i-Tree for Professional Arborists Eric Kuehler – Technology Transfer Specialist USDA Forest Service – Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research and Information International Society of Arboriculture Southern Chapter Annual Meeting March 24-27, 2007 In 2006, i-Tree was introduced at the ISA Annual Conference in Minneapolis. This presentation is intended to show how professionals can use these software applications to advocate for urban natural resources and help increase their profits.

i-Tree was developed for commercial arborists, environmental consultants, municipal foresters, planners, non-profit tree advocates, and anyone else with a vested interest in their community’s urban forest. Urban Forestry Project Profile i-Tree: Urban Forest Inventory and Analysis USDA Forest Service – Urban and Community Forestry (May 2004) i-Tree was developed for professionals in the tree care industry and non-professionals alike. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

i-Tree may be a good tool for you If you are a professional who: Conducts tree inventories Writes management plans Has used CityGreen for analyses Contract municipal arborist Provides consulting services Tree risk assessments/Hazard tree analyses Specialized tree planting plans Training/organizing city staff and volunteers i-Tree is another tool for your tool box to open doors for business, build relationships, and increase profits www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

What is i-Tree? A Suite of USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Analysis and Benefits Assessment Software Designed to help communities promote sound urban forest management Provides the tools to demonstrate the economic and ecological benefits of trees in cities Hopefully this will convince city officials to invest in urban tree maintenance and urban forest management Communities that invest in their urban forest generally turn to professionals for guidance and contract larger jobs to local arborists. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

i-Tree Suite Diverse Partnership U. S. Forest Service Research Developed models Davey Resource Group Providing technical support National Arbor Day Foundation Society of Municipal Arborists Project promotion Several years ago, the Forest Service had a vision to put all of these projects together in one package and make them available to people who could use and benefit from them. A partnership was formed to help the Forest Service manage, promote, and disseminate these applications. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM UFORE SDAP MCTI Street Tree Resource Assessment Tool for Urban-forest Managers UFORE Urban Forest Effects Model SDAP Storm Damage Assessment Protocol MCTI Mobile Community Tree Inventory These are the four software applications and I will review each individually. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM What is it? Computer-based tool that enables communities to assess its street tree resources Quantifies benefits (economic/ecological) of street trees on annual basis Energy conservation Air quality values / amount of pollution removed CO2 sequestration and storage values Stormwater control Aesthetic value STRATUM is probably the most popular. The dollar values that this program gives is an estimate and is designed to give a starting point for municipalities to see how valuable their street trees are. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM How to use it Using the i-Tree inventory PDA utility Enter up to 17 fields of information for each tree Zone Public/Private trees Species and diameter Tree condition Land use and location site Maintenance recommendation and priority task Infrastructure conflicts Additional fields for other information STRATUM is designed to be used on a PDA www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM What information will it give you? Resource structural analysis of street tree population Population summary Species and size distribution Structural condition Maintenance recommendations and tasks Infrastructure conflicts Stocking levels Importance values Relative performance index Replacement values (CTLA, 9th edition) User defined information As with other inventory software applications, you are given the basic resource structural analysis. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM What information will it give you? Benefit – Cost analysis reports Annual benefits Energy Stormwater Air quality – O3, NOx, SOx, VOCs, BVOCs, PM10 Carbon dioxide Aesthetic value - property value Management costs Net annual benefits The benefit-cost analysis is something unique to STRATUM www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org These are examples of some of the graphical reports generated by STRATUM to help visualize concepts of the analysis www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org STRATUM can also generate detailed reports broken down by species www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org The benefit-cost analysis is unique to STRATUM. This example is from Davis, CA www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM Advantages Disadvantages Easy to collect data Employees can be easily trained Puts dollar values on trees Ballpark figures Provides good data for planning Sample inventory saves time Can analyze existing inventories Field parameters easily changed Snapshot in time (one time use) Not an UF projection tool Not GIS compatible Not a management tool No tree location component www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM may be a good tool for you If you are a professional who: Conducts tree inventories Writes management plans Has used CityGreen for analyses Contract municipal arborist Provides consulting services Tree risk assessments/Hazard tree analyses Specialized tree planting plans Training/organizing city staff and volunteers www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

UFORE What is it? A model to assess the entire urban forest Public and private properties Parks, undeveloped lands, neighborhoods, etc. Trees, shrubs, ground cover Calculates urban forest structure Estimates environmental services that the urban forest provides Predicts environmental and economic benefits UFORE looks at every aspect of the urban forest www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

UFORE When to use it When more accurate forest structure, economic, and ecological benefits are desired for the entire urban forest (not just street trees) To establish long-term management plans To develop restoration goals Because the UFORE model and data collection protocol are so detailed, this application may be more suited for those communities that are ready to take a deeper look into their natural resources. This model may be too involved for a community that is just getting started with their UF program. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

