Location: California
Website: www.californiareleaf.org
California ReLeaf works statewide to promote alliances among community-based groups, individuals, industry, and government agencies, encouraging each to contribute to the livability of our cities and the protection of our environment by planting and caring for trees.
California ReLeaf also serves as the State’s volunteer coordinator for urban forestry in partnership with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Our Mission:
- Expanding delivery of services and resources to California ReLeaf Network groups.
- Broadening funding opportunities for urban and community forestry projects.
- Fostering involvement within the urban forestry movement throughout California’s diverse communities.
- Improving legislative outreach and efforts on a state and federal level.
California ReLeaf’s programs are possible because of generous support from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the USDA Forest Service.
Showing posts with label Urban Forest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Urban Forest. Show all posts
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
I-Tree
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.i-treetools.org
i-Tree is a state-of-the-art, peer-reviewed software suite from the USDA Forest Service that provides urban forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools.
The i-Tree Tools help communities of all sizes to strengthen their urban forest management and advocacy efforts by quantifying the structure of community trees and the environmental services that trees provide.
Since the initial release of the i-Tree Tools in August 2006, numerous communities, non-profit organizations, consultants, volunteers and students have used i-Tree to report on individual trees, parcels, neighborhoods, cities, and even entire states.
By understanding the local, tangible ecosystem services that trees provide, i-Tree users can link urban forest management activities with environmental quality and community livability. Whether your interest is a single tree or an entire forest, i-Tree provides baseline data that you can use to demonstrate value and set priorities for more effective decision-making.
i-Tree Tools are in the public domain and are freely accessible. We invite you to explore this site to learn more about how i-Tree can make a difference in your community.
Website: www.i-treetools.org
i-Tree is a state-of-the-art, peer-reviewed software suite from the USDA Forest Service that provides urban forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools.
The i-Tree Tools help communities of all sizes to strengthen their urban forest management and advocacy efforts by quantifying the structure of community trees and the environmental services that trees provide.
Since the initial release of the i-Tree Tools in August 2006, numerous communities, non-profit organizations, consultants, volunteers and students have used i-Tree to report on individual trees, parcels, neighborhoods, cities, and even entire states.
By understanding the local, tangible ecosystem services that trees provide, i-Tree users can link urban forest management activities with environmental quality and community livability. Whether your interest is a single tree or an entire forest, i-Tree provides baseline data that you can use to demonstrate value and set priorities for more effective decision-making.
i-Tree Tools are in the public domain and are freely accessible. We invite you to explore this site to learn more about how i-Tree can make a difference in your community.
Tree Pittsburg
Location: Pittsburg, PA
Website: www.treepittsburg.org
Tree Pittsburgh is an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the City's vitality by restoring and protecting the urban forest through tree maintenance, planting, education and advocacy.
Our vision is to be a leader in creating a healthy, attractive and safe urban forest by inspiring and engaging citizens to plant, maintain and protect trees. Trees provide substantial environmental, social and economic benefits that greatly enhance our quality of life.
Resources
There is so much to learn about trees - how to maintain them, protect them, to speak on their behalf. This website is designed to equip you with the knowledge necessary to assist Tree Pittsburgh in meeting our mission to protect and maintain our precious urban forest.
Look in the menu in the sidebar at right for a selection of specific tree-related topics. More are being added regularly, so check back often!
Have a resource you'd like to share? Is something missing? Contact education@treepittsburgh.org.
We appreciate your care and concern for our hard working trees!
Can't get enough arboreal education? Consider taking a Tree Tender Course to deepen your knowledge.
Website: www.treepittsburg.org
Tree Pittsburgh is an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the City's vitality by restoring and protecting the urban forest through tree maintenance, planting, education and advocacy.
Our vision is to be a leader in creating a healthy, attractive and safe urban forest by inspiring and engaging citizens to plant, maintain and protect trees. Trees provide substantial environmental, social and economic benefits that greatly enhance our quality of life.
