On June 9 NeighbourWoods volunteers and summer staff began hitting the streets of Elora and Fergus to conduct their tree inventory.
To date, almost 8,000 trees have been inventoried.
Thirty-one variables about each tree are recorded – things like height and species, along with indicators of the tree’s health, such as defoliation, girdling roots, conks and cracks. At the end of the summer, the data is sent to the University of Toronto, where it is analyzed and added to the database.
Inventory coordinator Alex Watts explains the value of the inventory, “just as a municipality knows the condition of its trucks, roads and bridges, it also needs to know the state of its urban forest.”
Watch for volunteers and students wearing yellow t-shirts and feel free to ask questions.
