Through i-Tree, tools like
the Energy-Saving Trees
program have encouraged
tree planting and mainte-
nance while tallying the
related benefits. More
than 76,000 homeowners
have taken part in the
Energy Saving Trees
program and planted
135,000-plus trees. By
planting the right trees
in the right places to
effectively shade their
homes, as determined
using i-Tree, those
homeowners will have
saved $87 million in
combined energy and
community benefits in a
20-year period. The Energy
Saving Trees Program is
done in conjunction with
the Arbor Day Foundation
and partnering utility
companies across the U.S.
ENERGY
SAVING TREES
November/December 2016 | The Davey Bulletin 21
GRAND SCALE
A key component of i-Tree is its ability to scale. Users can look at individual trees
and get values on one tree in a front yard, or analyses can be done on countless
trees at the park, neighborhood, community or regional level.
"Whether on a private landscape in someone's backyard or an elementary school
yard campus, people can use i-Tree to talk about their trees, how they benefit
the community and make real decisions about how they're managing their
canopy," Maco said.
GROWING AUDIENCE
As i-Tree has evolved, so too has its audience. The tools are no longer intended
just for professional arborists. Now, school children, landscape architects, natural
resource managers, city planners, homeowners and green industry professionals
all use i-Tree tools to their advantage.
For Dave Nowak, the i-Tree team leader for the U.S. Forest Service, that audience
expansion is one of the reasons i-Tree has become so successful.
"Our purpose is to get science into people's hands so that they can make
informed decisions," Nowak said. "Getting people engaged in discussing natural
resources is one of the goals, while our primary objective is getting people to
use the i-Tree tools to make informed decisions about their landscape."
EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE
Aside from continued audience expansion, Maco said incorporating and
developing new science is important for the future of i-Tree.
"What we know with i-Tree in terms of quantifying the benefits trees provide
through carbon sequestration, energy savings, air quality improvement and
avoiding storm water runoff, represents at best 10 percent of the benefits trees
actually provide," he said. "Social value, the impacts on human health from being
around nature, seeing trees and how that reduces heart rates, stress levels and
heart disease – we're just now discovering elements of the science around what
trees do in those areas. We want to continue to develop that science and make
it accessible through i-Tree to as broad an audience as possible."
Members of the i-Tree programming team who work in
Davey's Syracuse, New York, office from left are: Robbie
Coville, Allison Bodine, Satoshi Hirabayashi and Alexis Ellis.
