USING MULTISPECTRAL IMAGERY AND GIS TO ASSESS THE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF URBAN TREES FOR JONESBORO, ARKANSAS

1
USING MULTISPECTRAL IMAGERY AND GIS TO ASSESS THE
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF URBAN TREES FOR
JONESBORO, ARKANSAS

• By Jennifer Worlow

2
Introduction

• Trees perform functions such as
• Save energy
• Improve water quality
• Reduce soil erosion
• Provide wildlife habitat
• Aesthetic value

3
Tree Inventory

• City of Jonesboro
• Chamber of commerce
• 20,000 forestry assistant grant
• Burditt

4
Objectives

• Assess the benefits of trees
• Measure air pollution removed
• Measure carbon storage and sequestration
• Stormwater mitigation

5
Analysis

• Aerial imagery
• Landsat
• GIS
• ArcView
• Imagine
• GPS
• CITYgreen

6
Benefits of a Green Infrastructure

• Environmental
• Economical
• Social
• Physiological

7
Measurement Methods

• Tree size
• Tree species
• Tree condition
• Tree maintenance costs

8
Literature Review

• Previous CITYgreen reports
• Fayetteville, 2002 Objective was to map
  landcover change over a 15 year period using
  Landsat imagery, high-resolution multi-spectral
  imagery, and aerial imagery.
• American Forests UEA reported 1 decline.

9
Other States

• Texas
• California
• North Carolina
• Tennessee
• Temperature reduction purposes
• Dollars lost due to deforestation

10
Jonesboros Urban Forest

• Southern Hills Mall
• Approximately one hundred and thirty-eight acres
  of trees were destroyed with the proposed
  development.

11
City of Jonesboro City Appraisal

• Trunk Formula Method
• Based on removal cost
• Approximately 250 thousand dollars in tree
  value within city limits.
• Approximately 210 thousand dollars in tree
  value in rural areas

12
Bad Data?

• According to Dwyer in 2002
• 2.9 percent tree cover using 30 meter Landsat
  from 2000 and one kilometer Advanced Very High
  Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data from 1991.

13
Methods and Materials

• Landsat 30 meter resolution imagery
• Single bands 1-5 and 7
• Obtained June 21, 2003
• Flight path 23 row 35

14
Landsat 5
15
Landsat scene for the Jonesboro area (path 23,
row 35) acquired on June 21, 2003
16
Classified thirty-meter Landsat scene depicting
the land cover types used in the analysis of
CITYgreen.
17
One-meter color infrared digital ortho photoquad
of the construction site for the proposed
Jonesboro Southern Hills mall (green outlined
area) obtained February 6, 2001.
18
ArcGIS and CITYgreen together

• The recoded image from ERDAS Imaging was brought
  into ArcGIS for the CITYgreen analyis.
• The CITYgreen analysis presented a report of the
  different groundcover types and pollution removal
  percentages.

19
Results and Discussion

• Air Pollution Removal
• CITYgreen shows the tree canopy to be at 17.6
  within the Jonesboro city limits.
• Pollutants removed are sulfur dioxide, ozone,
  nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and PM10

20
Landcover Percentages
21
CITYgreen air pollution removal

• Canopy at 17.6 Lbs. Removed/year Dollar Value
• Carbon Monoxide 34,084 14,546
• Ozone 409,007 1,256,558
• Nitrogen Dioxide 195,982 602,101
• Particulate Matter 306,755 629,207
• Sulfur Dioxide 85,210 63,947
• Totals 1,031,038 2,566,358

22
Alternate scenarios

• With a feasible 10 increase in tree canopy, the
  dollars saved for stormwater mitigation would
  increase from having to pay 148 million to paying
  30 million.
• At 40 canopy stormwater mitigation falls to 5.5
  million dollars.

23
Other Benefits

• Aesthetic
• Physical
• Psychological
• Spiritual
• Property Value

24
Conclusion

• The production of carbon worldwide is beyond what
  the earths vegetation can compensate for in
  oxygen.
• Studies have shown that a car burns more oxygen
  in one minute than a tree can produce in one day.
  
• On the contrary, one tree produces enough oxygen
  for a family of four to live off of.

25
Benefits of Trees

• Trees provide homes, food, and shelter for
  numerous animals.
• Living trees that have decayed wood, hollowed
  trees, broomed trees, dead trees, and logs, all
  have different purposes in sustaining the health
  within an environment.