Does money grow on trees? In some cases, maybe so when it comes to tax deductions. The Exceptional Tree Initiative provides special protections for single trees or groves of trees.
For nearly 50 years, the state's Exceptional Tree Act has helped maintain trees of importance. The Outdoor Circle and the Mokihana Club of Kaua‘i lobbied to get special status for trees that the community felt should be protected.
"The thing that people might not realize is that an exceptional tree only has to meet one or more of the seven selection criteria, and those are historic or cultural value, age, rarity, location, size, aesthetic quality, or endemic status," said Myles Ritchie, the chair of Honolulu's Arborist Advisory Committee and the program manager for The Outdoor Circle.
Each county has its own arborist advisory committee with separate applications. Tax deductions for exceptional trees can be up to $3,000 every three years to offset maintenance costs.
Ritchie said the last tree was added to the list in 2019. Recently, only three trees were put forward to the Honolulu City Council for final approval from a pandemic backlog of 30 tree nominations.
"A lot of the initial exceptional trees, which were already old when they were put on the list in the '70s and '80s, are starting to get aged out. They're starting to reach the end of their natural lifespan. So we aren't having this next-generation replenishment of exceptional trees to offset what is currently being lost," Ritchie said.
If you want to nominate a tree, go to outdoorcircle.org.
This story aired on The Conversation on Nov. 28, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
