Cambridge City Council - i-Tree Eco project

Cambridge City Council (CCC) is based in the City of Cambridge, in the east of England, 50 miles north of London. It is a beautiful place to live and work, Cambridge is an historic University City with high quality architecture and attractive open spaces. The city is growing rapidly; the population of is currently 115,200 and this is forecasted to grow by nearly 31% over the next 12 years. The city currently supports a tree canopy coverage of 17.1% which is under threat from climate change, urbanisation, and increases in pest and diseases. It is necessary to understand the structure and value of this asset to support a case for its sustainable management. The project aims to: i. understand the structure of Cambridge's urban forest, including the species composition, diversity, and tree condition. ii. calculate the ecosystem service values provided by Cambridge's urban forest and rank the importance of different tree species in terms of ES provision, using the i-Tree Eco software suite. iii. promote Cambridge's urban forest to all, emphasising the benefits it provides iv. engage and train volunteers in the data collection field work v. establish values that are a precursor to proper asset and risk management vi. determine the land-use type(s) where more trees could be planted; and vii. conduct a risk analysis of the susceptibility of Cambridge's urban forest to pests and diseases