Georgia Urban Forestry Council Tree Inventories Pre-Project Considerations Project Setup Getting It Done Example: Georgia Perimeter College Shirley

Georgia Urban Forestry CouncilGeorgia Urban Forestry Council

Tree Inventories Pre-Project Considerations

Project Setup

Getting It Done

Example: Georgia Perimeter College

Shirley Trier, Davey Resource GroupSharon Topping, Georgia Perimeter College

Assessing Community Trees


A tree inventory is…

A database

A maintenance tool

A management tool

A tree inventory provides information about individual trees; collectively, the data can provide information about a tree population.


Individual tree locations using GIS and/or GPS

Information about tree characteristics

Information about tree condition

Recommendations for actions on individual trees

Tre

e in

ven

tory

data should give you:


Common Name: black walnutBotanical Name: Juglans nigraCondition: PoorLocation: BorderlineDBH: 32”Risk Assessment Failure Defect Target Other = Rating 3 2 3 1 9Risk Rating: 9

Individual Tree Attributes


Photograph 8. This black walnut (Juglans nigra), located at 123 South Main Street, was recommended as a Removal with a Risk Rating of 9 (Severe Risk).

The large main leader (yellow arrow) of this tree is severely decayed and could impact this heavily traveled portion of South Main Street if it fails.

All Severe and High Risk Removals should be performed as soon as possible to reduce the level of risk in public tree populations.

What did we say…


0.00%3.70%

35.13%36.13%

24.02%

1.74% 2.61%

0.00%

15.00%

30.00%

45.00%

60.00%

75.00%

Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor Critical Dead

Franklin, TN Central Character Area Tree Condition

Tree

Pop

ulat

ions

Franklin’s tree inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group 2009

Franklin’s Street Tree Maintenance Recommendations

Maintenance Number of Trees Percentage

Priority 1 Removal 46 2.86



Priority 1 Prune 214 13.28


Large Tree Routine Prune 409 25.39

Small Tree Routine Prune 263 16.33

Training Prune 343 21.29

Totals 1,611 100


Distribution of Trees by Genus

26%10%

6%

6%

5%

5%

42%

Acer (maple)

Celtis (hackberry)

Quercus (oak)

Prunus (cherry)

Ulmus (elm)

Lagerstromeria(crapemyrtle)

other

Population of Trees in Franklin, TN Central Character Area:

Franklin’s tree inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group 2009


Percent of Trees by DBH Class

Population of Trees in Franklin, TN Central Character Area:


Dahlonega, GA inventory and management and planting plan by Davey Resource Group, 2009

Estimatedmaintenance costs over time


Determining the 5 W’s is critical to a successful and useful tree inventory project.

ProjectProjectSetupSetupFor all tree inventories, project setup is similar…

It’s the why, what, where, when and who.


To P

ut It

Sim

ply…

Why a tree inventory? You need tree locations for some reason (probably

individual tree maintenance or pre-storm documentation).

You need to streamline operations by prioritizing tasks.

You need to reduce risk.

You need to plant trees.

You need to improve the composition of your urban forest.

You need to document work performed.

You need to estimate your future needs.


Do I Need aDo I Need a

to plant trees?to plant trees?Tree InventoryTree Inventory

??


Do I Need aDo I Need a

40%

28%

13%

5%3%

5%

6%

Quercus (oak)

Sabal (cabbagepalm)

Lagerstroemia(commoncrapemyrtle)Cinnamomum(camphortree)

Washingtonia (fanpalm)

Butia (pindo palm)

otherTree inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group 2009

to plant trees?to plant trees?Tree InventoryTree Inventory


In 2009 DRG inventoried 1,153 street/park trees.

The 2009 oak population was 458 trees (40%).

100 trees were planted in 2006-2007. 68 were live oaks, 20 bald cypress, 6 magnolias, and 6 crape myrtles. Also, about 30 trees were removed; approximately 50% were oaks.

Assumed street/park tree population in 2006-2007: 1,068 trees (1,153-100+15). Assumed oak street/park tree population at that time was 405 (458-68+15) trees (38%).

Tree planting increased the percentage of publicly managed oaks by 2 %.

Davey’s inventory of Crescent City’s publicly managed trees includes 1,153 trees, 599 available planting sites, and 53 stumps for a total of 1,805 sites.

Tree planting in 2006 and 2007


do you need to collect?do you need to collect?

What data… What data…


Typical Tree Inventory Data Fields

GIS/GPS

Blockside

Identification

Diameter (DBH)

Condition

Maintenance Recommendation

Conflicts


Benches

Poles

Memorials

Signs

Utilities

Drains

Make YOUR tree inventory a cross departmental tool. Make IT an asset inventory.

More Than Just Trees


Where – Define your study area.

Need

Funding

Time


Deadline

Planning to be done or revised?

