OurTrees is geared towards simplicity to quickly provide
both new and experienced users of all ages and back-
grounds with relatable and easy-to-understand results.
To start the app, users simply enter their community's
name and with just a few clicks, they can explore the
value their trees and forests provide. The benefit values
within OurTrees are communicated in the following ways
to aid in understanding their impacts on everyday life:
• The OurTrees Benefits tab reports the percent
and area of tree canopy cover and impervious
surface cover, sequestered and stored carbon,
storm water mitigation, and air pollution removal
in a familiar "nutrition label" format (Figure 1).
• Helpful illustrations and comparisons to real-world
equivalents, such as the number of football fields
worth of shade, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted
by car exhausts absorbed by trees, examples of human
health improvements in terms of asthma reduction
and fewer work/school days lost, and stormwater
runoff volume in terms of Olympic-sized swimming
pools are shown in the OurTrees Story tab (Figure 1).
• The OurTrees Community tab provides basic demo-
graphic data from the U.S. Census population
analyses of income level, minority data, housing,
household type, and home tenure (Figure 2).
• A summary of the existing canopy area, available
space for additional plantings, and projected benefits
of a 10% increase in tree canopy cover are found in
the OurTrees Scorecard tab. In addition, the canopy
cover of the user-selected community is ranked rel-
ative to others within the same county (Figure 2).
Sharing OurTrees
Members of the Society of Municipal Arborists are
encouraged to use this tool to talk about the impact
of their work to plant and care for trees. Sharing this
tool with community members and leaders, school
groups, environmentally-based non-profit organizations,
and faith-based organizations will foster conversa-
tions about tree cover and its benefits. In this way, the
simple stories from OurTrees can help you to grow
local support for your tree care program and hope-
fully encourage planting of even more trees.
Figure 1. OurTrees provides tree canopy and ecosystem service benefits for towns and cities within the
continental United States listed in both a nutrition-label format and shown as real-world equivalencies.
30 CityTREES
