Update on Trees + Technology

After writing about the top 10 technologies for studying birds (based on a BirdScope article), I realized that I needed to update our Trees + Technology piece originally published on April 18, 2011.  Also, this post is our contribution to the fifth anniversary edition of the Festival of the Trees hosted by Via Negativa.

Nonprofits and municipalities have developed numerous ways to broadcast tree care and benefits information to residents.  In our original post we wrote about two of these: the Urban Natural Resources Institute (UNRI) "nutrition label" for urban trees and New York City's Open311 Wiki which maps calls made to 311 about tree issues.

Since April, we have come across several more of these technologies for sharing tree information.  The tag pictured above is from the Every Tree Counts and Chicago Trees Initiative campaigns and was sent to us by a reader in Columbus, Ohio.  Passersby can learn the monetary value this Ginkgo biloba provides to the City.  We wish the tag included the species name but the QR code in the lower right hand corner might lead to such information.

MillionTreesNYC developed ad campaigns like the "I'M SHADY" subway posters, seen above, encouraging New Yorkers to plant trees and to support the initiative.

Also, in New York is the work of Friends of Greenwich Street, a neighborhood improvement organization in Tribeca.  FGS runs the Tribeca Street Tree Project and as part of its outreach campaign has tagged trees in the neighborhood with posters encouraging residents to volunteer as stewards.  The poster in the photograph above was installed last season.

Image: Casey Trees 25 to Stay Alive logo and watering posters, screen capture (source)

Finally, Casey Trees in Washington DC has designed three posters for its "25 to Stay Alive" watering campaign.  Based on precipitation and stream flow data, Casey Trees sends weekly watering announcements to residents through various media (Facebook, Twitter, and its homepage).  Residents are encouraged to water trees, especially young ones,* with 25 gallons of water during periods of little to no rainfall.**  The organization provides rain gauges to residents who signed a tree watering pledge as well as "ooze tubes" or slow-release watering bags.

* Young trees are defined as those that were planted within the last three years.
** Little rainfall is defined as an accumulation of less than 1.5 inches.

Let us know what your city is doing to encourage tree care and how your city is sharing information about tree care and tree benefits.

Original post, 4/18/2011: Two technologies have been on our minds lately.  The first is the "tree benefits label" and the second is NYC's Open311 Wiki.

Image: Tree Nutrition/Benefits Label, Urban Natural Resources Institute (source)

You are familiar with nutrition labels on packaged foods.  Now, the Urban Natural Resources Institute (UNRI) has developed a "nutrition" label for urban trees.  UNRI in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, UMass Amherst and the Town of Amherst created labels showing the ecosystem benefits produced by trees.  The project was implemented at the Amherst Sustainability Festival in 2010.  Forty trees were surveyed using software developed by Casey Trees, and urban forestry nonprofit in Washington, D.C. Each label is bar-coded to "attract" the attention of passers-by.  (These bar codes are not scannable QR codes or Microsoft Tags.)

Residents of NYC can call 311 "to get information, report problems, and request services."  These actions can be taken online, too.  In February, the NY Times reported that Mayor Bloomberg had launched an online mapping service for 311 calls.  Maps can be charted by location type, service request category, and complaint type.  Here is a map of new tree requests made between January 1 and April 7, 2011 in Community Board 2 (Manhattan).

Wired Magazine has an amazing graphic of the most common calls to 311 made between September 8 and September 15, 2010.  Damaged trees calls peaked at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m., while overgrown trees/branches calls peaked noticeably at 1 p.m.  Can anyone explain these patterns?

This Wednesday, April 20, at 11 a.m. (Eastern), Urban Natural Resources Initiative (UNRI) will host Melanie Kirk's presentation on using social networking tools to develop urban natural resources programs.  Melanie holds a Ph.D. and is an assistant professor and extension urban forestry specialist at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.  More information can be found on the UNRI webcasts page.