Like our human veterans, veteran trees — our old, venerable specimens — are worthy of respect. Pause under the deep life-healing shade to think about how long they have grown in one place and not been cut down or bulldozed.

They are worth paying top dollar for the best professionals available to keep them in as healthy and vigorous a state as possible. At the Hale Koa hotel/Fort DeRussy, we water our veteran shade trees and check on their safety daily. We trim them only as needed and look out for dead wood or hanging palm fronds or dripping small coconuts that might need to be carefully pruned off.

One day, our tree crew and I were somewhat joking around, calling them veteran trees and reminding ourselves of the value of huge 100-year-old thornless kiawe (native to Peru but beloved for many reasons in Hawai'i) and the niu, or coconuts, that are 60 to 80 feet tall and still handsome and graceful. We value the two Indian banyans (Ficus bengalensis) named Gus and Esmeralda, who are said to be secret ku'uipo or sweethearts, and the 80-foot-tall royal palms in a quadrangle planting, delineating the hotel's original barefoot bar.

We came to find out "veteran" tree is a term recognized by professional arborists and tree trimmers. The International Society of Arboriculture just had one of the best conferences ever recorded, right here in Hawai'i. A field day for family education was held among the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's veteran trees, which are professionally maintained by Roxanna Adams and the UH landscape maintenance staff. The Royal Hawaiian hotel's epic niu and monkeypods also were featured in an educational master climbing event.

Veteran trees also are called patriarch trees or ancient trees. Within parks and residential areas, living trees are sources of shade, oxygen, cooling effects and landscape utility. Everywhere they grow, trees provide shelter, food and habitat to birds and other wildlife.

In addition, trees help the environment. Trees (and all other green plants) consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen; both of these things are good for humans because we need oxygen to breathe, and too much carbon dioxide is thought to contribute to the greenhouse effect, or atmospheric warming. Trees are also key in the cycling of water from the ground into the atmosphere. In tropical rainforests, they function as "rain machines" — if the forest is cut down, there actually is less rain.

Like our veterans (and their families) who served our country faithfully, veteran trees keep on growing and benefiting all of us. Just the wonder of an old, huge tree growing in one place is a miracle in modern Hawai'i and the world. It's like a 90-year-old veteran staying healthy and positive about the gift of life on this green and blue planet.

In his summer 2007 update, our U.S. senator, Daniel K. Akaka, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said he is working with his committee "to ensure that veterans are honored with the benefits and care they have earned through their service. This has been a crucial task as veteran s return home from Iraq and Afghanistan with complicated injuries, testing a healthcare and benefits system that still has more work to do for veterans of previous wars."

In the current state of the world, our veterans and active-duty military more than ever deserve a place for R&R. In fact, the restful shade of green from trees and plants can be a good place for all of us, now more than ever. The veteran trees and palms help to heal the minds and bodies of our military folks. What an honor it is to help maintain and care for historic trees on this tree-filled green space in Waikiki.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.