It is always heartwarming to see a child water a tree. Tree watering is one way people have shown their love for trees though the ages. In southern India, the saying, “water the plant for five years, reap coconuts for life” is used to encourage characteristics of perseverance and diligence, but is rooted in the very simple practice of stewarding trees.

If you celebrate the holidays with a Christmas tree there is a good chance it came from western Oregon. Can you smell the love? The compounds that make that smell actually have a cooling effect and promote cloud formation. Water is the lifeblood of trees, comprising around 50 percent of tree mass. Wangari Maathai, mother of the Greenbelt movement, shared her own observations about the relationship between water and trees:

“By then I understood the connection between the tree and water, so it did not surprise me that when the fig tree was cut down, the stream where I had played with the tadpoles had dried up. I profoundly appreciated the wisdom of my people, and how generations of women had passed on to their daughters the cultural tradition of leaving the fig trees in place. I was expected to pass it on to my children, too.” – Maathai (2006) Unbowed: A memoir, p. 122

Trees are intertwined in stories of watershed health, and are esteemed for their roles in filtering excess sediment, nutrients and toxins before they enter waterways, and in shading streams so they are healthy places for fish. 

Trees are water protectors.  Did you know that over half the USA’s drinking water originates in forests? Together, trees and water can  generate rainfall, mitigate global warming, prevent excessive siltation behind hydroelectric dams, and buffer people from impacts of flooding and other extreme weather conditions.