And data that analyzes how many there are, where they are located and how they affect areas where we live, work and play matters too.
It is especially important to Oklahoma’s Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments and the Oklahoma City Community Foundation.
The state agency is working with the two other organizations and the Davey Tree Expert Co. to assemble a tree canopy survey that covers 536 square miles, taking in urbanized areas of the greater Oklahoma City metro area.
Representatives of the state agency and community foundation said recently the ongoing survey, which should conclude by July, is the most comprehensive look at how many trees exist in areas that stretch from north Edmond to Norman and from east of Tinker Air Force Base to Yukon.
Mark Bays, urban forestry coordinator at the Oklahoma Forestry Services Division, and Brian Dougherty, director of parks and public spaces at the community foundation, noted recent technological advances helped make the survey possible.
The $150,000 project is being accomplished through financial and in-kind contributions by the community foundation, ACOG and the state agency.
Davey Tree was contracted by the organizations to gather detailed ground-level surveys data. Recently, foresters and arborists from the firm completed a survey of some 19,600 trees located in Oklahoma City parks.
Dougherty said his organization and others have hoped for a truly comprehensive survey of tree cover for a long time.
“I don’t think we could have even attempted something like this just 10 years ago,” he said.
Bays said the ongoing survey is the largest of its kind in Oklahoma, so far.
It uses data collected from various sources.
Researchers first use satellite images to calculate coverage percentages for not just trees, but also buildings, roadways, parking lots, water and undeveloped areas.
They also are importing LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data that has been gathered by ACOG into the study.
Then, on 300 randomly selected tenth-acre plots spread geographically across the study area, Davey Tree professionals are conducting on-the-ground evaluations, where they collect information that identifies what kinds of trees are there, as well as their heights, trunk and crown diameters and health conditions.
Some plots don’t have many trees, while others might have as many as 100.
“They are trying to measure the green space, because at the very end of this, we will be able to calculate the environmental services that the trees are providing,” Bays said.
Trees provide those services by trapping particulate matter in the air, which improves air quality, and by affecting storm water runoff rates. They also provide other environmental benefits, such as shade that reduces summer cooling costs and provides people relief from the sun.
“Using an algorithm, they actually will be able to come up with a dollar amount of what those benefits are and what the value is for human health,” Bays said.
Dougherty said that is valuable information that ACOG, his organization, state officials and other professionals can use.
Plus, he and Bays noted the data also will help each involved entity plan for the future.
“We will be able to use what we learned through the study to help plan future tree plantings for parks, school campuses and trails,” Dougherty said, adding it also will provide valuable information to urban planners concerned about storm water issues and health care professionals.
“There are going to be a lot of different people looking at the information, for different reasons."
©2019 The Oklahoman. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
