i-Tree Functional Research and Improvement - Science

Below are proposed areas of research that the i-Tree Team will ultimately integrate into the i-Tree Tools.

For a list of i-Tree Tools improvements, please review this page.

Proposed Improvements - Scientific Research

Climate Change and Environmental Justice

  • Auto-calculate AF’s Tree Equity score for any location used in i-Tree.
  • Create additional i-Tree Scorecard metrics for tool outputs.
  • Elevate all tool outputs to include a focus on climate change forecasting and associated species risks.
  • Better integrate climate change risk data to clearly show tree and forest risk along with better planting/replacement options to reduce heat island effects. Provide forest forecasting and management recommendations to address administrative priorities such as Climate Change and the National Reforestation Strategy.
  • Continued development of building energy calculation procedures (i-Tree Energy, to be incorporated within i-Tree Eco).

Reforestation/Revegetation

  • Expand tree planting forecasting and planting accountability functions and associated outreach.
  • Focus on Assessment of Reforestation Opportunity Through Federal Programs and Partnerships
  • Incorporate cross agency priorities such as the Natural Capital Accounting Strategy.
  • Add support for national carbon accounting in urban areas and USDA GHG Entity-Scale guidelines.
  • Set up i-Tree as the go-to tool for assessing Carbon Accounting needs.
  • Research shrub and turf benefits to include in i-Tree outputs.

Forest Management

  • Derive and embed management prescription function(s) across all tools to answer the “Now what?” question that often occurs after users learn about tree benefits. To be based on local composition and risks.
  • Include additional human & forest population risks: insects/diseases, fire, floods, air quality, & temperature. Allow targeting of locations & species to reduce risks and to create sustainable future forest canopy.
  • New outputs to convey how forests and human health are linked across local to national scales.
  • Focus on Wildland-Urban Interface: fire plus watersheds for drinking water & stormwater mitigation.

FIA

  • Provide ecosystem services reported on Urban Forest Inventory & Analysis plots.
  • Provide ecosystem services for Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) nationwide.

i-Tree Eco

i-Tree’s flagship: science repository driving all other tools.

  • Externality valuation (enhances valuation of ecosystem services)
  • Statistical calculations of forest change
  • Timber estimates (consistent to FIA methods)
  • Management guidelines on suggested species and locations to maximize ecosystem services and human health plus reduce risk.
  • Leaf biomass and nutrients distributed through leaf drop (nutrient cycling)
  • Pollen allergenicity index based on forest composition (forest allergy index)
  • Future weather inputs to aid in understanding impacts of climate change on ecosystem services.
  • Additional ecosystem services outputs added to Forecast.
  • Forecast estimates of tree planting rates needed to sustain tree cover.
  • New wildlife habitat assessments with an initial focus on several bird species
  • Natural regeneration forecasts

i-Tree Landscape

i-Tree’s most powerful online tool with terabytes of ready-to-go forest and human population data.

  • Tree effects on human comfort (create maps of tree impacts on human comfort)
  • Trees effects on air temperature
  • Change in anthropogenic emissions (due to changes in air temperature)
  • Temperature links to human health (estimates health impacts associated with lower air temperatures due to trees)
  • Trees effects on stream flow and water quality
  • Index of forest fragmentation (improve understanding of forest fragmentation)
  • Potential hurricane risk
  • Protected area analysis.
  • Pollution externalities values (enhances valuation of ecosystem services)
  • Estimates of avoided emissions due to building energy use
  • Work with National Forests and CFLR projects to aid management goals.

i-Tree Species

  • Species specific relative transpiration estimates (species water use and temperature differences)
  • Integrate i-Tree Species information into primary i-Tree (Eco) locspp database to aid in selecting best species to improve ecosystem services and human health.
  • Update species and ecosystem service estimates
  • Develop carbon offset metrics per species – high, medium, low. Fast/slow.
  • Add individual species characteristics and planting site requirements; right-tree-right-place tool in terms of location, risks, and benefits.

Hydro+

In conjunction with SUNY ESF research and development.

  • Preload SSURGO soil parameters (aids in water cycle calculations)
  • Land cover pollutant coefficients (improves estimates of water quality impacts of forests)
  • Spatially distributed model with nutrient hotspot identification (aids in targeting management activities to reduce nutrient loads into streams)
  • Preload 30-year past and future weather (aids in forward and backward time assessments)
  • Flooding metrics – visualize how tree and land cover changes affect flood event frequency, duration, and magnitude/extent.
  • ‘Design Rain’ tool to simulate specific storm events (aids in landscape designs to address specific “design” storm events)
  • Green infrastructure calculations (aids in understanding the impact of green infrastructure design on stream flow and water quality)
  • Determine the best locations to mitigate nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into local water bodies (i-Tree Buffer).