Abstract

Put back the Trees Grant
Track: Parks, Natural Reserves, Fisheries, and Wildlife Management
Authors: Leane Kmetz

Starting May 16, 2011 and continuing for 12 weeks Westfield employed an intern to conduct an extensive tree inventory of the City Parks. He was able to complete an assessment of 4,836 trees that are included in eleven parks and trails. Westfield implemented a Tree Assessment policy in February and has trained their entire park staff on Visual Tree Inspections. The inventory includes, ID, GPS location, type, height, date of assessment, caliper, condition and assessment code. All of the data was downloaded to a GIS system that allows the information to be accessed by staff and residents on their computer and smartphones. Having this information available on the smartphone makes it possible for the staff to update information live as they are maintaining the inventory in the field. This will enable us to keep the inventory up to date at all times.