Tree inventory

This year’s Bloomfield tree inventory program underway

The Bloomfield Tree Inventory (BTI) is underway once again and thankfully the weather hasn’t been nearly as oppressive as it was this time last year. Neighbourwoods is a volunteer-driven initiative, where last year over 1,300 hours were contributed. The weather plays a huge role in how many trees the volunteers can get to in a day. It’s a pretty lengthy process for each tree. Volunteers, who went through a training process a few weeks ago, have to go through a multipoint checklist and provide data on everything from the tree’s exact location on the property, to its height and diameter.

Volunteer Peta Hall measures the circumference of a birch tree on Main Street in Bloomfield.

Last year, the team of 37 trained volunteers measured close to 25 per cent of Bloomfield’s trees (1,100 out of an estimated 4,000). Ninety-one per cent of the trees were on private land and only nine per cent lay on public land. The inventory covered the Eastern part of the Bloomfield area, and came up with plenty of great information on how the trees are doing. Volunteers record 30 pieces of information about every tree and use plenty of tools and measurements to accurately get things like the height of a tree without monkeying up to the top.

The tallest trees in the area were the white pines in the Bloomfield Cemetery, standing 33 metres high. The giant silver maple behind the Bloomfield Public House had the widest diameter at 184 centimetres. Altogether, the inventory found 67 different species, belonging to 37 genera. Manitoba maples, black walnut, and Norway maples were the most plentiful. Neighbourwoods volunteers also asses the health of trees using indicators such as poor leaf quality, dead branches, a strong lean, scars, splits and rot. Data from last year found that only 50 per cent of the trees are in good or excellent health. Over 40 per cent of the trees in the inventory were found to be in poor or very poor health. The percentage was highest in the old Manitoba maples, which are prone to poor structure and breakages. Tree longevity is partly determined by where the tree is located, and the study saw that most trees—64 per cent—were well-situated with plenty of room to grow with no infringements from buildings, sidewalks and hydro lines. Another interesting fact that seems to be hot-button topic of late is the proportion of native to non-native trees in the area and Last year’s study showed that it’s about 50/50 currently.

Neighbourwoods is a protocol developed in the University of Toronto’s Department of Forestry. The BTI is a project of Tree The County. The inaugural tree inventory was funded partly by a County Community Foundation Grant, but this year the project will be supported entirely by Tree The County. The Neighbourwoods Project is managed locally by Gerry Jenkison and Patrick Howe.

“Extending the life of your trees is one of the most valuable actions you can undertake to mitigate climate change. Planting new trees is also important. We believe that the Bloomfield Tree Inventory project is an important step in drawing attention to the value of trees to the environment. And we can’t forget the beauty they add in our lives,” said Neighbourwoods Project Manager Gerry Jenkison.