| Abstract: |
Urban forest management is a growing concern for many communities across the United States. With the rediscovery for the need of trees throughout an urban landscape and the always increasing environmental concerns, urban forest management has become a priority for many municipalities. Once known as the "City of Trees", Buffalo, New York was hit by a historic lake-effect snowstorm on October 13, 2006. The storm caused devastating damage to the urban tree population and rendered the existing urban forest management system inefficient for the task ahead. As the acting urban forest manager for the City of Buffalo, WENDEL mobilized in house and city staff resources to re-inventory 68,000 city street trees including conducting damage assessments and trimming or removal recommendations. Utilizing a combination of the latest GIS technologies of ArcGIS Server and ArcIMS, WENDEL developed a map based asset management tool designed to manage inventory, scheduling, bidding, contract management and maintenance data for public trees. In operation over the past 18 months, the City of Buffalo has enjoyed a paperless management system which has improved the efficiency of record-keeping, maintenance, citizen complaint resolution, contracts, and tracked all tree related contractual expenses. This web based management system also allows the City to effectively plan for the future of its urban forest. |