How do we grow more Trees in the Mid-West?

A few trees scattered around wont stop tornados, especially when your talking about the area that experiences the most tornados in the world. Also 2% more trees means 2% less product which translates into higher prices which again means a higher cost at the grocery store and a higher cost for ethanol (a main ingredient in gasoline).

Not to mention the mid-west naturally doesn't have many trees because its a large prairie, forcing some trees into the mix wont change the climate that doesn't naturally allow for them.

Well most of those Uses in landscapes don't apply to corn/soybean/rapeseed/etc.. fields which is what were talking about. I mean tress do great things for the environment of course, but farmers and consumers are not going to take financial losses to provide shade for a cornfield, muffle the noise of a corn field, nor to screen unwanted views of a corn field. Your going to need better reasons then that, look at how long geologists had to wave evidence around showing the planet was being killed by pollution before people started to take action.

Native Trees of the Midwest for the Home Landscape

A native plant is considered to be a species that existed in an area prior to the arrival of European settlers, as opposed to a naturalized plant, which has been introduced into a new habitat by human influence. Native trees are part of the rich and complex relationships among plants, animals, insects, and microorganisms in natural ecosystems (woodlands, prairies, wetlands, etc.) of the Midwest. The diversity of native trees provides interesting textures, colors, shapes, flowers, and foliage. Planting native species is a way to re-establish natural diversity and restore our regional landscapes, and they help to sustain habitats for many of our native birds and insects.

Uses in the Landscape

Provide food and shelter for wildlife

Promote plant diversity

Provide shade

Create privacy or a sense of enclosure

Define boundaries

Screen unwanted views

Muffle noise

Provide a focal point in the landscape

There's a international day call tree day .If each person plant one tree at a year US will add 300,000,000 trees to the tree population and the world 6 billiard trees .

Fast-growing trees are often used in the Midwest to fill in landscaping projects such as in new home construction. Fast-growing trees can be weak, often suffering damage from high winds or snow from Midwest winters, resulting in extra maintenance costs, according to the University of Illinois Extension. For continuous shade coverage, plant slow-growing trees and remove the fast-growing varieties as the slow-growing species mature.

Green Ash

The green ash is the widest ranging of all the ashes. In landscaping projects, the tree is used as a windbreak and in land reclamation projects. A hardy tree, the green ash prefers moist soil and is often found growing in the wild in flood plains and swamps. The green ash ranges in height from 50 to 100 feet and grows at a maximum rate of 24 inches a year. The tree reaches its maximum height in 20 years for smaller green ash trees and 50 years for larger trees. The trunk is straight but will widen at the base when growing in water, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The bark is brownish gray with diamond-shaped grooves. The bright green leaves are shaped like elongated ovals. The purple flowers bloom in the early spring. The fruit appears in the early autumn.

Pin Oak

Due to it bright red autumn leaves and straight, narrow shape, the pin oak is planted widely in parks and as a street tree in cities. In the wild, the tree prefers the moist soils of swamps, streams and river bottoms, according to "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trees of North America" by Tony Russell, Catherine Cutler and Martin Walters. The tree ranges in height from 50 to 90 feet. The pin oak grows at a rate on average of 25 inches per year, reaching a maximum height in 24 years for 50-foot trees and 43 years for taller pin oaks. The dark gray bark is grooved and pitted. The dark green leaves have, on average, four pairs of lobes, each tapering to a point. Clumps of tan hair grow in the leaf's vein axis. The green-yellow colored male flowers are catkins that grow up to 2 inches long. The tree gets its name from the pin-like growths on the shoots.

Box Elder

The box elder, also called the ash-leaved maple, ranges in height from 30 to 70 feet and grows at a rate of 18 inches per year. It takes 20 years for smaller box elder trees to reach full height, and 46 years for taller box elder specimens. In nature, the tree grows wild in wetlands across the United States. It has the largest range of all maple trees, according to "Field Guide to Trees of North America" by the National Geographic Association. The box elder is short-lived, to about 60 years of age, and is damaged easily. The bark ranges in color from brown to gray and is smooth. The light green leaves have three to five leaflets that turn yellow and red in autumn. The male and female flowers grow in small clusters on separate trees.