Tool Library

A curated index of digital tools and apps for urban forestry

Urban Forestry Toolkit

i-Tree Tools

i-Tree is a state-of-the-art, peer-reviewed software suite from the USDA Forest Service that provides urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools.

Community Assessment and Goal Setting Tool

Measure your urban forestry program against best practices and set goals for improvement.

STEW-MAP

The Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) is a Forest Service tool that answers the question: who takes care of our environment? STEW-MAP surveys civic groups who work to conserve, manage, monitor, transform, educate on and/or advocate for the environment across a defined city, region, or landscape.

Trees and Stormwater

A closer look at how urban forests can help manage stormwater flows and pollution levels

Treepedia

Developed by researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab, Treepedia allows city dwellers to view the location and size of trees within their communities and to submit input to help tag, track, and advocate for more such trees in their cities.

Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities

Healthy Trees Healthy Cities (HTHC) is an urban tree health monitoring initiative developed by The Nature Conservancy and USDA Forest Service and supported by a suite of tools, including a mobile app, webpage, and a series of training videos. HTHC enables tracking stewardship and care, conducting non-stressor specific evaluations of tree health, and detecting and tracking insects and diseases, and the data can be aggregated and compared nationwide.

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 Forestry Funding Action Guide

We can’t guarantee that by reading this guide you’ll see grants pouring in. Things like that simply don’t happen. Fundraising is a complicated task – one that blends careful research, solid reputation and deep relationships. This guide will get you started, and help you across the finish line.

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.