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Erin Nelson
Amy Milan, a member of the Homewood Environmental Commission, meausre the length of a leaf from a water oak tree as she works with members of the Edgewood Garden Club to collect data on the urban forest ecosystem in the city of Homewood on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. The aim of the project is to improve knowledge, management and advocacy for a safer, healthier and greener Homewood. Photo by Erin Nelson
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Erin Nelson
Amy Milan, left, with the Homewood Environmental Commission, points up as she discusses the tree canopy coverage with Tempie Brunson, a member of the Edgewood Garden Club, as they work to collect data on the urban forest ecosystem in the city of Homewood on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. The aim of the project is to improve knowledge, management and advocacy for a safer, healthier and greener Homewood. Photo by Erin Nelson
Groups of volunteers in yellow safety vests are visiting 200 sites throughout Homewood — including backyards, businesses and parks — to collect data about the city’s trees.
The Homewood Environmental Commission enlisted several groups of volunteers, beginning in July, to help collect data from these locations for a tree inventory. HEC Chair Amy Milam said the data will help the city understand the health of its urban forest and its impact, from carbon to heat reduction.
Volunteers include the Hollywood and Edgewood garden clubs, Boy Scout Troop 95 and volunteer groups working in Edgemont/Oak Grove, Forest Brook and West Homewood.
Edgewood Garden Club member Ann Damsgard said the club volunteered for the inventory because of their interest in all things green in Homewood. The club also participates in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ centennial tree project, which collects seeds from old-growth native trees to develop into seedlings.
The centennial trees’ age means they have adapted to their local environment, giving the seedlings a better chance at long-term survival.
“Part of our goal is to take care of our environment, … so it was a natural thing” to sign up for the tree inventory, Damsgard said.
Milam said the software they’re using for the inventory, i-Tree, randomly selected the sites to be studied, in order to be representative of the entire city. Each site is about 0.05 acres, since Homewood has smaller lots than many other cities and can’t do the normal half-acre sample plots, she said.
Within each site, the volunteers document any trees with information about their species, height, diameter, canopy size, die-back and missing canopy areas. They also make note of the land use in that plot, such as how much is residential, commercial or transportation and surface covers like grass or asphalt.
Some sites have been in yards, requiring homeowners’ permission to access, while others have been in parking lots and commercial districts without a tree to be seen. However, Milam said all the sites together should be a pretty good representation of the city as a whole, since it would be impossible to intensively survey the entirety of Homewood.
“Because Homewood is growing so, we care about our urban forest,” Damsgard said.
Each volunteer group has had to survey 20 to 30 sites. Milam said the HEC does not have a set date to complete the inventory, though it must wrap up before the leaves fall in October, as that will make certain data difficult to collect.
She said after the data comes in, it will be studied and likely presented to the City Council later this winter.
The results of the tree inventory will influence decision-making on municipal tree planting, which the HEC undertakes once or twice a year, and other efforts to support tree planting and protection.
