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Management Tools

The Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) Model

(a.k.a.  i-Tree ECO)
A computer model designed to use field data inputs to statistically estimate urban forest characteristics and various urban forest functions and value (e.g., air pollution removal, carbon sequestration, energy conservation).

OUTCOMES

OUTCOMES (OUTdoor COMfort Expert System), is a Windows® program that shows the shade pattern of a tree and calculates a human comfort index for any time and geographic location considering the full range of weather variables, the density of a tree crown that shades a person, and other features of the surrounding neighborhood.  The program was written to provide an easy-to-use interface and ample on-screen help.  Another program, OUTCOMES Batch, calculates the comfort index for any length of weather records.   

Air Pollution Removal Calculator - Version 1.0

This program is designed to estimate pollution removal and value for urban trees based on basic user inputs about the study area (e.g. a park). This program uses local data analyzed for various cities by the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model.

• Air Pollution Removal Calculator - Version 1.0 (.zip)

Aerial Photo Interpretation Tool

A GIS tool to speed up the photo interpretation of digital images (DOQ's, scanned aerial photos, etc.). The tool creates a dialog box containing user defined categories that moves the view from one photo interpretation point to the next. Points can be arranged randomly or on a regular grid. This tool is an extension file for ArcView 3.2. The zip file is 255KB.

• Aerial Photo Interpretation Tool (.zip)

Individual Tree Carbon Calculators

Spreadsheet programs have been developed to estimate the carbon storage and sequestration rates for a sugar maple and a white pine. Spreadsheets also exist for street tree estimates. These EXCEL spreadsheets provide a rough approximation of tree carbon storage and sequestration rates based on user-inputs of tree growth rates. Urban tree diameter growth rates are typically between 0.1 and 0.4 inches per year. These programs are designed to provide quick and easy estimates of individual tree carbon.
 Individual Tree Carbon Estimator (.xls)
 Individual Street Tree Carbon Estimator (.xls)

(Individual Tree Carbon Calculators above are in Excel format. You may download a free Excel viewer that will allow you to open, view, and print Excel workbooks, even if you don't have Excel installed.)

 

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