Holistic Dollar-Valuation of Urban Forest Functions to Support Resource Conservation and Management

When:

Sep 21, 2011 12:00 pm US/Eastern

Length: 01:00   (hh:mm)

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Author(s)/Presenter(s):

• Michael McCoy, Environmental Services Department Leader, Metric Engineering, Inc.

Credits:

• None have been applied for or approved at this time.

Webinar Format:

• Multiple Media Formats Supported

September 21, 2011

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (Eastern)
11:00 am - 12:00 pm (Central)
10:00 am - 11:00 am (Mountain)
9:00 am - 10:00 am (Pacific)

What you will learn:

In an arena of ever-shrinking government budgets that must make decisions on what programs to fund or cut based on competitive comparisons, obtaining funding and public support for managing urban forests can be at a disadvantage because the direct benefits of urban forest resources are often difficult to quantify. Use of a variety of computer-based forest functional analysis programs, combined with traditional tree appraisal techniques, can help a jurisdiction to determine the real-dollar values of functions provided by their urban forest. Readily available dollar-valuation strategies exist for functions that include increased property values, increased local commerce, carbon sequestration, air pollution abatement, stormwater management, temperature moderation and traffic calming. For many of these benefits, use of trees is often as or more cost effective than traditional engineering options. Implementing a holistic system for valuing the urban forest in a given jurisdiction as its "green infrastructure" will assist public decision makers with identifying appropriate funding to maintain the urban forest canopy, as well as identifying opportunities to use tree plantings as an alternative to other construction, management or planning efforts. Examples will be presented that range in size from an entire county (primary evaluation using CityGreen), a small municipality (primary evaluation using iTree), to individual park properties (mixed evaluation methods). Methodologies will be presented along with findings and lessons learned.