Learn how statewide applications are developed and leveraged through three examples: New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Oregon

July 5, 2024 |  Alec Sabatini

To manage public trees you need to know what you have, where it is, and what condition it is in. The most effective way to answer those questions is with an on-the-ground tree inventory. This holds true at any scale; from a single city park to an entire state.

Several states have partnered with PlanIT Geo™ to create a hub for collecting, standardizing, and analyzing local inventories in a statewide TreePlotter™ app. These tools have proved to be much greater than the sum of their parts. A statewide tree inventory app is not only a tool for guiding state-level decisions, it’s a resource to help communities to complete their own inventories and learn from each other.

Below we’ll explore how statewide applications are developed and leveraged through three examples: New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Oregon. Urban tree canopy assessments can also take a statewide perspective and we’ll showcase Florida’s newly launched TreePlotter CANOPY tool at the end.

New Mexico Statewide Tree Inventory

Climate change is a major concern and many communities around the state are experiencing an enormous loss of older trees. “If we want trees in our cities in the future, we will have to be very deliberate about selecting species, placement, and care,” says Shannon Atencio, New Mexico State Forestry, Las Vegas District. The statewide tree inventory is a resource for tracking species survivability and guiding climate-smart tree selections.

The New Mexico Urban and Community Forestry Program offers grants for tree inventories and can also provide communities with free TreePlotter access. “A tree inventory is a crucial tool when asking the city government to spend money on trees,” says Shannon. “In most cases, one is not dealing with biologists and natural resource specialists. Charts and maps showing risk are a straightforward tool to show the urgency of the public safety problem. It also helps leadership understand the scale of funding required to mitigate the risk.”

Wisconsin Statewide Tree Inventory

Wisconsin’s statewide urban tree inventory may very well be the best in the nation. Since 2014, the Urban Forests program at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has developed a three-pronged approach for urban forest assessments, including the aggregation of tree inventories into the Wisconsin Community Tree Map.

Since starting with TreePlotter in 2016, the Wisconsin DNR has compiled over 1 million trees from 219 different organizations! Their robust grant program has funded community tree inventories for over 30 years. In the last few years, the Wisconsin DNR has required that any community using grant funds for a tree inventory collect a minimum baseline of attributes.

As the Urban Forest Assessment Specialist at Wisconsin DNR, Dan Buckler manages this motherload of urban forestry data. Dan highly recommends other states require certain attributes while staying mindful to not overburden communities with too many requirements. Though it takes some preparation, having uniform data makes it a breeze for Dan to run analyses, answer questions, and identify trends for local and statewide projects.

Communities don’t exist in a bubble. A state application allows you to see trends across more than just a city. You can look at species diversity at the metropolitan scale, not just within the municipality. Climate change works across boundaries, so having tree data, in a unified format, across boundaries helps.

-Dan Buckler, Urban Forest Assessment Specialist, Wisconsin DNR

Above: Trees inventoried by Waunakee Community High School biology students on the Wisconsin Community Tree Map.

Oregon Statewide Tree Inventory

The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) wants to help communities maximize the benefits of their urban forest while minimizing costs and liabilities. Scott Altenhoff, ODF’s Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Program Manager, knows their mission can’t succeed without first understanding what communities have, what they want, and then monitoring progress.

“Our job is to advise municipalities and organizations on how to do more with less. I’m convinced information is the best way to do that, and I can’t think of a better source of information on trees, people, and their relationship than TreePlotter.”

Oregon’s statewide tree inventory has compiled 210,000 trees from 50 different community partners and counting. Some of these communities use TreePlotter, but ODF also imports data from a range of different software platforms, depending on the community’s setup.

Tree inventories are not only valuable for knowing what communities have, but in the case of a wildfire, knowing what has been lost. An updated tree inventory goes a long way in getting the maximum tree loss compensation from FEMA. In 2020 a wildfire tore through the Town of Talent, Oregon, destroying approximately 40% of the city and 1 in 4 urban trees. They didn’t have a definitive tree inventory then, but have since utilized ODF urban forestry grants to access TreePlotter and inventory almost 3,000 street and park trees.

Statewide Canopy Assessments

Above: Florida’s statewide application showing urban tree canopy in Tampa.

Work With the Big Picture

To learn more about the statewide tree inventories of Wisconsin and Oregon, check out this excellent webinar with Scott and Dan. You can also get an in-depth look at the statewide Florida canopy tool in this webinar with Todd Little, the Urban and Community Forestry Program Coordinator with the Florida Forest Service.

Curious about how a tree inventory or canopy application could work for your state, county, or municipality? We’d be happy to have a conversation specific to your needs and goals. Please reach out with any questions here.