Resources
There is so much to learn about trees - how to maintain them, protect them, to speak on their behalf. This website is designed to equip you with the knowledge necessary to assist Tree Pittsburgh in meeting our mission to protect and maintain our precious urban forest.
Look in the menu in the sidebar at right for a selection of specific tree-related topics. More are being added regularly, so check back often!
Have a resource you'd like to share? Is something missing? Contact education@treepittsburgh.org.
We appreciate your care and concern for our hard working trees!
Can't get enough arboreal education? Consider taking a Tree Tender Course to deepen your knowledge.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Municipalities With Soil Volume Minimums for Trees
Location: Various cities
Website: www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/municipalities-that-are-doing-more-for-trees
Adequate amounts of lightly compacted, good-quality soil are essential to healthy tree growth.
Nowhere are these conditions more challenging than in urban areas dominated by streets, sidewalks, buildings and parking lots. These surfaces are essential for urban living but require heavy soil compaction, which limits the development of large, healthy root systems.
The USDA Forest Service recently determined that U.S. cities are losing around 4 million trees annually — this at a time when average urban canopy cover in North America is still lower in most places than what is recommended by American Forests.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. Cities across North America recognize that in order to have healthy, vibrant urban forests, they need to plant trees in more soil.
Guidelines already exist that correlate tree size directly with available soil volume, so this isn’t a matter of guesswork. What these cities are doing is simple, but remarkable: They are literally changing their landscapes by mandating that all street trees (used here as a general term to mean any tree planted in a paved area) receive a certain minimum amount of soil.
We’ve identified the following communities for their ambitious policies that are redefining requirements for green utilities, specifically for trees, soil and stormwater management:
Toronto, ON –
Perhaps the most ambitious initiative we’ve yet seen, the City of Toronto calls for street trees to get a minimum of 15 m3 (529 ft 3)of high quality soil per tree if in a shared planter, and a minimum volume of 30 m3 (1,059 ft3) of soil per tree if in a single planter.
Oakville, ON –
this City requirement calls for 30m3 (1,059 ft3) of soil per tree, or 15 m3 (530 ft3) if in a shared trench.
Baltimore, MD –
This initiative sets an example for increasing the tree canopy as a way to preserve the environment and manage stormwater. Using permeable paving, landscaping, rain gardens, and green roofs, it asks for sites to filter more than 50 percent of stormwater runoff from areas and install at least 1,500 cubic feet of soil for tree pits using structural soils or suspended pavement for any new impervious surfaces or retrofit/redevelopment projects.
University of Florida (IFAS Extension) –
The project created an Urban Design for a Wind Resistant Urban Forest. Planners increased the soil and depth requirements to allow trees to mature and live longer using the following guidelines (soil area based on mature tree size, 3’ deep or greater):
• Small (shorter than 30’) = 10’x10’x3’ = 300 ft3
• Medium (Less than 50’ height or spread) = 20’x20’x3’ = 1,200 ft3
• Large (Greater than 50’ height or spread) = 30’x30’x3’ = 2,700 ft3
State of West Virginia –
The community created a municipal handbook to manage wet weather through specific green infrastructure and made the following soil recommendations based on those from Prince William County, VA:
• Large tree = 970 ft3,
• Medium tree = 750 ft3 and
• Small tree = 500 ft3
Athens-Clarke County, GA –
The community created best management practices for community tree planting and soil volume minimums:
• Small Canopy: 100 square feet x 2’ deep = 200 ft3,
• Medium Canopy: 225 square feet x 2’ deep = 450 ft3 and
• Large Canopy: 400 square feet x 2’ deep = 800 ft3
State of Minnesota –
Where trees are planted in hard surfaces, the community uses a structural soil media mix of minimum soil volume of 500 cubic feet (cf) per tree. If soil volumes cannot be met it is recommended that trees be planted in minimum 8′ wide by approximately 3′ deep trenches so that soil volumes are shared between trees.
Charlotte, NC –
Planners amended the planting area requirements and recommendations for commercial development to increase the absolute minimum soil volume and planting area to 274 square feet per tree. The minimum width of the planting area is 8’ at the trunk of the tree.
