July 6, 2016—AUSTIN, Texas— For the first time ever, a census for trees is available in a new, easy-to-use application developed by Texas A&M Forest Service.
The Urban Forest Inventory and Analysis of trees in Austin, Texas, is presented graphically in My City’s Trees.
My City’s Trees enables civic leaders, community planners, elected officials and anyone with access to the Internet, to learn about Austin’s urban forest, and explore Urban FIA data by land cover, city growth, watersheds and eco-regions.
“This free, publicly accessible web tool allows community members to work together to better understand, conserve and protect the trees where they live, work and play,” said Texas A&M Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program Coordinator Paul Johnson. “They also can use this information as a starting point when creating long-range, community tree plans.”
My City’s Trees can be useful in defining urban forest management and tree health care options, allocating resources and prioritizing programs that will better protect community trees.
Johnson will present the new, first-in-the-nation app at a lunchtime lecture series this Friday, July 8, at Noon, at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road, Room 325, Austin, Texas 78704. Join him and learn how you can find out the 10 most common trees in Austin; how much storm water runoff trees help control; how many trees are in the Barton Spring Zone; and much more. Users can even check out the composition of the Austin urban forest; how many trees are in the city – and find out who owns them.
Accessible at http://mycitystrees.com, the web tool is free to use and provides community tree data that has not been readily available to the public before.
Texas A&M Forest Service is helping support communities with tools and resources to care for their trees and poses that no matter your question…trees are the answer.
About U.S. Department of Agriculture’s first Urban Forest Inventory and Analysis Report
The USDA Forest Service recently released a comprehensive report on Austin’s Urban Forest http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/50393. The report is the product of the Urban Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (Urban FIA) which is used to produce estimates of the quantity, health, composition and benefits of urban trees and forests. Austin’s Urban Forest report is the first of its kind, and the USDA Forest Service plans to expand the Urban FIA to other cities throughout the United States.
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Contacts
Paul Johnson, Urban & Community Forestry Program Coordinator
210-289-0815, pjohnson@tfs.tamu.edu
Texas A&M Forest Service Communications
979-458-6606, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu