Mike Salm: Shade is a cool thing to have

Walk along Rascal Creek bike trail and see a few pair of beautiful wood ducks in the creek. The wood ducks are attracted to the pecan trees along the creek. Wood ducks eat seeds, insects, arthropods, acorns, pecans, etc. See them on Rascal Creek bike trail east of G Street. Numbers may vary, depending on the amount of water in the creek. That is helpful to wood ducks and other wildlife.

People enjoy trees. Merced is designated a “Tree City USA.” Need a replacement tree on your boulevard? Call the Public Works Department. We need all the shade we can get. During the hot summer, we love the shade of a tree. In fall, when they drop their leaves, we get the warm winter sun. Some people don’t have trees. They say they are messy. But leaves under a tree are in their rightful place, that can’t be messy.

Friends who have trees shading their house tell me they use their air conditioning only a half dozen times a year. My experience is that it is 3 to 4 degrees cooler under a tree than elsewhere in summer. There are lots of reasons for nurturing trees.

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Mike Salm: Shade is a cool thing to have."