(#43) Tree Mapping (October 19, 2014)

December 11, 2014

Aurora De Lucia looking down at a tape measure on a tree while tree mappingI’d never been tree mapping, and I love trying new stuff!

This activity was done with Tree People. (They have a cool website and they care about the environment.)

This project was done as part of Tree Map LA. If you want to learn all about that project, you can click the link. But the overview is, they want to use available data plus tree mapping to get information on all the trees in Los Angeles (and surrounding areas) to one central place.

The main purpose of getting all that information in one big map/app is summed up in this paragraph I got from their website:

“This information will help us to manage the well-being of our region’s urban forest and make our city more livable: shadier, cleaner, safer and more beautiful, and better able to meet climate change impacts. Users of this information include government agencies, arborists, landscape architects, planners, students, civic organizations, and everyday citizens.”

I went to this with a friend of mine from one of my old jobs. This was a very fitting thing to bring someone to, as we got put in pairs.

Aurora looking back and smiling while measuring a tree(Of course, I’m sure it would’ve also been a fulfilling experience to meet a stranger. Nonetheless, it’s a great morning to spend with a friend, if you’re looking for something to do with one of your buds.)

Basically, there was a morning huddle of volunteers and the people in charge. The volunteers were given all the supplies we’d need – a paper full of pictures of trees and their names (so we could identify them), and a nifty tape measure (that we got to keep!). We also were given the cell phone number of the guy in charge, in case we had any questions. And we got maps with the streets that we were to do highlighted.

After we heard a cool little speech about trees and Tree People’s mission, James (my friend) and I went off down our street.

We took turns with who got to do the cool measuring job, and who got to enter the data into the app (though really, that job was kinda fun too).

It went by pretty quickly. I learned a little more about kinds of trees, and how to map trees. It was a fun, productive day!

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?