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/84984
data to make fiscal and staffing decisions to increase the UTC that is in line with their budget and staffing. One powerful analysis we conducted was an analysis of UTC by neighborhood type. The City of Bowie has two main types of neighborhoods: (1) older neighborhoods with a well-established tree canopy that is located primarily on private property; and (2) newer neighborhoods with street trees lining the streets, but few private property trees. Each neighborhood was ana- lyzed for its UTC and was given a ranking based on the ratio of grass/shrub to tree cover. (The grass/shrub class was considered to represent possible new UTC.) The larger the ratio (>1), the lower the existing UTC and the higher the priority is for tree planting. Table 1 shows a part of the map, with neighborhoods in green having a high UTC, while neighborhoods in red have the least UTC. In this way, City planners can target their efforts on tree establishment in the "red" zones, and tree maintenance education for the "green" zones. This level of analysis can be done for regions, watersheds and sub-watersheds, and even be related to socioeconomic/social justice data. Parsing the data in this way is a powerful method to target specific efforts and strategies to get the most "bang for the buck." Finally, we recognized that setting a UTC goal should not be the sole goal of a municipality. We recommended that the City adopt an urban for- est management plan, using the Urban Forest Criteria and Performance Indicators as detailed by Kenny, Van Wassenaer, and Satel in "Criteria and Indicators for Strategic Urban Forest Planning and Management" in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry 37(3): 108-117. We, along with City staff, did a preliminary analysis of the City's ranking and gave them specific strategies to improve their rankings in several of the criteria and indicators. Our final report was well received by the City staff, council, and environmental groups and will serve to act as a guide as they work together to craft strategies and policies that will increase the quality and size of the urban forest in Bowie. BECAUSE CUSTOMER SERVICE, JUST LIKE TREES, SHOULD BE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. BARTLETT. We're Bartlett Tree Experts and we've been exceeding our customers' expectations for over 100 years. No matter the size or scope of your tree and shrub needs, our experts bring a rare mix of local service, global resources and innovative tree care practices that makes landscapes thrive. Trees add value to properties. And Bartlett adds value to trees. For the life of your trees. PRUNING . FERTILIZATION . PEST & DISEASE MANAGEMENT . REMOVAL PLEASE CALL 877 BARTLETT 877.227.8538 OR VISIT BARTLETT.COM 26 City Trees