Resources

The Resource page is the jumping off point for all of the information out there on urban forestry. We don’t claim to know everything there is to know about the subject, but we’ll try to help you find those who do.

How-to's

How to Identify the Species of Your Tree
Urban Tree Key: We realized early on that one stumbling block for the Urban Forest Map was that many people may love trees and want to participate but not everyone has an easy time telling one species from another. And although there are many guides and websites to help you identify trees, none focus on urban species. To fill this gap, we developed the Urban Tree Key, a resource for identifying common urban tree species with a focus (for now) on Northern California cities.

How to Measure the Diameter of Your Tree's Trunk
The other tricky part of entering a tree on the Urban Forest Map is measuring the diameter of its trunk. It's tricky, but really important (it's the basis for calculating the eco impact of the tree and critical for understanding the diversity of the urban forest). So we created a video to help answer your questions, like: Isn't it easier to measure the circumference? What if the tree has more than one trunk? What if it's covered in ivy? How far up the tree do I measure?

Our favorite links

Center for Urban Forest Research (CUFR)
CUFR, a unit of the US Forest Service, is the leading research institute studying the environmental benefits of urban forests. They have been working for nearly two decades to quantify and monetize the ecosystem services of trees. Their website is the go-to place for information on ways to maximize tree benefits, the latest in urban forestry research, the role of trees in fighting global climate change, tree animations, and tools to help with all of this. Don't forget to sign up for their News Briefs to stay on top of the news.

Friends of the Urban Forest
Friends of the Urban Forest's is a San Francisco nonprofit group committed to the belief that trees are a critical element of a livable urban environment. Their mission is to promote a larger, healthier urban forest as part of the urban ecosystem, through community planting, maintenance, education and advocacy. FUF is a main sponsor of the Urban Forest Map and we are proud to display the 40,000 trees they have planted on the Map.

National Arbor Day Foundation
No tree website would be complete without mention of the Arbor Day Foundation. Their mission is to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees, work they have done for nearly four decades.

Human Dimensions of Urban Forestry and Urban Greening at the University of Washington
On the Urban Forest Map, we have concentrated (so far) on the presenting the more tangible benefits that trees provide. At the University of Washington under the guidance of Dr. Kathleen Wolf, they are looking at the more "human dimensions" of urban forestry. Their website is a treasure trove of information about the role of trees in civic society.

Our favorite tools

SelecTree
SelecTree is an interactive tree selection website developed by the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute at Cal Poly. The goal is to help select the right tree species for a specific site. Users can select for native trees, trees fit for growing under powerlines, trees that attract bees and other wildlife, flowers or leaves of a specific color, disease resistance and many other traits. This is truly one of our favorite sites for information on trees--don't miss this one!

iTree Suite
iTree is a state-of-the-art, peer-reviewed software suite from the U.S. Forest Service that allows communities of all sizes to strengthen their urban forest management and advocacy efforts by quantifying the environmental services that trees provide and assessing the structure of the urban forest. The environmental benefit data presented in the Urban Forest Map comes directly from iTree Streets.

CTCC
If you're interested in estimating and predicting the amount of carbon stored in a tree as well as the reduced amounts of carbon in the atmosphere due to the energy conserving contribution of trees, the CTCC is the tool for you. The CTCC (Center for Urban Forest Research Tree Carbon Calculator) was developed by the U.S. Forest Service's Center for Urban Forest Research for use with the Urban Forest Project Protocol, which allows entities to receive carbon offsets for planting trees. For more information on the Protocol, visit Climate Action Reserve.

National Tree Benefits Calculator
The NTBC is an online tool that uses information from iTree to calculate the benefits of individual trees.

CITYgreen
CITYgreen is GIS software to analyze the ecological and economic benefits of tree canopy and other green space.

Tree Identification Guide
This page has a lot of great resources for identifying tree species!

CITYgreen
CITYgreen is GIS software to analyze the ecological and economic benefits of tree canopy and other green space.

