Tree Benefit Estimates

Section for FAQs for i-Tree Canopy

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Baharak
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2020 8:39 am

Tree Benefit Estimates

Post by Baharak » Wed Jan 20, 2021 1:15 pm

hi

Hi I am conducting my study using i-tree canopy in Canada. I wonder if the tree benefit estimates are reliable for countries other than the USA.

Thanks.
Jason.Henning
i-Tree Team
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:45 am

Re: Tree Benefit Estimates

Post by Jason.Henning » Fri Jan 22, 2021 3:09 pm

Hi,
The benefits estimate will be less reliable in Canada. The benefits are estimated by county here in the US. The benefit estimates they rely on measurements of tree leaf area in each county based on the US national forest inventory (FIA), local pollution data, local weather data, and human population characteristics (to estimate the value improved air quality). For more details on the methods see the "Canopy" section on this methods page, https://www.itreetools.org/support/reso ... -and-files. You could try to select a US county that is most similar to your location in those dimensions but that can be challenging. If you are only interested in the carbon benefits then you can ignore pollution and weather constraints and just find try to try a county with the most similar tree species composition. That may be as simple as selecting the nearest US county.
This is a definite challenge for all international users and is something to keep in mind when trying to estimate benefits from i-Tree Canopy outside the US. That being said, the estimates of the amount a canopy cover will be just as accurate as they are in the US. Additionally, some international collaborators have been able to provide us with the necessary data and funding to have their countries integrated into i-Tree Canopy. Local values for Sweden and the UK will become available in the coming months.
Thanks,
Jason
A member of the i-Tree Team
Prestpuk1
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:55 am

Re: Tree Benefit Estimates

Post by Prestpuk1 » Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:05 pm

Hi
The local values for regions in the the UK are now available in iTree canopy. Please could you inform me of the data source of the benefit values for air pollution removal, carbon storage and seq, and hydro-logical benefits for the UK regions. I am using England and North west England as my regional configuration in Canopy and need to update my methodology.

Thanks in advance :D

Paul
Jason.Henning
i-Tree Team
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:45 am

Re: Tree Benefit Estimates

Post by Jason.Henning » Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:56 pm

Hi Paul,
Our development team is working on creating full methods documentation for the UK and Sweden adaptation. In the meantime I went ahead and posted a preliminary draft of a document summarizing the data sources that facilitated those expansions. You can find that on our website under the "Methods" section or directly here, https://www.itreetools.org/documents/65 ... Canopy.pdf.
Hope that helps in the short term and you can keep an eye on the i-Tree Canopy section of our methods page, https://www.itreetools.org/support/reso ... -and-files for future documentation.
Thanks,
Jason
A member of the i-Tree Team
Prestpuk1
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:55 am

Re: Tree Benefit Estimates

Post by Prestpuk1 » Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:12 pm

Hi Jason

Thank you, very helpful. I will keep a look out for the finalized method.

Many thanks

Paul
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