INTRO: Software developed by the USDA’s Forest Service and partners is helping to determine the value of trees in urban areas. The U-S-D-A’s Bob Ellison has more. (1:23)

TREES AND URBAN FORESTS CAN PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN TOWNS AND CITIES.

Dave Nowak, Project Leader, USDA Forest Service: They affect the land, they affect the air, they affect the water and they affect the people.

Michael Potts, Casey Trees, Washington, D.C.: Trees also improve the environment by collecting pollution and putting things back into the soil like nutrients. Trees are also good in the urban environment because they increase property values.

SO THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S FOREST SERVICE USES SOFTWARE CALLED EYE-TREE THAT MEASURES URBAN FORESTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT. EYE-TREE CAN ALSO HELP OFFICIALS, DEVELOPERS, LANDOWNERS, AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS DETERMINE THE VALUE OF TREES.

Nowak: Basically people are allowed to measure attributes about the tree, the species, the size, the health of the tree, goes into the computer code, looks up local information and tries to estimate what the value of that tree is. So, if you remove trees you’ll see what the change in value of, if you add trees you’ll see the change in value. It’s not telling people what is right or what is wrong, it’s just giving informed decisions.

AND FOR GROUPS ADDING TO THE URBAN FOREST, EYE-TREE CAN BE A GOOD ADVOCACY TOOL.

Potts: The information is important because it’s good to be able tell people how good trees are, because Casey Trees is trying to improve the greenery in D-C by planting trees so we have to have an argument for why we should plant trees.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT EYE-TREE GO TO EYE-TREE DOT ORG. IN WASHINGTON D-C, FOR THE U-S DEPARMENT OF AGRICULTURE, I’M BOB ELLISON.

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