❮ Projects page Urban Tree Alliance

Spatial Analysis Project:

The Urban Tree Alliance (UTA) is a Madison, Wisconsin based not-for-profit that performs planting projects, research, and educational outreach focused on preserving and growing the local urban tree canopy.

The work proposed through the Summer of Maps program is intended to elaborate a GIS we are developing through the Yahara Canopy Project (YCP), a strategic planning and planting program funded through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry Division. The YCP includes a GIS spatial analysis of the urban forest canopy within the Yahara River watershed, which roughly surrounds the Madison, WI metropolitan area. Our current spatial analysis is modeling the eco-service effects of the urban canopy on the watershed and mapping prioritized planting sites. The proposed work through the Summer of Maps program will determine, analyze, and classify planting conditions within high priority areas. There is also potential to conduct parcel-based analysis with the final modeling product(s).

Data available:

Primary Data Sets:

• Wisconsin & Dane County: parcels, hydrology, soils, civil boundaries, streets, topography, stormwater infrastructure, 2008 aerial photos
• I-Tree Canopy, I-Tree Hydro, I-Tree Landscape data for: watershed, subwatershed, and urbanized area
• UTA produced data: Madison canopy cover map, street tree inventories, YCP project shapefiles
• The Wisconsin DNR is soon to release Urban Tree Canopy maps and shapefiles that will be integrated into the GIS as available.

Due to the proximity of the University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and local county and municipal governments, Madison enjoys unusually rich GIS data.

Maps and Reports that will be created:

The primary product will be a series of maps depicting detailed land uses and environmental conditions in high priority planting areas. We propose that the subsequent analysis will classify these areas based on appropriate planting programs.

For instance, this project posesgeneral questions such as:

1. What are the prevalent land uses found in prioritized planting areas, and what are canopy coverage statistics therein?
2. What are the planting conditions found in prioritized planting areas and can these conditions be generalized into project types, e.g. urban stream corridors or residential yards?

We are excited to have discussions with Azavea and the project fellow about how we might further utilize models produced through the project.

How the maps and reports will be used:

The maps will help guide the UTA’s future planting programs. To date, we have planted approximately 475 free-of-charge trees in the Madison area. About 75% are on private property in under-canopied neighborhoods; the remainder are on public lands and schools. We intend to direct, and modestly expand, these planting programs to sites where tree and understory plantings have the greatest opportunity to positively affect water and watershed quality. The primary uses of the maps will be to shape outreach strategies and to plan physical planting projects in prioritized areas. The maps will also be used as a component of the larger YCP goal of examining and promoting urban forestry issues within the watershed. We have formally partnered with the Madison-based Clean Lakes Alliance for the YCP. We intend to openly share our work with local not-for-profits concerned specifically with water resources.