Summer tree counting begins for NeighbourWoods volunteers in Centre Wellington

At last, summer is here and for the sixth consecutive year NeighbourWoods volunteers will be conducting the tree inventory on residential streets of Elora and Fergus to identify, measure and assess the health of the trees.

To date, volunteers have collected detailed data on more than 7,000 trees in Elora and Fergus.

Volunteers, will be on street, wearing their bright yellow t-shirts, recording 31 variables about each tree they inspect.

Various aspects examined include height,  crown size, diameter  and species. Other factors that are evaluated indicate tree health such as defoliation, dead or broken branches and presence of cracks and conks.

At the end of the field work, the detailed profiles are sent to the University of Toronto for analysis.

Information collected by the tree inventory volunteers has lead to some fascinating results. Such as, 60 per cent of privately owned trees are deemed in excellent condition versus 40 per cent of  their publicly owned counterparts– which suggests that homeowners are willing to invest in tree care such as proactive pruning.

For more information about the program, please call NeighbourWoods at 519-846-0841 or email at neighbourwoods@eloraenvironmentcentre.ca