City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/648999
14 City Trees Each planting season, the program managers receive tree and project applications and begin the approval process. The pro- cess of application and site review has been simplified through the use of the UFC. Additionally, the app has been customized to recognize fields from Excel spreadsheets which can be uploaded and added to the central tree database. This saves the time of program staff and supports partners who are less adept with technology. Admin users are able to query the data and organize workflows based on fields such as Tree Tenders Group, Street, and Street Number. Required species and loca- tion information is collected and summarized, and then shared with another login type: Tree Managers. Tree Managers. These users can create and manage accounts in order to enable viewing and app functionality of data spe- cific to project managers such as their Tree Tender Groups, Conservation Districts, and Tree Checkers. These Tree Managers are able to log in and view their specific data for the planting season or summarize from historical data stored in the app. The app allows a tree manager to organize the planting event(s) and follow an efficient workflow. Public. Users not logged in to the app (guests) can view trees that have been planted by program, tree planting group, species, and season planted. Limited individual tree data is also viewable. During open application periods, the public is directed to the UFC where they can choose one of the three programs to apply for a tree planting or project. An applicant is able to electronically sign and save the form and is imme- diately notified with a confirmation email that the application has been received. From tree requests to long-term maintenance, the UFC tracks data, creates efficient workflows, and summarizes the ambi- tious efforts of PHS and its partners. Forest ReLeaf of Missouri's Plant MOre Trees Tool The Missouri Community Forestry Council (MCFC) recently set an ambitious tree planting goal for the state, establishing a vision to plant one million trees by 2020. Forest ReLeaf of Missouri (FRM) serves as the lead agency on this new initiative and, together with MCFC, are launching Plant MOre Trees this spring at MCFC's annual conference in St. Joseph, MO. FRM is a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis working state- wide to promote community forestry. FRM has more than 20,000 native trees and shrubs growing at their community-assisted nursery, CommuniTree Gardens. Each spring and fall diverse groups from across Missouri apply for free trees for planting projects; municipalities, schools, churches, neighborhood asso- ciations, garden clubs and others are eligible for the free trees. Keeping track of the number and location of planted trees is paramount to reaching the one million tree Plant MOre Trees goal. With funding provided through a grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation, FRM contracted with Plan-It Geo to develop the necessary plotting tool. This application enables planting groups to register an account and easily enter spe- cific data related to planting and restoration projects and the individual trees planted. The types of data include plotting the location, species, project information, size of tree, photos, and more. Users can also run reports such as species breakdown and the ecosystem services the trees will provide. Views of the "Plant MOre Trees" app in action, showing informational/how-to panels and real-time summaries of tree plantings.