How to Use it Establish random plots around community Set up 1/10th acre plots and inventory trees, shrubs, ground cover, etc. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

UFORE What information will it give you? Estimates of entire urban forest structure Amount of pollution removed by urban forest Percent air quality improvement annually Total carbon stored and net carbon sequestered Energy and air quality benefits ($) of UF Potential impact of pests on urban forest UFORE gives the same info that STRATUM gives, but in greater detail because detailed crown info and distance and direction of trees to buildings is recorded. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

UFORE Advantages Disadvantages Gives details on entire UF Provides more accurate value of the urban forest than STRATUM Very thorough data collection Allows for sample inventory Data collection can be detailed Data must be sent off for analysis 2-6 week turnaround time Requires much time and effort Requires property owners’ permission to access plots Many plots required for accuracy www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

UFORE may be a good tool for you If you are a professional who: Conducts tree inventories Writes management plans Has used CityGreen for analyses Contract municipal arborist Provides consulting services Tree risk assessments/Hazard tree analyses Specialized tree planting plans Training/organizing city staff and volunteers www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

SDAP What is it? A method to estimate potential (pre-storm) and actual amount of tree debris generated after a natural disaster and the clean-up cost associated with it This tool can help municipalities prepare for a natural disaster before an event and obtain the necessary funding to clean up after the event. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

SDAP When to use it To help municipalities generate an Emergency Operation Plan and a Debris Management Plan before a storm To provide approximate clean-up costs to city, state, and/or federal agencies after a storm event www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

SDAP What information will it give you? Pre-storm estimate of tree debris clean-up costs city-wide for planning purposes Post-storm estimate of mitigation and clean-up costs to present to FEMA or other assistance agency www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

SDAP Advantages Disadvantages Provides estimates for storm debris clean-up costs for planning purposes before a storm Provides ballpark cost estimates for storm clean-up for FEMA after a storm Allows for sample inventory (as little as 2% of the street segments) Trained damage assessor(s) are needed to generate reliable data Post-storm safety concerns Less reliable results with tornados, floods, and other wind- related disasters because of C&D debris C&D debris = construction and demolition www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

SDAP may be a good tool for you If you are a professional who: Conducts tree inventories Writes management plans Has used CityGreen for analyses Contract municipal arborist Provides consulting services Tree risk assessments/Hazard tree analyses Specialized tree planting plans Training/organizing city staff and volunteers www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

MCTI What is it? Basic street tree inventory application Urban forest management tool Communities can track Location Species and age class distribution Pruning needs Tree health Hazard tree identification www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

MCTI What information will it give you? Forest structure (i.e. species and size composition) Analyze condition of individual trees or all public trees Reveal planting needs and location ID budget needs and set priorities for maintenance Can gain information about individual or groups of trees (i.e. historic trees, hazard trees, etc.). Can follow the condition of one tree over time or the condition of the entire UF. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

MCTI may be a good tool for you If you are a professional who: Conducts tree inventories Writes management plans Has used CityGreen for analyses Contract municipal arborist Provides consulting services Tree risk assessments/Hazard tree analyses Specialized tree planting plans Training/organizing city staff and volunteers www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

i-Tree goals To enable communities of any size to determine benefits, costs, and management needs of their urban forest Assist communities develop a sound, reasonable, and achievable urban forest management plan What this means for the professional arborist or consultant is greater potential for work in those communities. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

i-Tree Advantages Disadvantages Price is right Potential to increase business Puts $ value on urban forest Gives basis for management plan User’s manual provides details on how to use software and reports Some applications require steep learning curve Takes some time to become comfortable with these applications It’s still evolving (it’s not perfect, but it’s a good start) It’s not GIS compatible www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

Modifications and Case Study Currently, i-Tree PDA utilities are only compatible with Pocket PCs running Windows Mobile 2002, 2003, and 5.0 operating systems. We wanted to develop GIS capability in data collection General use on non-supported equipment www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM modifications Get data to MS Excel format Juniper Systems Allegro CX field PC Created data dictionary (Trimble Technology) STRATUM field headings Additional fields for address and comments We knew that if we could get the data into an Excel spreadsheet, we could get STRATUM to read it. We used equipment that we had on hand and modified it to collect data to be run in STRATUM. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

STRATUM does not recognize these fields www.urbanforestrysouth.org Data were downloaded into Trimble’s GPS Pathfinder Office Software then exported to a format that could be read by MS Excel. The added fields were excluded before being read by STRATUM. www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

GIS Layers Created All trees in poor condition All trees by size class GIS layers and maps were incorporated into the final report for the test communities. All trees in poor condition All trees by size class www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

How to get i-Tree www.itreetools.org Select “Get the i-Tree Tools Installation CD-ROM” CD will be mailed to you www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org

Questions Eric Kuehler 706-559-4268 ekuehler@fs.fed.us www.urbanforestrysouth.org www.itreetools.org