 4 ") caliper requires the approval of the Architectural Review Committee and the replacement, one for one, of such tree with a tree of equal or greater caliper." In other words, trees are a good thing that need to be preserved.

Yesterday, on a bicycle ride around our neighborhood, in addition to the trees in front and backyards, the homebuilders of our community left open space where there were large trees instead of removing them.

The trees help make Wildwood at Oakcrest a beautiful place to live. In addition, trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, and the carbon that they store in their wood helps slow the rate of global warming. Trees reduce wind speeds and cool the air as they lose moisture and reflect heat upwards from their leaves.^* In other words, trees are a good thing that need to be preserved.

Autodesk has always been an automation company. Today, more than ever, that means helping our customers automate their design and make processes. We help them embrace the future of making, where they can do more (e.g., quantity, functionality, performance, quality), with less (e.g., energy, raw materials, timeframes, waste of human potential), and realize the opportunity for better (e.g., innovation, user experience, efficiency, sustainability, return on investment). I view an appreciation for greenspace by homebuilders as an expression of better.

Arborism is alive in the lab.