The trees in Atlanta, Georgia need proper care and maintenance in order to continue to provide the residents of Georgia with so many benefits. There is no question that healthy, structurally sound trees are more of an asset than declining, comprimised trees. The benefits provided by Georgia's tree canopy, from energy conservation to increasing property values are the greatest when trees are in good condition. Under ideal conditions, the list of potential maintenance activities is both tree and site dependent. Tree maintenance falls into four main categories: (1) tree health and vigor, (2) tree structure, (3) building and infrastructure conflicts, and (4) clean-up of fallen limbs or storm damaged trees. All of these tasks are not equal in their importance or in their priority. To illustrate this, consider the example of young tree pruning. When a tree is propery pruned while it is young and still developing, it can prevent many potential branch failures and reduce the need for future maintenance. Pruning while a tree is young is often low on the priortiy list of many property owners so this very important task is usually missed until tree has a conflict with a building or infrastructure or a large limbs falls from the tree and needs to be cleaned up. In most cases, trees can be pruned by property owners while the trees are young without the use of expensive tools or time consuming clean-up.