i-Tree Eco valuation of public trees in Bicester: a provisional analysis

Report

Urban trees provide a range of services, often termed ecosystem services, that help alleviate problems associated with the high population densities found in urban areas. For example, urban trees improve local air quality, capture carbon, reduce flooding and cool urban environments. They provide food and habitat for animals, such as birds and bees, and can improve social cohesion in communities. All the trees in the urban realm – in public and private spaces, along linear routes and waterways and in amenity areas – are collectively known as the ‘urban forest’. Urban forests are, therefore, a valuable source of ecosystem services in towns and cities. Planning developments often overlook the value of urban trees, quantifiable or otherwise. Valuing the quantifiable services provided by public trees in Bicester could improve this and allow Bicester Town Council to increase the profile of the urban forest they manage. Valuing ecosystem services also aids town planners, landscape architects and tree officers to plan where trees can be planted for maximum benefit. i-Tree is a state-of-the-art, peer-reviewed software suite from the USDA Forest Service that provides urban and community forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools. An i-Tree Eco analysis was run for a tree database covering all trees in public space under the responsibility of the council. This database was created from GIS shapefiles given that there was no access to a full inventory of the public trees in Bicester (see Appendix I). The information given in this short report is only an indication of what i-Tree Eco could demonstrate if such an inventory was assessed; it should not be seen as an accurate estimation of the structure and value of Bicester public trees.

Authors: Vaz Monteiro, M; Handley, P; Doick, KJ; Smith, A

• Publication status: Published
• Publisher: Forest Research
• Place of publication: Farnham, UK
• Publication date: 2018-02-28
• Language: English