A tree inventory is a record of the position and attributes of individual trees within a specific geographic region as well as the features of their surroundings. Typically, municipal tree inventories include street trees and trees in parks and other municipally-owned areas. The first step towards developing a comprehensive and equitable urban forest management program is to conduct a tree inventory.
A Tree Inventory has various applications, from providing strategic planning and assistance with Development Applications to urban forestry planning and management. A simple search for a “level 5 arborist near me” is the first step to obtaining a tree inventory in order to generate comprehensive and accurate reports for sustainable urban forestry solutions.
What Exactly Is A Tree Inventory
Tree inventories consolidate data, including size, condition, species and site characteristics of trees within community urban forests. It provides the relevant information critical for assessing, understanding and implementing solutions for sustainable urban forestry.
Different Private, Commercial, Regional and Municipal Government entities use tree inventory data to maximise urban forestry resources. Furthermore, by monitoring and recording the health of individual trees, one can adequately manage their care requirements and mitigate public health and safety hazards.
Tree inventories can be classified into three main categories: sample, partial and complete.
Sample Inventory
A sample inventory earmarks a random street segment, block, set of road miles or area as a sample that provides an estimated condition of an urban forest. The sample size is typically between 3% and 10% of an entire urban forest. Through sample inventories, private entities or community leaders can seek local government support and investment and establish an advocacy network for community trees.
Partial Inventory
A partial inventory refers to the collection of data in which just a subset of the community’s trees are observed to derive conclusions about the whole forest. It can be performed in a specified geographical location; for example, it could be a designated city centre, downtown area or an entire specified municipal district.
It can also refer to a phased inventory, in which data from various regions are gathered at different times, with the purpose of each phase finally completing a full inventory.
Similarly, a “specific problem inventory” collects data relating to a single problem an urban forest might be facing.
Purposes:
- Establishing the framework for a more complete inventory.
- Justify funding applications for the development of a more comprehensive approach.
- Develop planning procedures for tree risk management.
- Accurately determine the number of potential tree planting locations within a community.
Complete Inventory
A complete inventory includes all data from all trees in an area’s population, including trees and tree stumps in parks and municipal properties, and often includes data from all available planting locations.
Purposes:
- To optimise work scheduling and routine maintenance cycles.
- To ensure optimal storm damage response and management strategies.
- To develop strategically targeted budgets for spending and future planning.
- To respond to a pest or disease outbreak affecting a specific tree species.
- To allow municipalities to display increased efficiency in responding to constituent requests.
- To quantify the monetary value, investment potential and benefits of an urban forest.
- To develop management and policy recommendations on a governmental or municipal basis.
In Conclusion
Partial and complete inventories are commonly linked with work-order management systems and planning procedures utilised by municipalities and corporations in the cases of new and existing urban developments.
Tree inventories provide green asset managers with the ability, data and insight to proactively manage their operations, target spending and identify potential liabilities as well as potential planting sites.
Level 5 Arborist Near Me
If your development application necessitates the support and data of a tree inventory, the first step is to seek the consultancy of a level 5 Arborist.
Treescience has collected data from over a million street and park trees for local municipal and state governments, as well as over 300,000 for commercial entities. We ensure a high level of accuracy by employing the most up-to-date GIS (Geographic Information System) technology in collaboration with Trimble©.
In a simple search for a ‘level 5 Arborist near me’, you willl begin your journey to maximising the potential of your community urban forest in relation to your planned private, commercial or government level urban development application. Get in touch with TreeScience today for more information.