Sunday 31 August 2014

Westdale TreesCount Grows Awareness of our Urban Forest


This article is a great summary of TreesCount 2014 and will be featured in the HNC newspaper, The Wood Duck:

As the weather begins to turn cooler and summer enters its final stretch, TreesCount 2014 is also wrapping up in Westdale. The project has been ongoing since June, and volunteers now have just one final block to complete. When it comes to growing awareness of our urban forest (the trees and green spaces in our urban areas), TreesCount has been extremely successful.

TreesCount 2014, one of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club’s latest projects, was a detailed and comprehensive inventory of all of the public and private trees in a study area that covered most of Westdale South. Data was collected using the Neighbourwoods Protocol, a method developed at the University of Toronto. The data was collected by over 25 volunteers and entered into a database that will be sent to U of T for analysis. The results will be summarized in a report presented to the community. It is then up to the people of Westdale to decide how they are going to use this information to maintain or improve the health of their urban forest. The study is actually a re-inventory of the same area studied by Environment Hamilton in 2003. Now that this latest project is nearly complete, we can safely say that the changes that have occurred in the last decade are quite amazing!
 
This map outlines the TreesCount study area, which was divided into 8 blocks.
The project is called TreesCount, but volunteers did much more than simply count the number of trees. They collected over 30 pieces of data for each individual tree! Various measurements were taken, including height, crown width and trunk diameter.. The species was identified, and the location and ownership were noted. The rest of the inventory was devoted to assessing the condition of the tree (indicators such as leaf colour, dead branches and scars or cracks gave us clues) and looking for existing or potential conflicts with other objects, such as wires and buildings.

The detailed nature of the inventory makes the information extremely valuable as a tool for developing planting or watering programs, identifying safety hazards and ultimately planning for the future. The data can also be used to identify issues such as a lack of diversity or the need for greater canopy cover. The community will now be able to see which issues are of highest priority and make decisions that are specific to this area and its individual needs. For example, the study has only identified 17 ash trees in the area, so the Emerald Ash borer is not likely to greatly reduce the canopy cover of this neighbourhood. However, at last count, 61 percent of all trees counted were Norway Maples, a non-native species that can be invasive in natural areas. With this in mind, the community can spend less time worrying about ash trees and more time looking for ways to improve diversity and increase the presence of native species in Westdale. Making smart, well informed decisions today will ensure that our urban forest is healthy for years to come.

Throughout the project, we not only collected a lot of useful data, but we also got to engage the community in the project. Lots of homeowners had questions about specific trees and were interested to learn more about their trees and the urban forest as a whole. Many added their own personal tree stories to the information we collected, reminding us that there’s more to urban forestry than hard facts and measurements. The HNC plans to complete similar inventories in other Hamilton neighbourhoods in the future so that more communities will have the opportunity to learn about and improve their patch of urban forest. There is also hope that greater public interest may encourage the City of Hamilton to develop and implement an urban forest management plan, following in the footsteps of many other municipalities. If all goes well, TreesCount 2014 will grow into a greater movement of appreciation for our beautiful and extremely valuable urban forest.
--Mara

Thursday 21 August 2014

Another Successful Urban Forest Tour!

Thanks to the Hamilton Sustainability Professionals Network and guests for joining us on an Urban Forest Tour of Westdale this week! We did a little urban forest quiz about the health and composition of the urban forest (based on the 800 trees we've collected data on so far)! Thanks to our friends at Coffeecology for donating a jar of freshly roasted coffee for the quiz winner! 



Our volunteers, Kayley and Nicholas, also did a demo of how we collect over 30 measurements and pieces of data per tree! 





















Finally, Certified Arborist and HNC member, Kyle, led us on a tour of Churchill Park and surrounding area. We talked about the importance of urban forest diversity and native species, looked at some non-native oaks in the Park, and then we went to visit our favourite Treescount white oak! 


English Oak in Churchill Park




When 20 people stand around oohing and awing at a tree, it attracts a little attention, especially from the Homeowners!  However, this tree's lovely owners were delighted to see us and they invited us to take a closer look. We had a lovely chat about the history of the tree and they showed us a photo of the tree in 1925, already looking very large, when the house was originally built! More on this great tree story is coming soon! 





The Paisley White Oak is in good hands with these shiny happy people! Thanks J & T for letting us stop by!

Our urban forest inventory should be wrapping up in a few weeks! Stay tuned for the results!
---Giuliana

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Submit Your Tree Story Before August 19th!

Hamilton's First Ever Tree Story Prize Giveaway!

TreesCount is about more than just counting trees! We want to build appreciation of urban forests and hear your tree stories! Tell us about your favourite tree, why trees are important to you or what you value about Hamilton's urban forest. We'll happily share your tree story on our blog anytime but if you'd like to be entered into a draw to win our tree story prize pack, please submit your stories before August 19th

On August 19th at 6pm we'll be hosting a TreesCount Urban Forest Walk in Westdale with the Hamilton Sustainability Professionals Network and we'll draw a winner from among our tree story submissions that night! 

Our prize pack goodies have been generously donated to the Hamilton Naturalists' Club by a number of local companies and individuals; including Coffeecology, Zenon Bee Inc., John Terpstra and Blue Oak Native Landscapes. We thank them all for their generous support! 


This amazing collection of local goodness is up for grabs! Share your tree story with us!

If you'd like to submit a tree story (and photos!): 
1. Email your story to us: treescount2014@gmail.com
2. Post your story to our Facebook page: TreesCount
3. Or tweet your short but sweet story and pics and include @TreesCount #treestory 

Either way you submit your story, be sure to include an email address, or contact information so that we can contact you if you win! (One story per Hamilton resident!)

If you'd like to attend our TreesCount Urban Forest Walk: Register via the SPN Eventbrite page. That night I'll be describing the protocol we've been using to measure and assess the health of over 900 trees (and counting!) and presenting some preliminary data about how Westdale's urban forest measures up! Certified Arborist, Kyle McLoughlin, will be taking us on a walk around Westdale and will talk about some current urban forest policy and management issues. All are welcome to attend this event and to join the SPN afterwards for networking at the Snooty Fox!

I look forward to hearing your tree stories!
-- Giuliana