British Columbia -
Recommended minimum soil volume per tree of 6m3 (212ft3), and more is better.
Markham, ON –
These design guidelines make the following soil volume recommendations:
• Large stature tree in boulevard = 30 cubic meters/1,059 cubic feet (if single) or 15 cubic meters/530 cubic feet (if shared) of root space,
• Medium stature tree in boulevard = 23 cubic meters/812 cubic feet of root space,
• Small stature tree = 15 cubic meters/530 cubic feet root space
• Minimum soil volume for tree planting in a parking lot island is 15 cubic meters/530 cubic feet.
Aspen, CO –
The community amended its structural soils specifications so that soil area is now based on a targeted mature tree size, requiring 30 inches or more depth and a correcsponding increase in soil volume.
Soil area based on mature tree size, 30” deep or greater:
• Small (shorter than 30’) = 10’x10’x2.5’ = 250 ft3,
• Medium (Less than 50’ height or spread) = 20’x20’x2.5’ = 1,000 ft3,
• Large (Greater than 50’ height or spread) = 30’x30’x2.5’ = 2,250 ft3
Chicago, IL -
The city amended planting standards and now requires parkway trees to have a minimum depth of three feet of soil. Planting areas require a minimum of 24 square feet of surface area with no dimension less than three feet.
Denver, CO –
The city’s “Street Tree Plan Review Checklist” sets a soil volume minimum of 750 cubic feet of soil per tree and states that, “5’ x 5’ pit areas shall no longer be accepted, must use trenches, root paths, break out zones, structural cells, or other un-compacted soil technology.”
Emeryville, CA -
The community requires minimum rootable soil volumes for new trees planted in the public right of way by private developers. The minimum is based on the size of the tree at maturity:
• 600 cubic feet for a small tree,
• 900 for a medium tree and
• 1200 for a large tree.
Alexandria, VA –
The city’s Landscape Guidelines specify that street trees be provided with a minimum of 300 cubic feet of soil per tree and recommends that one tree be present for every ten spaces in parking areas.
Are any of these perfect? Probably not.
Certainly there are things we would change about almost all of them. Still, setting soil volume minimums for street trees tacitly enforces the message that business as usual as far as tree planting is concerned isn’t good enough.
We need to rethink how we plan for our urban forests and the role of green infrastructure in the built environment. The new game in town is high performance urban forestry.
Are you involved with making soil volume recommendations for trees? Hopefully you can use some of this information to help persuade your co-workers and clients of this important effort.
Should your city or town be on this list, or do you know of any others that we missed? We want to hear about your goals for growing healthy trees in your community.
(from Deep Root Corporation)
Website: www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/municipalities-that-are-doing-more-for-trees
Adequate amounts of lightly compacted, good-quality soil are essential to healthy tree growth.
Nowhere are these conditions more challenging than in urban areas dominated by streets, sidewalks, buildings and parking lots. These surfaces are essential for urban living but require heavy soil compaction, which limits the development of large, healthy root systems.
The USDA Forest Service recently determined that U.S. cities are losing around 4 million trees annually — this at a time when average urban canopy cover in North America is still lower in most places than what is recommended by American Forests.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. Cities across North America recognize that in order to have healthy, vibrant urban forests, they need to plant trees in more soil.
Guidelines already exist that correlate tree size directly with available soil volume, so this isn’t a matter of guesswork. What these cities are doing is simple, but remarkable: They are literally changing their landscapes by mandating that all street trees (used here as a general term to mean any tree planted in a paved area) receive a certain minimum amount of soil.
We’ve identified the following communities for their ambitious policies that are redefining requirements for green utilities, specifically for trees, soil and stormwater management:
Toronto, ON –
Perhaps the most ambitious initiative we’ve yet seen, the City of Toronto calls for street trees to get a minimum of 15 m3 (529 ft 3)of high quality soil per tree if in a shared planter, and a minimum volume of 30 m3 (1,059 ft3) of soil per tree if in a single planter.
