They can assess tree health and condition
It’s rare to find a community that doesn’t rely on volunteers in at least part of their tree equity work. But if long-term budgets and staffing permit, consider the added value of professional services. Many communities with large tree populations and extensive maintenance needs rely on outside providers for programs that include:
- embedded software for field data collection
- tested quality assurance and control
- plug-in analytics/data storage and
- the ability to create public-facing tree maps.
Volunteers don’t need all the skills of a certified arborist. But they do need initial and continuing education about tree growth and condition, markers of decline and the presence of pests and disease.
On the neighborhood level, volunteers can provide information that will help identify future plantable space in the community. While precise estimates aren’t necessary, they might be asked to describe in general terms;
- the amount of pavement, tree and shrub cover around the trees they monitor;
- type of neighborhood (residential, commercial, small businesses, etc.)
- whether the neighborhood appears to be dense and heavily traveled (pedestrians, bikes and scooters, autos, commercial vehicles)
Quality Assurance
Organizations who rely on volunteers risk inconsistencies in their data quality but also report that residents can become stronger grass-roots advocates for Tree Equity as well as other urban forestry initiatives. And they are more likely to seek roles as longer-term stewards of the trees they planted. For more detail on volunteer-led monitoring programs, click here.
Quality control
Repeated measurements might be made on the same trees using different volunteer crews (i.e., in schools, different grade level science classes can repeat measurements). When differences are found between data sets collected on the same tree, volunteers will collect a third set of measurements and resolve the issue.
Data analysis and application
Volunteer supervisors and partners will determine the use of the data once it has been analyzed. Community members and stakeholders can use the findings to advocate on behalf of more neighborhood improvements, especially nature-based solutions to environmental burdens.
Resources
Your core team, staff, contractors and volunteer leaders may benefit from a glance at these two publications from the USDA Forest Service.
Urban Tree Monitoring: A Field Guide protocols for long-term data collection, such as tree location, mortality status, crown vigor, and diameter at breast height.
Urban Tree Monitoring: A Resource Guide guidance for urban forest managers and researchers who want to design and implement a tree monitoring project.
USDA Forest Service video series
The USDA Forest Service has also created a set of videos that demonstrate what to look for when monitoring tree health and condition.
A 5-part animated series covers topics such as how to get started with monitoring, how to record Trunk Diameter, Mortality Status, and Tree Location, and how to manage field work.
For guidance on how to assess tree health, you might also want to check out this introduction to “What Makes a Healthy Tree” or this more detailed guide.