Monetary Value of The Urban Forest

[scottythepinetree]

I recently had to hang up my harness due to a recurring back injury which I was having more frequent occurrences of. My physical therapist gave me a simple choice - stop injuring my back, or start planning for life after spinal surgery. Having a dad who has undergone similar surgeries, I'm fully aware that spinal surgery tends to go one of 2 ways - wrong, or horribly wrong, so my choice was pretty clear.

 

So, I'm heading back to college in September, and I'm attempting to continue to try to further the industry in Ireland. Compared to the UK we are lightyears behind. This isn't due to a lack of training or professionalism on the part of the guys on the ground. It is a result of a lack of urban forestry policy on the part of local government.

 

With this in mind, if I am going to be serious about lobbying anyone in this country, hard numbers will be necessary. I remember reading a study or an article some time ago about the monetary value of urban/amenity trees in New York (I think). I remember being stunned by the value that was attributed by the study, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Does anyone know where I can find this study or maybe you read it yourself?

 

The urban forest in most of Ireland would be a lot less established than New York, so I was hoping to use it as a starting point for a similar study specific to Ireland, as part of an MSc in Environmental Science.. and hopefully I can use the data to put some pressure on local government to see the value of a policy of proper tree care and maintenance.

 

If anyone could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated..

[sloth]

Look up itree eco, may be what you're looking for...

 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Arbtalk mobile app

[daltontrees]

The americans are almost certainly using iTree, with as Sloth has suggested the 'eco' module. Whilst it is quite sophisticated, the values are ultimately arbitrary. There is a fundamental difficulty in equating monetary value with ecological or amenity value, and an even bigger difficulty in setting public funding policy for tree management against asset values.

 

Send me a private message if you want to know ore about my recent expriences on doing the iTree eco survey for Glasgow. Also have a look at the valuation thread in Arbtalk which I started maybe 6 months ago and which gives you a flavour of some of the complexities and also a hint at the lack of interest in getting tree valuation onto a meaningful credible footing. I plan to revisit the thread sometime soon but I am fairly sure there is no real appetite ofr the subject her on Arbtalk, if anywhere...

 

That's niot to say you shouldn't give it a go. You will have a long and challenging amd perhaps fulfilling journey ahead of you, and one that would eb very fruitful as part of formal arboriculture study as it touches on many areas and bumps you up against public policy. With your forehead mostly.

[scottythepinetree]

The americans are almost certainly using iTree, with as Sloth has suggested the 'eco' module. Whilst it is quite sophisticated, the values are ultimately arbitrary. There is a fundamental difficulty in equating monetary value with ecological or amenity value, and an even bigger difficulty in setting public funding policy for tree management against asset values.

 

Send me a private message if you want to know ore about my recent expriences on doing the iTree eco survey for Glasgow. Also have a look at the valuation thread in Arbtalk which I started maybe 6 months ago and which gives you a flavour of some of the complexities and also a hint at the lack of interest in getting tree valuation onto a meaningful credible footing. I plan to revisit the thread sometime soon but I am fairly sure there is no real appetite ofr the subject her on Arbtalk, if anywhere...

 

That's niot to say you shouldn't give it a go. You will have a long and challenging amd perhaps fulfilling journey ahead of you, and one that would eb very fruitful as part of formal arboriculture study as it touches on many areas and bumps you up against public policy. With your forehead mostly.

Thanks for the input... Will PM you later when I don't have a 19 month old trying to set herself on fire... Daddy Daycare here as I'm off...

[Lucan]

Scotty,

 

Think the report you are looking for is this one? http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/products/2/psw_cufr687_NYC_MFRA.pdf

 

Summary is they value New York's 600,000 trees at $200 per tree per year, totaling $120m per year. Value is from benefits from CO2 reduction, stormwater catchment, aesthetic, etc. Given that tree maintenance costs $22m per year, for every $1 spent by the city it receives $5.60 in benefits

[scottythepinetree]

That's the one Lucan... Cheers mate.

 

Now to just cross their name off the front and replace it with mine:lol: