Tool Library

A curated index of digital tools and apps for urban forestry

Urban Forestry Toolkit

The Urban Wood Workbook

Partners in Baltimore — including the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, Baltimore non-profit Humanin Room and Board and Baltimore non-profits Details and Bricks + Board, Quantified Ventures and others — created an urban wood-based economy in the city. The results were dramatic: reduced wood waste for the city, a sustainable stream of wood products, living-wage jobs for hard-to-employ offenders and drug users and a dramatic drop in recidivism. This workbook shares lessons learned in Baltimore in an effort to provide a framework to develop a sustainable supply and demand for urban wood nationwide.

Urban Tree Monitoring

Field-based urban tree monitoring enables the assessment of change over time, including tree growth, mortality, and health changes, which in turn are used to evaluate program performance and shifts in urban tree populations. Crucially, there are logistical and data collection strategies with monitoring that go beyond what’s needed for a single inventory at one point in time. A field guide, resource guide, and training videos developed by the USDA Forest Service provide detailed technical protocols as well as best practices for monitoring.