What Happens When You Give A Tree An Email Address?

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What Happens When You Give A Tree An Email Address?

Granola Wannabes

Unfortunately, the Apple Tree from The Wizard of Oz and Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas are not accepting fan mail.

The city of Melbourne, Australia assigned trees email addresses so that citizens can report any issues, such as dangerous branches.

All of the city's 77,000 trees were assigned an ID number and an email address in 2013. The program designed by Melbourne's Urban Forest received reports that helped city officials learn how they can better maintain aging trees in the city.

However, staff received a flood of other content.

Trees in Melbourne Park. BBC

According to Councillor Arron Wood, the chair of Melbourne's Environment Portfolio, what happened next was unexpected.

Wood said in an email to The Atlantic that trees having email addresses produced an "unintended but positive consequence."

"The email interactions reveal the love Melburnians have for our trees."

Thousands of people sent love letters, questions about the current affairs in the world, and simple greetings to many city trees.

City officials shared a few emails to the public.

Here's an apology on behalf of humanity.

Some residents sent love letters.

"Dear 1037148," wrote one admirer to a golden elm tree. "You deserve to be known by more than a number. I love you. Always and forever."

Here's another one.

One resident asked a question a little bit out of a tree's expertise.

And he received a response!

What would you write to the tree on your lawn? Let us know in the comments!

Moojan has been a writer at Shared for a year. When she's not on the lookout for viral content, she's looking at cute animal photos. Reach her at moojan@shared.com.