FAQs

What if I don't know what species my tree is?
Your first stop should be the Urban Tree Key. Run through the Key and check out the Resources page there for more help. If that doesn't help, but you can determine the genus of the tree (i.e., you know it's a maple, but you're not sure which one), you can enter just that. If you simply have no idea, go ahead and add the tree location to the map anyway. If you can upload pictures of the leaves, flowers, and fruits, that will help someone come behind you and fill in the gaps. Visit the Urban Tree Key »

What if my species isn't one of the options?
The Urban Forest Map currently includes several hundred species, but it is certainly not exhaustive. Drop us a line if yours isn't on the list and we'll add it as quickly as possible. (This takes a bit of time because new species have to be incorporated into the ecosystem services matrix.)

How do I measure the trunk diameter of my tree?
This can be kind of tricky and there are all sorts of possible permutations (trunks covered in ivy, trunks with bumps), so we created a video to walk you through it.

What are ecosystem services?
We've tackled this one on our blog. Check out this post to learn all about it and to find more sources for information.

Where does the Eco Impact data come from?
All of the numbers and dollar values for the ecosystem services trees provide comes from the Center for Urban Forest Research's iTree Streets software tool. For more information, visit CUFR and the iTree Tools.

Why does the map only cover San Francisco?
A project like this needs a pilot city, and in San Francisco, we were lucky enough to find the support of city and state agencies, a great tree advocacy nonprofit group (Friends of the Urban Forest), and a tree-loving and tech-loving public. But we're not stopping here. This open-source project is available for use by any community. Just drop us a line for more information.

What does it mean to be open-source?
Well, the term open-source means a lot of things to a lot of people, but here we mean it as widely as possible: the data, the software source code, and the website html/css code are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) copyright terms. They are all freely available to anyone. All that is required is that you agree to follow the terms of the GPL license. For more information, Visit the GNU. For the source code, contact us.

Why do you ask questions about things like sidewalk damage and utility lines?
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection offers grants to communities for conducting tree inventories and they require certain information to be included. We think (and they agree) that the Urban Forest Map is a good tool both for doing the inventories and for maintaining the data, so we have included any fields they require.

Sure, I like trees, but what good is all this? Why should I participate?
You'll be taking a critical step to improve our urban environment and make our city a more green and liveable place. The information added to the Map will be used by urban forest managers, landscape architects, and planners to plan for future growth and planting opportunities, improve wildlife habitat, maximize ecosystem services, and grow a strong and healthy urban forest. While you're helping achieve those goals, you'll also be helping make your own environment better.

I would really like to bring the Urban Forest Map to my city. What can I do to get started?
Drop us a line and we'll help you figure out the best way to move forward.

How good is this information going to be if it's entered by the general public?
To be honest, we're not sure yet, that's why we're glad our funding allows for testing the quality of the data. After a few months have gone by and a good number of trees have been entered, we'll field test a random sample and report back on the results. We feel like we're on pretty solid ground, however, considering recent studies about the reliability of Wikipedia.

I have a bunch of trees to add at once. Is there an easier way than doing one at a time?
ure. You can download this .csv form and open it in Excel or any spreadsheet program. (Want to keep the open source thing going? Try Open Office.)

I'm a software developer and I have a cool idea for an iPhone app or a plug-in. Can I participate?
We would love to have your contribution. If you just want to make use of the data, download it from the map results. If you would like the source code, drop us a line.

Your turn

Our database of trees comes from public records and citizen foresters like you. Add a tree today and help us grow!

How you can help

1

Find a tree: Search for the trees near you. Find trees that bear edible fruits and nuts or those with beautiful flowers. Search for the biggest trees in your neighborhood -- then go visit them! Go »

2

Add a tree: The Urban Forest Map grows as citizen foresters like you add trees. Show a tree's location by putting a dot on the map, then provide as much information as you can. Go »

3

Edit a tree: Check out the facts about the trees around you and update when you can. Don't forget to add alerts! With your help, we'll track changes in the urban forest and watch it grow. Go »