i -TREES INVENTORY

1. Tree Inventory This project was designed to engage students from across many departments of the college to work together through co-curricular education, have students build on each others work from quarter to quarter, and deliver data to help guide the NSCC administration to improve landscape management of our campus. Trees provide tremendous economic, social and environmental benefits and serve as the backbone of a mature ecological system. Without quantifying these benefits, NSCC is unable to manage them as effectively as possible. Earthcorps was hired as technical experts and advisors for conducting a tree inventory on our campus to provide a baseline of ecological service provided by nature to our campus. Spring 2010 Two students, Russell Walker and Chris Kistner, responded to a request from the Sustainability Office to create a tree inventory guide as part of their technical writing course. This class assignment resulted in a comprehensive 50-page tutorial and reference guide for future students to inventory trees on campus. Summer - Fall 2010 Many students, staff, and community volunteers worked together through the summer and fall to inventory over 1300 trees representing roughly half of our campus area. Surveyors collected data on tree height, trunk diameter, species, crown spread, location, and health to determine ecological benefits from each tree. These data will be evaluated to generate financial, stormwater management, and carbon sequestration services provided by our campus trees. i-TREES INVENTORY Winter - Spring 2011 Students entered collected data in to a Geographic Information System (GIS) database to allow future spatial analysis of the tree data. The NSCC Sustainability Office and Earthcorps determined the best approach to inventory the remaining trees by Fall 2011. Description The i-Trees project started in the fall of 2010 as a means to provide the campus a quantitative method to manage the campus tree resources, the i-Tree project is concerned with inventorying the NSCC campus forest in order to quantify the value of trees to the college. The completed project will strengthen the urban forest management of the campus, establish NSCC as an i-Tree user expert in the community and lead to possible future economic and ecological benefits to the school and community. This poster outlines what has been accomplished to date, current status of performance and a brief look at items that have impacted the project. Summer 2011 - Winter 2012 Students will inventory the remaining campus trees and add them to the GIS database. These data with be analyzed to determine avoided costs for stormwater management, increased property value, and qualify the college for tax credits available from the City of Seattle. Future Expansion Future students will build on this project by refining data and monitoring tree health and function as part of a larger ecosystem. Ground cover, soil, and climatic data will be added to the database will compliment the tree inventory and create the opportunities to analyze how our constructed campus compares with more natural historic ecosystems on the site. Environmental quality from these two periods will be used for reference to strategically plan policies and practices to maximize services delivered by our natural resources while minimizing ecological impact on the campus grounds and adjacent ecosystems. The project started Spring 2010 and is expected to be complete by Winter 2012. Students build on each others work each quarter as part of a much larger landscape management project 1336 campus tree were inventoried in 2010 Trees provide carbon sequestration, stormwater management benefits, and inherent monetary value to the college. This project provides the foundation for better managing water, soil, biomass, and cultural history for the NSCC campus