In the Oct. 3 edition of Newport This Week there was an advertisement for arboricide.

The page 10 ad noted that Newport Mansions/The Preservation Society of Newport County “is on the hunt for majestic trees to light up Washington Square and Marble House.”

The organization, with total assets of $83.3 million and 2023 revenue of $31.3 million, wants people to kill their own, I presume, healthy trees — I can’t imagine the Marble House curators want A Charlie Brown Christmas-like tree on the property — to cerebrate holiday opulence at a Gilded Age mansion and in the square that leads to decadence. The nonprofit’s executive director, director of finance, and chief of staff were paid a combined $780,421 last year.

“Is there a 15- to 30-foot evergreen in your yard that’s ready for a starring role?” the ad asked. “If your tree fits the bill, our expert greenhouse team will carefully remove it for you.”

For your sacrifice of a “majestic” tree, The Preservation Society of Newport County ad said, “you’ll have the bragging rights of being part of Newport’s Christmas wonder!”

One would think Newport Mansions could afford to buy its own Christmas trees, perhaps even from a local Christmas tree farm. Even better, the Bellevue Avenue nonprofit could plant a few evergreens at Marble House and Washington Square that could be celebrated every year.

Bill Tavares, the Preservation Society’s communications manager, noted that the two trees chopped down annually are “typically on private property, and the owners who make these donations do so because they were already planning to remove them.”

“We are obligated to present these properties with historical accuracy. An exception is made during the holiday season with a tree temporarily placed in the fountain,” he wrote in an email to ecoRI News. “As part of the landscape design for Marble House, there was never a tree planted directly in front of the house. Much like The Breakers landscape plan, and the plan for all the houses, the design of the landscape is as important as the design of the house.”

The problem is we don’t respect trees. We never really have. We’ve spent centuries clear-cutting forests without any thought, to grow food, raise livestock, build McMansion subdivisions, and to install solar panels. We make exceptions for dead trees, but we seldom accommodate live ones.

Much of our woodsy development could have been accomplished and many more trees saved if we didn’t take them for granted. A little foresight would go a long way.

Instead, we get this recycled promise from the city of Providence during its annual search for the “Perfect Christmas Tree”: “The Forestry Division of the Parks Department will cut the winning tree down and haul it away free of charge,” according to an Oct. 22 email from the city’s director of communications for economic development.

In response to an ecoRI News email that asked three questions — How long has this tradition been in practice? Why not buy the trees from a local Christmas tree farm? Better yet, why not plant a spruce or fir tree outside City Hall and the Providence Rink that could be redecorated every year? — Michaela Antunes wrote:

“This long-standing tradition of issuing a call for Christmas trees spans multiple administrations, and is a free way for property owners to have a tree removed that would typically already be slated for removal. We do not remove significant trees.

“Equally as long-standing, this call is statewide and typically the trees that meet the requirements do not come from City of Providence residents. Submissions include the history of the tree’s life and location. After a tree’s life at City Hall, it is turned into mulch and has a third life in community gardens or park garden beds. If a tree cannot be identified that meets the requirements, one is purchased from a tree farm.”

For last year’s trees, one was on private property in Providence — “the owner asked to have it removed” — and the other was an understory tree in Roger Williams Park that needed to be removed due to multiple issues, including basal root rot, according to Antunes.

Another potential Christmas tree-harvesting suggestion: just plant a few spruce and fir trees in the Urban Wildlife Meadow at Providence Station Park. They’re bound to get cut down.

If you have a “majestic” or a “winning” tree, why would you want it to be cut down? I have a few invasive Norway maples who have seen better days that I would be willing to donate.

(Ironically, Norway maples were first introduced in America in the mid-1700s, after many native trees were felled. Unfortunately, this species, native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, “is a classic example of an invasive tree.” With ties to the early American nursery trade, it was planted extensively in North America for its aesthetic appeal and horticultural value before eventually spreading into natural areas where it disrupts native plant communities.)

The city of Providence, instead of annually asking Rhode Islanders to chop down trees, could remove some of the asphalt around City Hall and plant a spruce or fir tree. After all, the city likes to promote the importance of street trees.

The city could also plant a spruce or fir near the Providence Rink, instead of asking someone to sacrifice a 15- to 20-foot-high one for Providence’s annual Holiday Celebration. The city annually requests a 35- to 45-foot-high tree for City Hall.

The most common spruce trees in Rhode Island are the black, white, and Norway. All three species typically live 100 to 250 years, with some living 300 years or longer. Both the white and Norway grow to be about 40 to 60 feet high — a 2-inch-tall potted Norway can grow to be 10 feet tall or so in five years, after you transplant it from the pot, of course. A black spruce typically grows to be 30 to 50 feet high.

A balsam fir, an evergreen tree that is commonly used for Christmas trees, grows to be 15 to 40 feet tall and has a maximum lifespan of 200 years. A Nordmann fir, also commonly grown as a commercial Christmas tree, will reach 40 to 60 feet — in its native habitat, the Caucasus Mountains and northeastern Turkey, it can grow to be 200 feet tall.

I can’t imagine the city of Providence wants a diseased spruce or fir tree with browning needles to be showcased, so some healthy trees with decades of life in front of them are likely axed for short-lived amusement.

Trees, though, are much more than staging areas for lights and ornaments. Their uses go way beyond mulch and backyard fires. They provide important ecological services, for free.

Trees clean the air and sequester carbon dioxide emissions. They protect drinking water. They provide shade. They supply oxygen, and absorb pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Trees soak up and store rainwater, which reduces runoff and sediment deposits after storms. Their far-reaching roots hold soil in place and fight erosion, and their leaves, when they fall, make excellent compost that enriches soil.

A third of tree species, however, are threatened with extinction, according to a 2022 white paper. The authors noted this situation represents a tree extinction crisis. They highlight a series of urgent actions needed to avert an ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic catastrophe.

“Trees are of exceptional ecological importance, playing a major functional role in the world’s ecosystems, while also supporting many other plants, animals and fungi,” they wrote. “Large-scale extinction of tree species will lead to major biodiversity losses in other species groups and substantially alter the cycling of carbon, water and nutrients in the world’s ecosystems.”

Some 5 million terrestrial species and 80% of terrestrial biodiversity depend on forests for their survival. Intact natural tree cover provides essential ecosystem services such as food, water, and shelter and supports diverse communities of wildlife.

Forests also create soil, and even dead trees play a vital role in a forest ecosystem. An acre of forest absorbs 6 tons of carbon dioxide and releases 4 tons of oxygen.

It’s been estimated that 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of forest are cut down annually, because of logging, dams, industrial agriculture, tar sands mining, and other destructive human practices.

All this cutting is having an impact. The amount of wildlife in the world’s forests has plummeted by 53% in the past 40 years, according to a 2019 report.

Consider planting a tree instead of cutting one down this holiday season.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.