Boston Flora

Tag: tree inventory

  • Boston Tree Plan Online

    As part of Boston’s first ever Urban Forest Plan, a citywide inventory of public street trees was begun in spring 2021. This is data on public street trees as of May 2021. The Boston Parks and Recreation Department is working on ways to more routinely update data and provide an easy way for pubic viewing of updated information. This plan is different from the inventory The Garden Club of the Back Bay has conducted over many years, and which is available on our website www.backbaytrees.org. Our Club is currently amassing information on our alley trees, not included in the Boston plan, but the Boston plan, accessible at https://boston.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c9de58cb207f448a8212163812d91626, is more far reaching. The easiest way to negotiate the Boston site is to type an address in the box on the upper left corner, which zooms you in to a map of the area at and surrounding the address. Then click on the little colored boxes along the street. For instance, a red dot at 423 Beacon Street expanded to a pop up box with information that there is a silver linden there, scientific name Tilia tomentosa, 37 inch diameter, and a tree identification number. We encourage you to visit and poke around the site. The more people who visit, the more likely the City will continue to devote time and funds to the project.

  • Emerald Necklace Tree Project

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay is a contributor to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and we thought you might be interested in knowing a bit more about where our dollars are going.

    Contributions from many donors to establish the Olmsted Tree Society last year provided close to $1 million to begin the important work of assessing the condition of trees in the Emerald Necklace and planning to ensure their healthy future. Undertaken in collaboration with the Conservancy’s public partners, Boston Parks & Recreation, Brookline Parks and Open Space and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the initiative intends to preserve heritage trees in these historic parks, some of which are more than 100 years old. In addition, the project will protect healthy trees with selective pruning and soil enhancement; plant new trees where needed in the Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Olmsted Park, Franklin Park, around Jamaica Pond and along the parkways of the Necklace. Even more important, the effort will help educate the public about the critical relationship between trees and a healthy urban environment in order to sustain ongoing support for the project.

    In consultation with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s public partners, the Olmsted Tree Society advisors hired Kyle Zick Landscape Architects in June to lead the team of consultants who have completed the initial stages of the work. In little more than six months time, the Boston-based firm has identified and reviewed previous studies of conditions in the historic parkland; inventoried more than 7000 trees and 200 acres of woodland; developed accessible and comprehensive mapping using the latest Geographic Information System technology; and begun development of a comprehensive management plan including implementation strategies, timelines and cost estimates for the work that needs to be done.

    The recommendations will be shared with the conservancy’s public partners, Boston Parks & Recreation, Brookline Parks and Open Space and the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation and work will be coordinated through those agencies.

  • Wednesday, June 23, 3:00 pm – Search for the Asian Longhorned Beetle

    The Friends of the Public Garden, along with its partner The Highland Street Foundation, hosts a volunteer opportunity on the Boston Common Wednesday, June 23, beginning at 3 pm.  After attending a training session, volunteers will use maps created from a tree inventory to look for evidence of the longhorned beetle in trees on the Common.  A reception at the Parkman House to thank the Highland Street Foundation for funding the inventory will follow.  Free.  For more information log on to www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org.

    http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/images/content/103564main_beetle.gif