Urban Tree Canopy Assessment: A Community’s Path to Understanding and Managing the Urban Forest

An Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) assessment provides a measure of a community’s tree canopy cover at high resolution, and is often used for establishing and implementing municipal tree canopy goals as part of broader urban greening and sustainability initiatives. The USDA Forest Service has produced a new report detailing the initial steps of UTC project planning, assessment, and data analysis, including general guidelines for conducting assessments and analysis to ensure useful, quality results that can be applied in planning, management, and decision-making .The report can be accessed on the Vibrant Cities Lab, an innovative multi-faceted web platform that can help professionals, policymakers, and the public access the best available science, understand the value of investing in our urban and community forests, and take concrete steps to plant better, more effective and efficient urban and community forestry programs.