sylvatica . The area around the Tower is section 54 . Section 54 has an abundance of Quercus rubra , as well as Pinus strobus and Cornus florida . Section 55 encompasses the Dell . The highest amount of Quercus rubra , Pinus strobus , Amelanchier sp ., and Picea abies out of the seven sections can be found in section 55 .
The data necessary for totaling stored and sequestered carbon is the species of tree and the diameter at breast height ( 4.5 ft . from the base ) ( Catanzaro & D ’ amato 2019 ). Exceptions to the standard are required with trees that branch around the 4.5 feet mark . In those cases , it is typical to take the average measurement of the branches . Most measurement data had previously been recorded in BG-BASE , our plant records database . There were only a handful of trees where missing data was supplemented .
Once the appropriate measurements were gathered for the taxa in question , the i-Tree Eco application was utilized for organizing and analyzing the data . i-Tree Eco is an application software developed collectively by the USDA Forest Service , Davey Tree Expert Company , The Arbor Day Foundation , Society of Municipal Arborists , International Society of Arboriculture , Casey Trees , and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry , that is used for urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessments . The application has a step by step process on how to properly construct projects that report on ecosystem services provided from the area of study . Step 1 involved planning the project parameters : boundaries of the study , inventory type , and size of sample area . The boundaries of the study are the 175 acres of Mount Auburn Cemetery and the inventory type is a plot based sample . The seven horticulture sections selected are the sample plots . The sample plots are stratified , with the subdivisions within each horticulture section serving as the divider . The average size of each plot was 4.65 acres . The average size of the subdivisions were . 518 acres . Totaled together the plots amassed to 32.57 acres which is 18.6 % of the cemetery . There were a total of 1,047 trees in the sample , which is 22.2 % of the total number of trees in the cemetery . Step 2 involved collecting field data . Since most of the tree measurements from the selected plots are recorded in BG- BASE , querying the system and pulling information from the desired fields constituted most of the field collections legwork . Step 3 entailed entering the collected data into the i-Tree application for analysis . The final step in this project required calculations to convert the sample plot totals into the estimated cemetery totals .
DISCUSSION
After working with i-Tree , it seems that the application is more suited for natural land data collection rather than a botanic setting . An instance that made this apparent to me was the availability of names for input in the data sheets . To enter information for a certain species , you must select from pre-existing names that they have prerecorded information for stored in their system . The list of pre-existing names is largely comprised of straight species with a handful of cultivars present . This proved to be a problem seeing as a third of the specimens in the sample are cultivars . To have the cultivars we are measuring that are missing from their system added to the list , they need to be submitted to the creators for review . The measured data must be assigned to a species listed in the system , otherwise the model will not run . To work around this issue , the straight species was selected for any cultivar not found in the system . This may lead to a less accurate read due to the fact that there is wood density variability even between trees of the same genus ( Catanzaro & D ’ amato 2019 ). Even though we are speaking of the differences in straight species versus cultivars , the same principles may apply . For the purposes of this project , it did not seem necessary to contact the creators for this matter . It may not have been useful information for them to have in their system seeing as most of their clientele are forest based and therefore concerned with straight species . Perhaps if they plan on widening their scope to botanic institutions , this information may be more useful to them .
Mount Auburn Cemetery | Climate Action & Sustainability Plan 95