Erin Lannon, IEP ’19

Urban Tree Canopy Project, Santa Cruz

The Digital Classification and Mapping of Urban Tree Cover project proved to be an extremely valuable experience. This project provided an opportunity to work directly with the City of Santa Cruz’s Sustainability & Climate Action Manager as well as GIS experts from the Center of Integrated Spatial Research (CISR) at University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). CISR and the City of Santa Cruz put together a grant application to receive funding from the UCSC Carbon Fund to make this project a reality.

UCSC’s Center for Integrated Spatial Research (CISR) is the central facility for spatially-focused research and training on campus. CISR focuses on integrating state-of-the-art spatial technology and methods, including geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, spatial modeling and statistics, and custom tool and web mapping service/application development. Current projects involve collaboration with some of world’s largest environmental research organizations (e.g. The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, USGS, and NOAA) solving pressing social and environmental issues from local to global scales.

The Climate Action Plan initiative intends to chart a course for climate mitigation targets for the City of Santa Cruz. The purpose of the Urban Tree Canopy GIS project is to measure tree canopy cover to determine if the City can meet its goal of increasing tree canopy cover 10% by 2020. Accurate maps of tree coverage are important tools for natural resource management, urban planning and urban sustainability goals. The Center for Integrated Spatial Research (CISR) at UC Santa Cruz created an algorithm to quantify and map the City of Santa Cruz’s urban tree canopy cover. To determine the tree canopy coverage we used City tree planting records and satellite imagery as our reference data set. Spectral and texture layers were extracted from National Agriculture Imagery (NAIP) data sets. We used high resolution remote sensing data, aerial satellite imagery and geographic information systems to classify landcover. During this directed study we estimated urban tree canopy coverage with mapping software and satellite imagery.

CISR provided a space to explore, test and learn trial and error approach to mapping projects. Their state of the art facility provided a learning space that pushed me both personally and professionally. The one-on-one mentoring, I received from staff on this project allowed me to become more proficient in GIS and project management skills.
Furthermore, I had the ability to see firsthand how to approach a mapping project for a City contract. Working at UCSC taught me how to utilize imagery acquisition, create a hypothesis, tweak and correct our methodology through trial and error, complete data validation, and finally contribute to the supplemental analysis of our project.

This type of project proves that urban forestry is a key to understand the urban infrastructure. Understanding the distribution of tree canopy coverage in Santa Cruz is important in understanding the ecosystem services including: carbon sequestration, reducing urban heat-island effect, clean air, runoff filtration, water cycle regulation, wildlife diversity, increased human health and community stewardship. Furthermore, urban tree cover can improve neighborhood aesthetics and property values.

“Quantifying Urban Tree Canopy for the City of Santa Cruz Infographic”

Click here to see Erin’s project, “Digital Classification and Mapping of Urban Tree Cover: City of Santa Cruz”

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