Austin Tree Planting Prioritization 2016 Background Summary Summary The City of Austin (COA) Public Works Department has a goal of planting 1,000 trees each year within the full purpose Austin City Limits. While the city has been successfully planting trees, there has been no system in place to determine these planting locations and this effort has been driven by public request. Summary This study determined ideal locations for tree planting in the City of Austin’s full purpose area. A criteria to prioritize locations was identified and ten locations were selected for the City Planning Department of Austin to further examine. These ten locations will be displayed in a mapbook format with attribute information to aid in the COA’s decision on planting locations. This study determined ideal locations for tree planting in the City of Austin’s full purpose area. A criteria to prioritize locations was identified and ten locations were selected for the City Planning Department of Austin to further examine. These ten locations will be displaying in a mapbook format with attribute information to aid in the COA’s decision on planting locations. Howard Ln Scope Methodology This study will be based within the full purpose Austin City Limits in locations with high priority for tree planting. These areas will be divided between the ten political districts, with a focus on residential areas. A visual representation of not only the scope of the project, but the specific locations that will be examined is presented in Figure 1. Scope This study will be based within the full purpose Austin City Limits in locations with high priority for tree planting. These areas will be divided between the ten political districts, with a focus on residential areas. A visual representation of not only the scope of the project, but the specific locations that will be examined is presented in Figure 1. Task 1: Create a criteria to determine ideal tree planting locations. A tree planting prioritization report (Figure 2) created by a former employee of the COA, Alan Halter, was used as the most critical determining factor of locations. Factors this report took into consideration included public health and safety, air quality, environmental justice, water quality, critical places, forest replenishment needs, tree preservation and development impacts, and urban heat islands. Additional criteria created were that locations needed to be within medians along arterial/thoroughfare roads, locations needed to be clear of overhead utilities, areas needed to be large enough to plant fifty trees or more, and areas had to be in need of more tree canopy cover. Task 2: Choose locations. Locations were chosen through examination of aerial imagery and analysis of promising locations. During this step, ten locations were chosen. Task 3: Analysis of ten locations. For each location, analysis was performed to determine the tree canopy cover within 200 feet of the medians. This data resulted in a percentage to help the COA easily see which locations were in most need. Figure 2: Tree Planting Prioritization, Alan Halter Figure 3: Example of Mapbook Page Conclusion The COA will be able to implement the criteria that has been determined in the future as they continue to strive towards the goal of planting 1,000 trees each year. The ten locations that have been chosen are a good starting point and we hope that our criteria we created will aid in finding more locations in the years to come. Author Source The final product is a mapbook (Figure 3) that includes the tree canopy percentage, the score of the area determined in Halter’s report, the length of the median, as well as a map as a visual aid to examine the locations. Maxwell Piotrzkowski: Project Manager Alyssa Carvajal: GIS Analyst & Design Dustin Posey: GIS Analyst & Design Benjamin Griiffith: GIS Analyst & Research GIS open data portal on the City of Austin website Tree Planting Prioritization Report, Alan Halter, COA Urban Forestry Department Figure 1:Scope and ten possible planting locations