Oakville, ON –
this City requirement calls for 30m3 (1,059 ft3) of soil per tree, or 15 m3 (530 ft3) if in a shared trench.
Baltimore, MD –
This initiative sets an example for increasing the tree canopy as a way to preserve the environment and manage stormwater. Using permeable paving, landscaping, rain gardens, and green roofs, it asks for sites to filter more than 50 percent of stormwater runoff from areas and install at least 1,500 cubic feet of soil for tree pits using structural soils or suspended pavement for any new impervious surfaces or retrofit/redevelopment projects.
University of Florida (IFAS Extension) –
The project created an Urban Design for a Wind Resistant Urban Forest. Planners increased the soil and depth requirements to allow trees to mature and live longer using the following guidelines (soil area based on mature tree size, 3’ deep or greater):
• Small (shorter than 30’) = 10’x10’x3’ = 300 ft3
• Medium (Less than 50’ height or spread) = 20’x20’x3’ = 1,200 ft3
• Large (Greater than 50’ height or spread) = 30’x30’x3’ = 2,700 ft3
State of West Virginia –
The community created a municipal handbook to manage wet weather through specific green infrastructure and made the following soil recommendations based on those from Prince William County, VA:
• Large tree = 970 ft3,
• Medium tree = 750 ft3 and
• Small tree = 500 ft3
Athens-Clarke County, GA –
The community created best management practices for community tree planting and soil volume minimums:
• Small Canopy: 100 square feet x 2’ deep = 200 ft3,
• Medium Canopy: 225 square feet x 2’ deep = 450 ft3 and
• Large Canopy: 400 square feet x 2’ deep = 800 ft3
State of Minnesota –
Where trees are planted in hard surfaces, the community uses a structural soil media mix of minimum soil volume of 500 cubic feet (cf) per tree. If soil volumes cannot be met it is recommended that trees be planted in minimum 8′ wide by approximately 3′ deep trenches so that soil volumes are shared between trees.
Charlotte, NC –
Planners amended the planting area requirements and recommendations for commercial development to increase the absolute minimum soil volume and planting area to 274 square feet per tree. The minimum width of the planting area is 8’ at the trunk of the tree.
British Columbia -
Recommended minimum soil volume per tree of 6m3 (212ft3), and more is better.
Markham, ON –
These design guidelines make the following soil volume recommendations:
• Large stature tree in boulevard = 30 cubic meters/1,059 cubic feet (if single) or 15 cubic meters/530 cubic feet (if shared) of root space,
• Medium stature tree in boulevard = 23 cubic meters/812 cubic feet of root space,
• Small stature tree = 15 cubic meters/530 cubic feet root space
• Minimum soil volume for tree planting in a parking lot island is 15 cubic meters/530 cubic feet.
Aspen, CO –
The community amended its structural soils specifications so that soil area is now based on a targeted mature tree size, requiring 30 inches or more depth and a correcsponding increase in soil volume.
Soil area based on mature tree size, 30” deep or greater:
• Small (shorter than 30’) = 10’x10’x2.5’ = 250 ft3,
• Medium (Less than 50’ height or spread) = 20’x20’x2.5’ = 1,000 ft3,
• Large (Greater than 50’ height or spread) = 30’x30’x2.5’ = 2,250 ft3
Chicago, IL -
The city amended planting standards and now requires parkway trees to have a minimum depth of three feet of soil. Planting areas require a minimum of 24 square feet of surface area with no dimension less than three feet.
Denver, CO –
The city’s “Street Tree Plan Review Checklist” sets a soil volume minimum of 750 cubic feet of soil per tree and states that, “5’ x 5’ pit areas shall no longer be accepted, must use trenches, root paths, break out zones, structural cells, or other un-compacted soil technology.”
Emeryville, CA -
The community requires minimum rootable soil volumes for new trees planted in the public right of way by private developers. The minimum is based on the size of the tree at maturity:
• 600 cubic feet for a small tree,
• 900 for a medium tree and
• 1200 for a large tree.
