Tree Maps Inform City Planting Plans

"Some prodded by environmental awareness, some by regulatory edict, they're stepping up tree plantings in hopes of improving air quality, reducing energy consumption and easing storm water flows."

"And a four-man team of scientists at the University of Vermont is helping urban planners and foresters gauge the existing "tree canopy" — or cover — in their cities and set realistic goals for increasing it."

"Their expertise has been tapped by public and private groups in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and several Maryland towns eager to green their cities with the help of private property owners."

"But the UVM scientists, working with a research scientist from the U.S. Forest Service, have used computer programs and their own expertise to combine satellite images with aerial photos and tax maps to ascertain tree canopy size and break it down by parcel, determining which trees are on public land and which are on private land."

"'If you don't even know what you have, you can't make any decisions,' said Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne, a geospatial analyst with the team. 'It wasn't that people didn't want to plant trees or didn't want a tree canopy program. But they needed the hard data to make decisions. That's where we came in.'"