Consultancy » i-Tree Eco Australia

ENSPEC has been one of the earliest proponents of incorporating i-Tree into Australia, and is the key research partner for converting and adapting i-Tree to an Australian context. This has involved the research, collation and formalisation of critical climatic, geographic and botanical data to be used for the program in Australia.

ENSPEC has undertaken numerous urban forest inventories for clients in Australia. More recently these inventories have included collecting the key attributes required for use with i-Tree Eco. These inventories have been conducted in conjunction with ENSPEC’s general urban forest inventory programs, which include GIS/ GPS mapping of tree locations, full Visual Tree Assessments (VTA), and recommendations and prioritisation of remedial works.

i-Tree is a freely accessible peer-reviewed software program developed by the USDA Forest Service. The i-Tree suite of programs provides valuable information for the functional benefits of the urban forest. The i-Tree tools cater for municipalities, government agencies and the community to reinforce their urban forest management practices and advocacy by quantifying the structure, environmental services and economic benefits of their urban forests.

By understanding the local, tangible ecosystem services that trees provide, i-Tree users can link urban forest management activities with environmental quality and community liveability. Whether it is for a single tree or an entire forest, i-Tree can provide baseline data that can be used to demonstrate value and set priorities for more effective decision-making.

Developed by USDA Forest Service and numerous co-operators, i-Tree is in the public domain and available by request through the i-Tree website www.itreetools.org. The Forest Service, Davey Tree Expert Company, National Arbor Day Foundation, Society of Municipal Arborists, International Society of Arboriculture, Arboriculture Australia, Casey Trees and ENSPEC have entered into a cooperative partnership to further develop, disseminate and provide technical support for the suite.

The i-Tree suite includes the following urban forest analysis tools and utility programs:

• i-Tree Eco provides a broad picture of the entire urban forest. It is designed to use field data from complete inventories or randomly located plots throughout a community along with local hourly air pollution and meteorological data to quantify urban forest structure, environmental effects, and value to communities.
• i-Tree Hydro (beta) is a new application designed to simulate the effects of changes in tree and impervious cover characteristics within a watershed on stream flow and water quality.
• i-Tree Vue allows you to make use of freely available national land cover data maps to assess your community's land cover, including tree canopy, and some of the ecosystem services provided by your current urban forest. The effects of planting scenarios on future benefits can also be modelled.
• i-Tree Design (beta) is a simple online tool that provides a platform for assessments of individual trees at the parcel level. This tool links to Google Maps and allows you to see how tree selection, tree size and placement around your home effects energy use and other benefits. This beta tool is the first stage in the development of more sophisticated options that will be available in future versions.
• i-Tree Canopy offers a quick and easy way to produce a statistically valid estimate of land cover types(e.g., tree cover) using aerial images available in Google Maps. The data can be used by urban forest managers to estimate tree canopy cover, set canopy goals, and track success; and to estimate inputs for use in i-Tree Hydro and elsewhere where land cover data are needed.
• i-Tree Species is a free-standing utility designed to help urban foresters select the most appropriate tree species based on environmental function and geographic area.
• I-PED Pest and Evaluation Detection Module is a portable, accessible and standardized protocol for observing a tree for possible insect or disease problems. I-PED is currently available within the i-Tree Streets program and can be adapted to other external tree inventory programs.

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