Tree map to help monitor, protect Bristol’s canopy

Volunteers are needed to track Bristol trees on mobile app

By Margeaux Gagnon
Posted 6/21/17

The Bristol Conservation Commission is creating a tree map of Bristol, and it needs your help.

The trees will be mapped as a part of the town’s Tree Management Plan. Mapping the trees will …

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Tree map to help monitor, protect Bristol’s canopy

Volunteers are needed to track Bristol trees on mobile app

Posted

The Bristol Conservation Commission is creating a tree map of Bristol, and it needs your help.

The trees will be mapped as a part of the town’s Tree Management Plan. Mapping the trees will allow the Conservation Commission to keep track of trees around town to make sure they are in good condition and to demonstrate the economic benefit of having trees in the town.

“We are doing this for a tree management plan, which is what the DEM wants us to do and what we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Tony Morettini, a member of the Conservation Commission. “We finally have some software to let us do that and we will be able to make a statement about what the value is.”

The economic benefit of trees include their ability to filter storm water, produce oxygen and reduce carbon dioxide, all of which reduce pollution and reduce the amount of money the town would have to spend to reduce the pollution in other ways, Mr. Morettini said.

The Bristol Conservation Commission is working in collaboration with the Roger William University Hassenfellows, a grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), and help from volunteers to map the trees. So far, about 500 trees have been mapped in the downtown area by Mr. Morettini, Stephen White, Dean of the Roger Williams school of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation, and 20 other volunteers.

Mapping the trees was a difficult process that has been made easy thanks to an app called OpenTreeMap. It’s a mobile app that allows anyone to map any tree they like. The app is free and easy to use, and allows people to map the species of the tree plus the tree’s specifications like its size and what condition it is in.

Bristol is a part of the Tree City USA program and must follow a set of rules in order to be recognized as a Tree City, including having a tree board — in Bristol’s case, the Conservation Commission — having a tree care ordinance, and having a community forestry program. Mapping the trees will provide physical evidence that the trees do much more than just look nice.

The Conservation Commission is planning to hold a meeting for anyone who would like to help map the trees so they can be shown how to use the app. Volunteers who attend the meeting will also receive a copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees to help with tree identification. The date for the meeting is yet to be determined.

Anyone interested in being a volunteer can contact Tony Morettini at tmorettini@gmail.com.

Tree City USA, Bristol trees

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