Tree Management Tools
The U.S. Forest Service has developed a set of free and easy-to-use software programs and protocols (together called i-Tree) that help urban foresters measure and understand their forest resources. Used separately or together, the programs and tools in i-Tree can aid urban forest planning, management and budgeting, and allow comparisons between the urban forest resources in different communities or cities.
i-Tree Eco
Formerly called UFORE (Urban Forest Effects model), i-Tree Eco is one of the main programs in the i-Tree suite. Eco uses field data to estimate the economic and ecosystem service impacts of trees in a neighborhood, city, county, or state. The Eco modeling program estimates tree species counts and composition, diameter size class distribution, diversity, and canopy cover. Eco also estimates the urban forest’s net impacts on energy use, carbon storage, and air pollution using scientifically derived and tested equations.
i-Tree Streets
Formerly called STRATUM (Street Tree Management Tool for Urban Forest Managers), i-tree Streets focuses on street trees and tree management issues. Streets can use existing or newly sampled data to describe the structure and composition of the street tree population. Streets also analyzes tree environmental benefits and contrasts these benefits with maintenance costs.
i-Tree Storm
Formerly called SDAP (Storm Damage Assessment Protocol), i-Tree Storm offers simple and efficient methods for collecting tree damage information after a severe weather event.
|