Storm Debris Assessment Tool i-Tree Storms Storm Debris Assessment Tool Eric Kuehler Technology Transfer Specialist USDA Forest Service ekuehler@fs.fed.us 706-559-4268 This was presented at a series of three i-Tree workshops (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and St. Augustine) in November 2009. This presentation was geared toward the pre-storm application of the Hurricane adaptation.

2004-2005 Hurricanes Florida is no stranger to hurricanes. Whose community was not affected by the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005? Was your community prepared for those hurricanes?

Do you have a plan? 2004-2005 Hurricanes How much debris was generated by the hurricane in your city? How difficult was the debris clean-up effort? Why was it so difficult? Did you have the space to store it all until something could be done with it? Did your city have a tree emergency plan or a debris clean-up plan?

What is i-Tree Storms Spreadsheet-based interactive tool Pre-storm analysis for planning purposes Tree removal and pruning hours and costs Debris amounts and hauling costs Potential based on number of trees and size per total street miles Post-storm analysis Estimation of number of trees needing to be removed and pruned and hourly estimates Estimation of debris volume and costs to haul i-Tree Storms is an interactive tool that can be used two ways. First, as a pre-storm analysis tool, it can help a community get an idea about its potential vegetative debris costs so that it can plan. Secondly, as a post-storm analysis tool, it can help a community quickly estimate the amount of vegetative debris it has after a storm passes.

What is i-Tree Storms Originally designed for ice storm debris Debris generated by ice differs from wind Ice – debris falls straight down / no C&D Wind – debris carries and not just vegetative i-Tree Storms Hurricane adaptation Currently in beta testing Initiated by Escabedo and Marcus Uses real debris data from real FL cities i-Tree Storms was originally developed for ice storm debris estimation in the Northeast. Debris generated by ice events is different from debris generated from wind events. The hurricane adaptation which is in beta testing was initiated by Franscisco Escabedo and Charlie Marcus. This model uses debris data from 10 FL cities that were affected by the hurricanes of 2004-2005.

What is i-Tree Storms Uses randomly selected street segments For tree counts by size class For debris volume estimates Data collection Paper PDA Calculations By hand using the supplied data sheets Excel spreadsheet template i-Tree Storms uses a sampling methodology to estimate number of trees and debris volume per street mile. Data can be collected using the supplied data collection sheets in the user’s manual or by using electronic devices such as PDA’s. Calculations to determine number of trees to remove or prune and to estimate debris volume can be done by hand using the multipliers provided on the data collection sheets, or the data can be entered into the excel spreadsheet template which does the calculations automatically.

Basic Steps in Developing an i-Tree Storms Project Preliminary information Creating the project in i-Tree Storms Collecting field data Transferring data to template Communicate results There are five basic steps in creating a Storms project.

Basic Steps in Developing an i-Tree Storms Project Preliminary information Creating the project in i-Tree Storms Collecting field data Transferring data to template Communicate results

Preliminary Information ID your area of interest Region County City Stratify area ? Residential Commercial Industrial The first thing to do is to identify the boundaries of the project. A city would most likely use its city limits as its boundaries. To improve accuracy, it may be beneficial to stratify the area of interest into land use zones. A separate project would need to be created for each stratum if you choose to stratify.

Preliminary Information Isolate affected area using GIS layer or paper map Stratify into land-use areas (i.e. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.) if needed Randomly choose 10-30 street segments from each stratum Obtain length of each street segment (ft) and total street miles in affected area Here is an example of using a GIS street layer in an isolated stratum to randomly select street segments. Street segment lengths for all selected segments will need to be known (in feet) as well as the total miles of streets for that stratum.

Preliminary Information Pre-storm data collection ? Debris potential Potential clean up costs Development of storm plan Who and How will data be collected? In-house or contracted out Volunteer labor from tree boards? Paper or electronic (PDA) Do you want to collect data before a storm event? I like this because it gives you some indication as to the potential for debris that you have as well as approximate costs of clean up. This information is necessary for developing a storm plan. Do you have the staffing to collect data along streets or will you have to contract it out? Maybe you can tap into your eager tree boards or scouts. Collecting data on PDA’s is very convenient, but I like the paper collection method to limit data loss.

Preliminary Information Estimate time needed for pruning/removal By size class Storms uses default values if unknown Estimate cost of debris hauling per yard Estimate hourly rates Removals Pruning Contractors will have this information You will need to know, generally, how much time it takes to remove and prune trees by size class, how much it costs to pick-up and haul debris, and how much it costs per hour to remove and prune trees. Sit down with your contractors before a hurricane hits to sort this out.

Basic Steps in Developing an i-Tree Storms Project Preliminary information Creating the project in i-Tree Storms Collecting field data Transferring data to template Communicate results

Creating the Project in i-Tree Storms User’s Manual can be found C:\Program Files\i-Tree\STORM i-TreeUsersManual_STORM.pdf Create a new project for each stratum Save data in separate files St_Augustine_residential.xls St_Augustine_commercial.xls St_Augustine_industrial.xls

To open the Storms template: Start > All Programs > i-Tree > Storms > Storm Template (xls)

Basic Steps in Developing an i-Tree Storms Project Preliminary information Creating the project in i-Tree Storms Collecting field data Transferring data to template Communicate results

Collecting Field Data Tools to take in field Paper data sheets Map of street segments Paper data sheets One for each segment Clip board Biltmore or d-tape For eye calibration Pencils

Collecting Field Data 23 Winter Park - Commercial Park Ave. Main St. Elliot St. 23 11/14/09 526 50 EK 5 Here is an example of how the field data collection sheets should be filled out. The plot length (or street segment length) should be in feet (not miles). One collection sheet will be used for each street segment. 3 1 1 2

Collecting Field Data 16” 8” 12” ROW 8” 8” 10” 20” For the pre-storm analysis you will only collect data on trees on the rights-of-way by size class. 8” 8” 10” 20”

Basic Steps in Developing an i-Tree Storms Project Preliminary information Creating the project in i-Tree Storms Collecting field data Transferring data to template Communicate results Enter data from the collection sheets into the template or download data from the PDA.

Basic Steps in Developing an i-Tree Storms Project Preliminary information Creating the project in i-Tree Storms Collecting field data Transferring data to template Communicate results

Communicating Results Every city is different. Communicating this information will depend on the dynamics of the city government. Now What?

Communicating Results Present estimates to Mayor, City Council, City Manager Emphasize the need for a storm plan Temporary debris storage facilities Develop storm fund reserves for clean up Find which departments have storm plans Where do trees fit into those plans? Talk with county EMA about a storm plan Potential debris volume

Communicating Results http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/sotuf/sotuf.htm http://www.na.fs.fed.us/urban/ucfdisasters/tree_emerg_plan/TreeEmerPlanWkSheetJune2006.pdf

Storm Debris Assessment Tool i-Tree Storms Storm Debris Assessment Tool Questions, Comments, Discussion Eric Kuehler Technology Transfer Specialist USDA Forest Service ekuehler@fs.fed.us 706-559-4268