A week after a tornado ravaged Clayton, the hum of returning electricity and the steady sweep of cleanup crews offer a semblance of normalcy. Yet, as buildings and roads mend at a remarkable pace, the absence of trees lining our formerly shaded streets remains a stark, silent testament to the storm’s enduring scar.

“[The impact of tornadoes on local environments] definitely depends on the location,” environmental science teacher Ava Hughes said. “In areas that are wooded or have a lot of trees, like Clayton, for example, it can have some pretty big, long-lasting implications.”

To many of its residents, the large, lush trees that populate Clayton’s neighborhoods add as much to the area’s beauty as any century-old house. Many of these trees have grown here for decades.

“In certain areas of St Louis, we have more of what is called an old-growth forest, which means a lot of our trees are older. They’re huge, but it’s going to take a long time to replace a tree of that size, and they do a lot for our local ecosystems, as well as the weather that we enjoy,” Hughes said.

Because so many trees have lost branches, foliage and even been uprooted, local ecosystems have been knocked off-kilter. 

“It’s going to feel a little hotter because trees do provide a lot of coverage, which means they prevent some of that UV from reaching the ground all the way,” Hughes said.

Not only might this summer feel hotter, but we will probably experience a wider range of temperatures between night and day, and there will be fewer trees to protect the area during future storms.

“If we have a huge rainstorm, there are less active roots. We could see some more flooding and erosion in some areas where those trees used to be,” Hughes said

The trees that have been damaged face an uncertain fate, and many that are not already uprooted have lost so many leaves that they will not be able to absorb the required energy to continue living. 

“Some of them are going to be okay, and they might leaf out again. [For] others, it takes a lot of energy for trees to leaf out, so they likely won’t have enough [energy],” Hughes said.

The death of these trees will affect not only the aesthetics of our neighborhoods and the temperature of our summers but also the tree-dwelling creatures that populate the local environment. 

“A lot of our birds and our squirrels rely on trees for their nests and for their living spaces. They need [trees to be] leafed out for it to be really effective in protecting them from predators as they’re raising their young,” Hughes said. “We likely lost a lot of young birds and squirrels because they would have been in those older trees that came down, which means that we could see a reduction in those populations.”

Despite the devastating impact of tree damage on animal habitats, many of these species are exceptionally resilient. 

“[These animals] also reproduce a lot; if they do find another home, they’re going to be pretty solid,” Hughes said.

However, rebuilding local flora poses a bigger challenge for our community than facilitating the rehabilitation of critter populations. 

“Trees that we would have that would grow quickly are ones that also get damaged quickly,” Hughes said. “[Bradford pear trees] grow really, really fast, but they also don’t have as long of a lifespan. They split easily if they get hit by lightning and are an invasive species.”

Rapid replacement of lost vegetation growth is not a sustainable option, but there are ways that we can work to restore our trees. 

“Some other tree species [could help repair the local environment], potentially, because there are some that do work well in our native environment, they might have a bigger habitat range in southern Missouri, but would still do well here.”

Above all, Hughes advises patience.

“It’s still gonna take at least five or 10 years for those trees to get big enough that we’d like [them to be],” Hughes said. “A lot of it has to do with the community. [We have] to go out and replant the trees, and we just have to be patient. It’ll eventually get back up to those levels [of plant life], but the more we care for it now, the better it will be in the future.”