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

1. USING MULTISPECTRAL IMAGERY AND GIS TOASSESS 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. Jonesboro’s 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 Hill’s 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 earth’s 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.