Survey Planning

		Tools for Assessing and Managing Community Forests

Author: Joseph LaForest, University of Georgia

Why are you surveying?

Goods from all over the world arrive in the United States. The distribution of those goods is concentrated around cities since urban areas have a higher concentration of people. This means that, aside from the ports where the items are first unloaded, cities have a higher probability of being the first places affected by introduced tree pests from other counties compared to rural areas. The IPED protocol was developed to help provide early detection of new introductions. Each pest and disease leaves a characteristic signature of signs and symptoms. Their detection serves as an early warning that further inspection and survey is required to see if a new pest is just beginning to establish.

What should be recorded in the survey?

There are some basic elements that should be recorded as part of any IPED survey. Information in addition to what is listed below can be helpful and is included as part of i-Tree Streets but time and resources often limit what can be collected.

IPED protocol data

The IPED Protocol includes many items to describe the stress the tree is exposed to as well as the trees response, the condition of the foliage and twigs, and the condition of the branches and bole.

Tree Stress

The tree stress section helps to detail some of the factors that may predispose a tree to insect and disease or may be indicative of the trees response to an attack. This section is broken down into tree stress, environmental stress, and human caused stress

Foliage and Twigs

The foliage of a tree can be a good indicator of tree health. Any disruption of the trees vascular system, damage to the root system, or inadequacies of the trees environment is reflected in the size of the foliage as well as wilting, yellowing, or death of the foliage and small twigs. The foliage is also directly affected by some insects and diseases.

Branches and Bole

The branches and bole are critical components of the tree and must be properly inspected. Many different insects and diseases can cause rapid and permanent damage to this portion of the tree. When this happens, water transport is limited, the tree has a harder time creating food for itself through photosynthesis, and what food is created cannot be transported around to all parts of the tree that need it. The tree begins to decline and will be less tolerant of other stresses.

Tree species

Knowing the species of tree is very important. Many insects or diseases only affect certain species of plants. This can drastically narrow down the list of possible problems.

Tree location

This is perhaps the most important item to record. Without this information, it is impossible to return to a particular tree of group of trees to determine the actual cause of their symptoms. Now recording the location of the tree during the survey is like installing a fire detection system in a town and not providing any way to know what is burning. You may be able to smell smoke and follow it to the fire but by the time you do that, you have lost valuable time. It is absolutely necessary to have some references to location in the survey to know where to send the experts!!

How big should the survey be?

The survey can be done in any size, however, unlike other surveys in i-Tree Streets, the data collected in the IPED module cannot be used to make assumptions on the rest of the city. IPED is designed to be a tool for detecting consistent abnormalities in the health of the urban forest. If the space you survey has no health issues or if you happened to survey the latest outbreak location for a new pest, you cannot assume that the rest of the city will have those same results. Other sections may vary in the types of trees planted, the presence of various pests and diseases, stresses due to land use (i.e. commercial vs residential), soil types, disturbance, and a wide range of other factors. For whatever areas you decide to survey, IPED will help identify suspicious patterns in those trees. The rest will be a mystery as far as what IPED can tell you about it.