Tree Tracker for Cities

Reported December 2007

BALTIMORE (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Trees add beauty to cities and neighborhoods, plus they help the environment. But some areas are short on tree coverage, and many cities don’t have an accurate tree count. Now, there is a new way volunteers are helping cities track trees.

Terry and Debra Shepard are hitting the streets to check on trees. A volunteer task they love doing.

“We were looking around for worthwhile things to do to contribute to the city and this looked like a good one,” Terry said.

Volunteers are tracking trees in Baltimore to help boost the city’s trees count. Currently only 20 percent of the city is covered by trees -- a number arborists want to improve.

“So, we want to increase it to 40 percent,” Rebecca Feldberg, an arborist in Baltimore said.

Now, to help reach that goal, tree data is collected with a new program called i-Tree, arming volunteers with a quick, easy way to assess city trees that are vital to improve air quality and help cool hot streets.

“So they surveyed the entire block, looked at all the trees or lack of trees and recorded it in these little computers,” Feldberg said.

Volunteers measure a tree’s diameter, identify its species, like maple or elm, measure the area around a tree and assess its overall health. The data is put into a PDA and then compiled to reveal results of the study.

“The biggest thing is that we found is that we have about 100,000 street trees, which is very important information,” said Feldberg.

But the city needs to plant more trees -- a lot more. Even doubling the city's tree count to 200,000 wouldn't be enough to reach its goal, but it's getting closer thanks to volunteers.

“We just hope that people will all become tree huggers and love their trees because the trees give so much to us,” Terry Shepard said.

The American Geophysical Union contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Dr. Rebecca Feldberg
Arborist
(410) 396-6109
Rebecca.feldberg@baltimorecity.gov

American Geophysical Union
Washington, DC 20009-1277
(800) 966-2481
http://www.agu.org

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