Residents Urged to Sign Up for May Public Tree Inventory

By Kim Siebert MacPhail

Bedford’s Arbor Resource Committee will coordinate an inventory of street and public land trees on May 10 and May 17, 2014. The purpose of the inventory is to create a town database that includes information about tree species, condition and age, prevent the spread of diseases and pests, decrease risks from undetected hazardous trees, preserve rare and older trees, contain invasive species and identify spaces for future plantings.

How the inventory will work

A sample LeafSnap page Image (c) news.Columbia.edu
A sample LeafSnap page Image (c) news.Columbia.edu

On May 10 and 17, registered volunteers will be assigned to different areas of town; each area is designed to take about an hour to assess and volunteers can opt to inventory multiple areas, as time permits. Participants are asked to equip themselves with a pencil, a flexible tape measure and a tree guide book. A mobile app called “Leafsnap” can be downloaded to a wireless device to make tree identification in the field easy. Tree identification books are also available through the Bedford Free Public Library and the Minuteman Library network.

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Following the physical tree count, volunteers will once again be needed to enter field-collected information into a database. This work can be done during spare time and at the volunteer’s own pace.

Individuals, organizations, families and groups are encouraged to contact the Arbor Resource Committee with questions at [email protected] and to consider stepping forward for this important community effort.

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