Alexandria, VA –
The city’s Landscape Guidelines specify that street trees be provided with a minimum of 300 cubic feet of soil per tree and recommends that one tree be present for every ten spaces in parking areas.
Are any of these perfect? Probably not.
Certainly there are things we would change about almost all of them. Still, setting soil volume minimums for street trees tacitly enforces the message that business as usual as far as tree planting is concerned isn’t good enough.
We need to rethink how we plan for our urban forests and the role of green infrastructure in the built environment. The new game in town is high performance urban forestry.
Are you involved with making soil volume recommendations for trees? Hopefully you can use some of this information to help persuade your co-workers and clients of this important effort.
Should your city or town be on this list, or do you know of any others that we missed? We want to hear about your goals for growing healthy trees in your community.
(from Deep Root Corporation)
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friends of the Urban Forest
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: www.fuf.net
Friends of the Urban Forest's mission is to promote a larger, healthier urban forest as part of San Francisco’s green infrastructure through community planting, tree care, education, and advocacy.
Each year, Friends of the Urban Forest helps communities plant nearly 1,000 trees. Neighbors organize the plantings. Friends of the Urban Forest obtains permits, removes sidewalk concrete, supplies tools and materials and selects, purchases and delivers the trees. On planting day, Friends of the Urban Forest volunteers work side-by-side with residents. After the work is done, everyone celebrates over a community lunch.
At plantings neighbors meet, often for the first time, to improve their streetscape. Spirits are high and everyone has a good time for the common good.
In 1995, Friends of the Urban Forest formally instituted Tree Care to improve tree health and to increase survival rates. Friends of the Urban Forest’s certified arborists, assisted by volunteers and trainees, prune and restake existing street trees. Tree Care aims to provide essential maintenance services and to educate neighbors, through mailings and hands-on assistance, on how to care for their trees.
Friends of the Urban Forest is committed to increasing its resources for Tree Care, which is essential to maintain and enhance the community’s investment in San Francisco’s urban forest.
Friends of the Urban Forest seeks to increase public awareness of the importance of trees in an urban environment. In addition to its newsletter and other periodic publications, it offers tree tours, quarterly pruning workshops, and leadership training.
Friends of the Urban Forest’s Youth program trains youth from underserved communities, in planting and tree care. It also encourages young people to engage with their communities and introduces them to careers in urban forestry.
In all of its programs, Friends of the Urban Forest seeks to improve our City’s environment, build community and connect San Franciscans with the natural world and each other.
Website: www.fuf.net
Friends of the Urban Forest's mission is to promote a larger, healthier urban forest as part of San Francisco’s green infrastructure through community planting, tree care, education, and advocacy.
Each year, Friends of the Urban Forest helps communities plant nearly 1,000 trees. Neighbors organize the plantings. Friends of the Urban Forest obtains permits, removes sidewalk concrete, supplies tools and materials and selects, purchases and delivers the trees. On planting day, Friends of the Urban Forest volunteers work side-by-side with residents. After the work is done, everyone celebrates over a community lunch.
At plantings neighbors meet, often for the first time, to improve their streetscape. Spirits are high and everyone has a good time for the common good.
In 1995, Friends of the Urban Forest formally instituted Tree Care to improve tree health and to increase survival rates. Friends of the Urban Forest’s certified arborists, assisted by volunteers and trainees, prune and restake existing street trees. Tree Care aims to provide essential maintenance services and to educate neighbors, through mailings and hands-on assistance, on how to care for their trees.
Friends of the Urban Forest is committed to increasing its resources for Tree Care, which is essential to maintain and enhance the community’s investment in San Francisco’s urban forest.
Friends of the Urban Forest seeks to increase public awareness of the importance of trees in an urban environment. In addition to its newsletter and other periodic publications, it offers tree tours, quarterly pruning workshops, and leadership training.
Friends of the Urban Forest’s Youth program trains youth from underserved communities, in planting and tree care. It also encourages young people to engage with their communities and introduces them to careers in urban forestry.
In all of its programs, Friends of the Urban Forest seeks to improve our City’s environment, build community and connect San Franciscans with the natural world and each other.
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