Langston Development Co. in Carmel had developed residential communities before, so executives thought they knew what to expect when they filed plans for Brookside with the town of Westfield.

The town planner told us we needed a tree inventory and tree preservation plan, said John Edwards, Langston's field supervisor for Brookside, a 114-acre development near Carey Road between 161st and 169th streets in Hamilton County.

We wondered, Why do we have to do this for these people? We've always been tree people, Edwards said.

Since then, Edwards and other Langston executives have begun to hug trees even more.

We've gone so far as to have an arborist on staff, Edwards said. We want to make this an even neater place for trees.

Company owner Jim Langston said the Westfield requirements do put the onus on developers to preserve trees during development and construction, but it also allows them to count the existing trees toward the town's quota.

Langston plans call for 131 1/2-acre-to-3/4-acre home sites priced at $65,000 to $130,000 each. Home prices will be $400,000 plus. Brookside will have two miles of walking trails, two parks and five lakes in the 25 acres designated as open space or common areas.

When you look at the land, the trees are the biggest asset, Langston said.

Westfield is among a growing number of communities that have implemented some type of ordinances governing trees. The laws take various shapes, from required plantings to paying fines for tree removal. Sometimes the laws apply only to commercial developments, while others cover all kinds.

In Westfield, developers are required to make sure each home site has four shade trees, two evergreens or ornamentals and four shrubs, Langston said. We were the first ones who had to comply with these new regulations.

There's a great diversity of trees at Brookside, said Judson R. Scott, an arboricultural consultant, owner of Vine & Branch Inc. in Carmel, and the arborist for the Langston development.

Scott was required to inventory the trees, paying particular attention to the larger species. He has tallied 900 trees on the property that measure 8-inch caliper or more, identified their botanical names and noted them on the drawings filed with Westfield and those used in the field.

In the mix are a 200-year-old native swamp oak and century-old pin oaks, cottonwoods and walnut trees, Scott said.

There are actually thousands of smaller trees that are also being preserved, Scott said. Jim Langston and John Edwards have given the edict to preserve all trees possible, and landscape clearing crews are working around 1- and 2-inch caliper trees throughout the project.

Developers, builders and other real estate professionals know wooded lots almost always demand higher prices some studies say as much as 20 percent higher than those without trees. But they also know it's a lot easier to design a development and build a house if you don't have to dodge trees.

But Scott said tree conservation and preservation during development and construction is more than keeping machinery away from tree trunks. It also determines where equipment and materials are stored.

Damage to tree trunks is less of a concern than compacted or damaged roots, he said. Ideally, the protected area is three times the drip line, but he'll live with 30 percent of the drip line protected if mitigating measures are made, such as root pruning, supplemental watering and fertilizers, Scott said.

At Brookside, orange plastic fences ring clumps of trees throughout the development. In one case, a road was diverted slightly to protect a stand of mature, desirable trees, while at another turn, some unsightly hackberry trees will give way to pavement.

Scott is on site regularly to make sure construction machinery stays clear of fenced-off areas and to answer questions or offer guidance to the crews.

Tree preservation has been on the rise since the 1980s, said Nelda Matheny of Pleasanton, Calif., co-author of Trees and Development: A Technical Guide to Preservation of Trees During Land Development, published by the International Society of Arboriculture.

Although focused on developers and builders, she said arborists should be a part of the team when consumers build a home or expand an existing one on a wooded lot.

The goal, she said, is to foster the success of the development project and the trees. Success is measured over the long term, when trees continue to thrive for many years after development is completed.

People are looking at their landscapes and plantings as a way to reduce the stresses in their lives, she said, noting there have been many studies confirming the calming aspects of nature.

In general, everyone seems much more aware of trees and how they affect our quality of life, she said. It's a way to act locally.