Researcher(s):
Susan Heinselman Lex Shapiro John Loudon
ENVS course(s): 220 Initiated: November 2014 Completed: December 2014 Go to project site
|
Background
According to the USDA Forest Service, urban trees are valued for many different reasons. Some being; historical and social values, climate control, and psychological and aesthetic values. Additionally, the Department of Natural Resources claims that “in general, the health and quality of urban forests and street trees indicates the health of neighborhoods and other urban areas.” For the purposes of our lab group project, we decided to investigate the relationships between citizens living in cities and the quantity of urban trees.
Questions
Framing: Can more urban trees foster safer neighborhoods?
Focused: Is there a spatial relationship between demographics in Portland Oregon, and the location of Heritage trees?
Methodology and Results
We used QGIS to do both our extensive and intensive research. First, we found raw data on, census.gov, arborday.org, and portlandoregon.gov. We then would geocode the data in order to map them using GIS. Our extensive map shows United States cities which are certified Tree Cities, they are mapped on top of a base layer which shows state crime rates. The map that we created, further explains the idea that trees in an urban setting foster a better, and safer place to live.
In order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the role of Heritage trees in Portland OR, we interviewed Angie DiSalvo a botanic specialist who works for the city, and Lou Phemister, a member of the Heritage Tree Commission. DiSalvo and Phemister answered the questions that we had, and through a narrative analysis we interpreted their responses. They both emphasized the impact of income on the presence of Heritage Trees. As a way of intepreting their answers, we created a QIS map, showing the spacial relationship between Heritage trees, and median income levels according to census tracts.
From all of the data we collected in researching and analyzing tree cities and heritage trees, a few interesting correlations stood out. First, on the map that we created with the location of certified Tree Cities with state property crime rates, we found that states with more tree cities had lower property crime rates. We also found a trend that the states with lower property crime rates were mostly northern states, which have more concentrated areas of tree cities. Additionally we found that areas with higher median income have a greater density of heritage trees.