2010 Canadian Urban Forest Conference: The value of trees is now measurable!
The Value of Trees is Now Measurable
The 9th Canadian Urban Forest Conference was held in Truro, Nova Scotia in October 2010. At the conference, Peter Bigelow of Halifax Regional Municipality reported that the actual value of trees in urban areas is now measurable with the help of advanced technology. The title of his presentation was Urban Forest as Bio-Functional Infrastructure.
According to an article published in the Truro Daily News, a model urban canopy was created using a computerized program, developed by the United States Forestry Service, which can translate the benefits of trees considering both mechanical and social attributes and valuating those functions.
The model calculated the value of trees in the Halifax region to be about $10.2 billion. “By knowing that we start to look at trees differently,” said Peter Bigelow. “We start to look at them as green infrastructure and it becomes an integral part of how we build and design our cities.”
Peter is the Manager of Real Property Planning for the Halifax Regional Municipality where he is responsible for the planning and management of more than 16,000 municipally owned properties and the public services they support. Currently Peter is involved in producing an urban forest master plan for the Halifax Regional Municipality. The urban forest being an ever increasingly more important part of the municipality's functional assets.
To Learn More:
To read the complete article in the Truro Daily News, click on New program puts monetary value on urban trees
Posted October 2010