North Carolina State University needs help collecting data on Durham’s urban trees. We are asking Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, and Tree Keepers to volunteer with the research team; collecting data to record tree species, health, and location information. This project begins in May and will continue through the summer.
Volunteer training will be held May 12th, 1:30-3:00, at the Durham Extension Center (721 Foster Street). You will learn how to assess trees and record data, and then practice on some nearby trees. Training will be repeated on May 20th, 10:30-noon. In the coming weeks you will be able to register for the training session of your choice.
Volunteers will work in teams, you’ll be able to select your volunteer dates, and pick the area you would like to work in.
Register for a training session.
Below is a description of the project.
Project Description
Project goal and high-level description. Urban forests provide valuable ecosystem services such as air pollution mitigation, temperature moderation, and carbon sequestration. Maintaining healthy urban tree canopy is essential to providing these services, and will become even more important as climate change creates warmer conditions across the southeastern US. However, urban forest managers in the region lack information essential for future decision making around tree planting, species selection, and maintenance. This project will help managers to maximize the impacts of tree planting for climate change mitigation across two scales: (1) a detailed local assessment of the urban canopy in Durham, NC, and (2) a synthesis analysis of urban canopy conditions in municipalities across the entire southeastern US. In Durham, researchers will examine patterns in urban tree mortality and health by species to provide actionable information for management about which species are thriving and where maintenance efforts might be best places. The study will model the costs and benefits associated with tree planting and management from both ecological and economic perspectives to further support decision making around fundamental questions around maximizing benefits of tree planting and maintenance. This work will also focus on historically marginalized neighborhoods and socially vulnerable communities within DurhamThe project will also conduct an analysis across broader southeastern urban tree species and future climate change conditions. The information provided by this aspect of the research will support urban forest managers across the region to project which tree species should be proactively planted for maximizing climate adaptations, and will also provide baseline information on what species are dominant in urban canopies, and what information gaps exist across states and municipalities that will be essential for management in the future.
Roles and responsibilities of the volunteer data collection teams. Volunteer data collection teams will be in charge of assessing health and stress among street trees in different areas of Durham. On a given day, we will drive and walk to a residential area and observe all the trees we can find. We will identify their species, measure their trunk diameter, and collect basic notes about their growing environment (e.g., whether they are planted by a powerline, a school, or a parking lot). Then, we will interrogate ourselves on whether each tree is thriving, stressed, or barely getting by, using a suite of techniques commonly used in urban arboriculture. We will collect observations on our mobile devices and notebooks.
Time commitment/schedule. Each volunteer can choose when to collect data. Our research team will conduct a data collection field season from May 4th to June 30th, visiting Durham every weekday. The volunteers can choose to join the research team as a group. In such a case, we will split into smaller sub-teams, with one research team leading a group of volunteers. Each volunteer group may visit a different area and work on a different plot of trees. Volunteers are free to join the data collection effort any day and choose the amount of time they wish to spend collecting data in the field. We will set up a sign-up sheet to anticipate attendance and plan each session. Also, volunteers are free to collect data on their own at any time before, during, or after the official data collection field season. A volunteer may decide to integrate data collection with their own Master Naturalist/Master Gardener independent project, adjusting their timeline freely. While we emphasize the importance of conducting citizen science with an independent schedule, we also recommend joining team data collection sessions, which would facilitate interpersonal connection, improve data accuracy, and foster a friendly environment.
Areas of Durham the volunteer data collection teams will work in. The project encompasses sampled areas from all across the city. However, we will require that the volunteer data collection teams only work with us in areas they feel comfortable visiting. In fact, we discourage any volunteer to join us on sessions that take place in unsafe areas, high-traffic street tracts, or plots that are logistically hard to reach.
Protocols and tools that will be used for data collection. The volunteers and the research team will use the Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities (HTHC) approach to measure street tree stress. HTHC is a street tree stress and health measurement procedure developed by the USDA Forest Service in 2014. The technique relies on free estimations of (i) fine twig dieback, (ii) leaf discoloration, (iii) crown defoliation, (iv) crown transparency, and (v) light exposure. Two or more volunteers should assess each tree and give their estimations for each parameter. By assigning an average for each parameter to each tree, the volunteers will be able to provide enough information to calculate the tree’s health conditions. In fact, the HTHC software models tree health based on field observations, bole diameter, and species. Volunteers will input observations on an online spreadsheet, which the research team will use to model tree health. By inputting information about address/GIS coordinates, the volunteers will be able to map each street tree and expand the City of Durham Public Tree Inventory.
Any background reading materials that could provide context. The Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities website features a great training material collection! https://hthc.itreetools.org/resources
How volunteer data collectors will learn about the results of the study. The research team will publish results in academic journals for a deep read into scientific insights. Local CBO Keep Durham Beautiful will publish information about our group work on its biweekly newsletter, updating Durham residents along each step of the way. The Southeast Climate Change Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC) enlisted us for two guest lectures and a recorded presentation on the study. We expect the City of Durham’s Urban Forestry Division to feature information on our collaborative work on their newsletter and public communication channels. Regional professional organizations like the International Society of Arboriculture Southern Chapter, the Southern Regional Extension Forestry, the North Carolina State Cooperative Extension, and the Southern Group of State Foresters agreed to publicize our results on their newsletters and official communications. Durham Master Naturalist student Aya Sode suggested making a short documentary about our group work.
Contact information.
Maggio Laquidara (main contact): lmlaquid@ncsu.edu
Madi Fuller, Ph.D. (main student investigator): mrfulle2@ncsu.edu
Jacob Sigmon (student technician): jsigmon@ncsu.edu
Prof. Meredith Martin, Ph.D. (principal investigator): mpmarti7@ncsu.edu
Prof. Justin Baker, Ph.D. (co-investigator): jsbaker4@ncsu.edu
Prof. Jennifer Richmond-Bryant (co-investigator): jrbryan3@ncsu.edu
