Georgia Urban Forestry Council Tree Inventories  Pre-Project Considerations  Project Setup  Getting It Done  Example: Georgia Perimeter College Shirley Trier, Davey Resource Group Sharon Topping, Georgia Perimeter College Assessing Community Trees

Georgia Urban Forestry Council 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.

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  Individual tree locations using GIS and/or GPS  Information about tree characteristics  Information about tree condition  Recommendations for actions on individual trees Tree inventory data should give you:

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Common Name: black walnut Botanical Name: Juglans nigra Condition: Poor Location: Borderline DBH: 32” Risk Assessment FailureDefectTargetOther = Rating Risk Rating: 9 Individual Tree Attributes

Georgia Urban Forestry Council 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…

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Franklin, TN Central Character Area Tree Condition Tree Populations Franklin’s tree inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group 2009 Franklin’s Street Tree Maintenance Recommendations Maintenance Number of Trees Percentage Priority 1 Removal Priority 2 Removal Priority 3 Removal Priority 1 Prune Priority 2 Prune Large Tree Routine Prune Small Tree Routine Prune Training Prune Totals1,611100

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Distribution of Trees by Genus Population of Trees in Franklin, TN Central Character Area: Franklin’s tree inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group 2009

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Percent of Trees by DBH Class Population of Trees in Franklin, TN Central Character Area:

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Dahlonega, GA inventory and management and planting plan by Davey Resource Group, 2009 Estimated maintenance costs over time

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Determining the 5 W’s is critical to a successful and useful tree inventory project. Project Setup For all tree inventories, project setup is similar… It’s the why, what, where, when and who.

Georgia Urban Forestry Council To Put It Simply… 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.

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Do I Need a to plant trees? Tree Inventory ?

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Do I Need a Tree inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group 2009 to plant trees? Tree Inventory

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  In 2009 DRG inventoried 1,153 street/park trees.  The 2009 oak population was 458 trees (40%).  100 trees were planted in 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 : 1,068 trees (1, ). Assumed oak street/park tree population at that time was 405 ( ) 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

Georgia Urban Forestry Council do you need to collect? What data…

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Typical Tree Inventory Data Fields  GIS/GPS  Blockside  Identification  Diameter (DBH)  Condition  Maintenance Recommendation  Conflicts

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  Benches  Poles  Memorials  Signs  Utilities  Drains Make YOUR tree inventory a cross departmental tool. Make IT an asset inventory. More Than Just Trees

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Where – Define your study area.  Need  Funding  Time

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  Deadline  Planning to be done or revised?  Resources—either more or less

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  In-house: investment of time and some money  Out-source: investment of money, less time  Volunteer: investment of time and less money

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Tree Inventory Considerations CostPriorityIn-House Resources Credentials Volunteers$Low Low to Moderate Low In-House Staff $$ Low to Moderate HighVaries Outsource (Contractor) $$$ Moderate to High LowHigh

Georgia Urban Forestry Council What’s cool is that with a basic street tree inventory you can put a dollar value on tree benefits using i-Tree.

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Carbon dioxide sequestered Carbon dioxide stored Air quality improved Energy saved Property value increased Stormwater i-Tree Streets

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  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 Streets From

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Education Public

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Common Name % Total Number of Trees Leaf Area (ft 2 ) % Total Canopy Cover (ft 2 ) % Total Energy $/Tree Stormwater $/Tree Crape Myrtle (17.9%) 3, ,227 (.6%) 321,634 (2.7%) Southern Magnolia (2.1%) ,678 (2.6%) 324,275 (2.8%) American Sycamore (1.1%) 222 1,145,671 (4.6%) 321,312 (2.7%) 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 Urban Forestry Council 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

Georgia Urban Forestry Council 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.

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Figure 4. Georgia Perimeter College’s Tree Removals by Diameter Size Class College-wide Tree Removals

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Figure 5. Clarkston Campus’ Distribution of Trees by Genus Campus

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Figure 6. Diameter Size Class Distribution of Clarkston Campus’ Inventoried Tree Population Clarkston Campus

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Figure 7. Clarkston Campus’ Tree Conditions CAMPUS CLARKSTON

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Figure 8. Clarkston Campus’ Tree Removals by Diameter Size Class Clarkston Campus

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Maintenance Required Number Percentage of Trees of Trees Priority 1 Removal Priority 2 Removal Priority 3 Removal30.32 Priority 1 Prune Priority 2 Prune Large Tree Routine Prune Small Tree Routine Prune Training Prune Stump Removal Totals Clarkston Campus

Georgia Urban Forestry Council  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 Summary why, what, where, when and who

Georgia Urban Forestry Council Shirley Trier Davey Resource Group Sharon Topping Georgia Perimeter College Thank You