uploading points into Canopy- benefit estimations

[drew-uf]

Is it possible to upload points that have already been classified (Tree/No Tree) in GIS into the canopy software in order to utilize the benefit calculations? I know I can upload shapefiles but didn't see how to upload already assessed points? Was trying to get some benefit estimations to add to our report.

[Jason.Henning]

Hi Drew,
There is no way to upload point data into i-Tree Canopy. However, you can use the benefit multipliers in i-Tree canopy and apply them to any estimated areas of tree cover outside of Canopy.
You can get to these multipliers by creating a new project or selecting "Project">"Configuration">"Regional Settings" from the top of the Canopy webpage when in an existing project. Once you are on the "Regional Settings" page and have selected the appropriate county for your project you will have access to the benefit multipliers for "air pollution", "hydrology", and "carbon". Under each of those tabs there will be "removal rates" per unit area of tree canopy. There will also be multipliers to subsequently convert the amount removed (air pollutants, avoided runoff, or carbon) into monetary values. You will need to make sure that you have canopy area in the correct units before applying the multipliers. This approach will give you the exact same results as if you were able to import your data points into i-Tree Canopy.
Hope that gets you what you need.
Thanks,
Jason

[drew-uf]

Jason,

Thank you for your help! This is what I was looking for. I was curious if you could provide more information on how these removal rates and monetary values were generated for each county? I notice that both the removal rates and associated monetary values fluctuate (sometimes a lot) depending on what county or combination of counties you select. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Drew

[Jason.Henning]

Hi Drew,
You can find the relevant documentation for those removal rates in our archives, https://www.itreetools.org/support/reso ... -and-files.
These are probably the two you will be most interested in:

• Canopy air pollutant removal and monetary value model descriptions - This document describes the methods and limitations used in determining default value multipliers for air pollutant removal rates and monetary values for a unit tree cover. The derived multipliers are incorporated in the i-Tree Canopy model to estimate air pollutant removal and values for locations in the conterminous United States.

• Carbon Storage and Sequestration by Trees in Urban and Community Areas of the United States - This document is used to determine default values for carbon dioxide storage rates (g/m²) and carbon dioxide sequestration rates (g/m²/yr.) used by the i-Tree Canopy application.

There may be other useful documents in the archives as well. Scroll down to the "i-Tree Canopy Resources" on the page for additional resources.
Thanks,
Jason

[drew-uf]

Jason,

All the information you have provided has been a great help. One last question (hopefully). I am confused on how to calculate the monetary value of the avoided runoff in the hydro section. The removal rate multiplier is in units of gal/yd^2/yr, so I would end up with how many gallons of water after I multiplied by the yd^2 of canopy. However to get the monetary value the units provided by the software are in $/yd^3/yr. I would think that it would just be $/yd^2/yr and I would multiply the amount removed annually by the price per square yard to get the total value in dollars. Do I need to account for rainfall or something else to get the water into a volume unit?

Thanks,

Drew

[Jason.Henning]

Hi Drew,
I can see how that would be a little confusing. It would probably help if the units were the same for both the monetary and hydrology benefit multipliers.
For the benefit amounts the units area "gallons of avoided runoff/yd² of canopy/yr". The idea is that you would then take those estimated benefits and multiply them by the monetary benefits which have units of "$/yd³ of avoided runoff/year". Of course if you were going to convert the gallons of avoided runoff to monetary value you would first have to convert the "gallons" to "yd³".
That monetary benefit multiplier is actually a constant and doesn't change based on where you are in the US like the benefits multiplier. It is based on a national average of the cost to treat a given volume of sewage. In this case the $1.80/yd³/yr is equivalent to $0.0089/gal/yr given that there are approximately 202 gallons in a yd³.
Hope that helps clarify the units on those multipliers and how they are applied.
Thanks,
Jason