Resources—either more or less


In-house: investment of time and some money

Out-source: investment of money, less time

Volunteer: investment of time and less money


Tree Inventory Considerations

Cost Priority In-House Resources

Credentials

Volunteers $ Low Low to

ModerateLow

In-House Staff

$$Low to

ModerateHigh Varies

Outsource

(Contractor)$$$

Moderate to

HighLow High


What’s cool is that with a basic street tree inventory you can put a dollar value on

tree benefits using i-Tree.


Carbon dioxide sequestered

Carbon dioxide stored

Air quality improved

Energy saved

Property value increased

Stormwater

i-Tree Streets


Perform a complete area or segment sample inventory

OR You have an existing tree inventory that

contains at least these three fields: DBH Condition Species

Within i-Tree, street tree populations are assessed using Streets (formerly STRATUM). Streets is a street tree management and analysis tool for urban forest managers that uses tree inventory data to quantify the dollar value of annual environmental and aesthetic benefits

FOR

i-Tree StreetsFO

R i-Tree Streets

From

ww

w.it

reet

ools

.org


Educ

atio

nP

ub

lic


Common Name

% TotalNumber of Trees

Leaf Area (ft2)

% TotalCanopy Cover (ft2)

% TotalEnergy

$/Tree

Stormwater

$/Tree

Crape Myrtle

(17.9%)3,508

150,227

(.6%)

321,634

(2.7%)1.79 1.23

Southern Magnolia (2.1%)

406645,678

(2.6%)

324,275

(2.8%)14.01 21.13

American Sycamore (1.1%)

2221,145,671

(4.6%)

321,312

(2.7%)25.05 40.12

STRATUM Analysis Results of the Annual Benefits Value for Historic Springfield Public Tree Inventory

Project completed by Davey Resource Group in 2007

i-Tree Streets


Georgia Perimeter College

Sharon Topping: Grounds Manager, GPC

Davey Resource Group: ISA Certified Arborists Biologists In-house GIS specialist In-house software development and support Former facility managers and municipal workers on staff


Deliverables GIS-based tree inventory data collection Inventory of 2,655 trees and stumps at Dunwoody,

Decatur, Clarkston, and Newton campuses. Inventory of approximately 1 mile of nature trail at the Newton campus; significant trees with targets only.

Buffer zone GIS canopy coverage GIS canopy coverage analyses of approximately 25

acres of buffer zone/natural area at Dunwoody, Decatur, Clarkston, and Newton campuses.

Asset Manager 4.0 tree management software

Software training and support On-site training (one-day). One year of unlimited

phone.

Custom management plan Management plan to include tree management

program for each campus and large-format wall maps of each campus. Nature trail workbook and small map.


0

4

7

0

13

3

39

10

1

13

5

0

10

20

24

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 00

10

20

30

40

50

1" - 3" 4" - 6" 7" - 12" 13" - 18" 19" - 24" 25" - 30" 31" - 36" 37" - 42" 43"+

Priority 1

Priority 2

Priority 3

Figure 4. Georgia Perimeter College’s Tree Removals by Diameter Size Class

College-wide Tree Removals


11%

11%

19%

16%

10%25% 8%

Prunus

Acer

Lagerstroemia

Magnolia

Pinus

Quercus

Other

Figure 5. Clarkston Campus’ Distribution of Trees by Genus

Campus


17.26%

22.65%21.79%

19.53%

8.74%

4.96%3.45%

0.86% 0.76%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

1" - 3" 4" - 6" 7" - 12" 13" - 18" 19" - 24" 25" - 30" 31" - 36" 37" - 42" 43"+

Figure 6. Diameter Size Class Distribution of Clarkston Campus’ Inventoried Tree Population

Clarkston Campus


0.00%1.83%

32.15%

58.25%

5.93%

0.00%1.83%

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor Critical Dead

Figure 7. Clarkston Campus’ Tree Conditions

CA

MP

US

CLARKSTON


Figure 8. Clarkston Campus’ Tree Removals by Diameter Size Class

Clarkston Campus


Maintenance Required Number Percentage of Trees of Trees






Large Tree Routine Prune 381 40.40

Small Tree Routine Prune 263 27.89

Training Prune 133 14.10

Stump Removal 16 1.70

Totals 943 100

Clarkston Campus


Determine the five W’s:

In most cases, start chipping away at data collection—could take several phases.

Think about how you will update the database.

Think about database management (software).

Then, after data collection of the area is complete, think about a management plan. It is best to write management plans on complete data sets.

In S

umm

ary

In S

umm

ary why, what, where, when and who


Shirley Trier

Davey Resource Group

904-803-0557

[email protected]

Sharon Topping

Georgia Perimeter College

Thank You

Documents

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Tree Inventories Pre-Project Considerations Project Setup Getting It Done Example: Georgia Perimeter College Shirley