Tree counting

Volunteers create Bloomfield tree inventory

In Bloomfield this past summer, a small group of dedicated volunteers have donated a large amount of their time studying the village’s trees. The group was taking part in the Neighbourwoods Bloomfield tree inventory and are now armed with knowledge of being able not only identify a tree, but to identify if that tree is healthy. The program was developed by Dr. W.A Kenny and Dr. D. Puric-Mladenovic of the University of Toronto’s Forestry Department and is designed to help community volunteers gather the information they need to be good stewards of what they call the “urban forest”. Volunteers working under the guise of citizen scientists, collect data on tree location, site characteristics, species, size and condition. The group was surprised to find that the numbers of trees in Bloomfield are way higher than it had anticipated. Patrick Howe is a qualified forester and was the technical resource on the project. He also designed the map of the area, splitting Bloomfield up into various areas for analysis. Howe was surprised and delighted to find out just how many trees are in the village.

“We were expecting about a thousand, but there must be four times that many,” says Howe.

This summer, the 30 or so volunteers donated over 1,300 hours to various aspects of the project. In all, they studied over 1,100 trees. Their data will be entered in the Neighbourwoods database at the University of Toronto for analysis. The information will give great insight to the number of different species in the area and their health. The info will also be able to provide the proportion of Bloomfield currently covered by trees (called the tree canopy) and their role in mitigating the effects of climate change, such as the value of carbon sequestration they provide.

Sarah Crawford with a Black Willow in Bloomfield

Volunteers are looking at a multi-year project, and Volunteer Coordinator Gerry Jenkison is impressed that most want to continue into 2019.

“We are delighted that over 30 County residents are contributing their time. Their enthusiasm is testament to how much people in the County value their trees and tree canopy,” says Jenkison.

Sandra Dowds is a volunteer who lives in Bloomfield and got involved because she thinks the cause is important to her community.

“A big part of Neighbourwoods for me is to raise public awareness about the value and importance of trees. It’s a great way of getting together with like-minded people in my community and learning all about the trees in and around where I live,” says Dowds.

The Neighbourwoods project is something that is being done across southern Ontario and in other provinces as well. There are roughly 20 projects currently underway in Ontario, with more expected to join next summer. In order for the Bloomfield group to be affiliated with the project, it spent two and a half days with the program’s developers, Drs Kenny and Puric- Mladenovic. Most of the weekend was spent learning how to identify and assess trees according to the program’s 30 pieces of data that are required from every tree examined.

A benefit from all these newly trained eyes will be that potentially dangerous trees will be identified earlier. The group can only examine a tree with the property owner’s consent, but Jenkison explains what a volunteer would do if they spotted something potentially hazardous on private property and didn’t have permission.

“If we felt that a tree was endangering something or someone, then we would advise the homeowner to contact an ISA certified arborist to get their tree assessed. We would never recommend an individual, but send them to a qualified professional with the proper credentials,” says Jenkison.

According to Jenkison, the group of volunteers have gone over and above what is required so far, and they remain passionate about the cause. She thinks that one of the reasons people were so engaged was that aside from the weekend training session, it was up to the individual volunteer how much time they were dedicating to the project.

“That freedom enabled more volunteers to do the work on their time and not feel pressured. There was no requirement to put in a certain number of hours. It was entirely up to them how much they wanted to be involved,” says Jenkison.

One result that came immediately from the report is that the people of Bloomfield love and take care of their trees. When the inventory was completed for the season, the results saw very few trees that would be considered unsafe in the area.

As for some standout trees in Bloomfield, Jenkison says that the old white pines in the cemetery are beautiful, as well as the big sugar maples on Main St. Possibly the largest, and most magnificent tree in the area, is behind the new Bloomfield Public House. It is a silver maple with many stems and is considered very healthy.

Neighbourwoods and the Bloomfield tree inventory are under the umbrella movement of Tree the County, a group of local volunteers working to preserve and increase the County’s tree canopy. The group is made possible by the support of the local municipality.

For more information about the program, contact Gerry Jenkison at gerry.jenkison@icloud.com.