Project Proposal

Carbon Stock of Campus Trees
Eileen Fitzgerald
Siena College
515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY
February 3 2020

Introduction

The global carbon cycle is a complex system of sources and sinks. The role of sinks in this system is of particular interest in determining climate change mitigation strategies, as one of the most prolific greenhouse gases is CO2. Among the most effective terrestrial carbon sinks are trees: they capture atmospheric carbon and convert it to sugar and oxygen during photosynthesis. While protecting and restoring large swaths of forested land is vital in increasing terrestrial carbon sinks, another great strategy is planting more trees in urban and suburban areas. This not only has the benefit of increased carbon storage, but also a number of other benefits such as improved air and water quality, reduced urban heat island effect, and more aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods. Being able to quantify just how much carbon is stored by trees in non-forested areas can help us understand what role urban and suburban trees can play in the global carbon cycle.

In recent years, Siena College along with colleges across the US have been placing greater emphasis on environmental sustainability–this year Siena is hosting a series of climate change lectures. I am curious about the underlying aspects of Siena’s sustainability; namely, I want to know how much carbon we release as an institution and how much is sequestered by trees on campus.

Draft note: I realize this might be overambitious in terms of data collection, but I’m shooting for the stars with this proposal and have a more safe backup plan that consists of using data from tree inventories I did for my research project in Peru, which would also be really cool.

Objectives
This project seeks to quantify and map carbon stock and other benefits posed by campus trees at Siena using iTree Eco and ArcMap

Methodology

• Conduct a tree survey (species ID, DBH, Height) of all trees on Siena’s main campus
  • Begin this with a PILOT STUDY focusing just on trees in front of Roger Bacon Hall. If collecting data for all trees on campus is deemed unfeasible, I will adjust accordingly and use other data.
• Upload data to iTree Eco to estimate carbon storage
• Map carbon storage values using ArcMap
• Compare these values to Siena’s carbon footprint and calculate the proportion of Siena’s carbon footprint that is offset by Siena’s trees.

Data Sources

• I will be generating my own data and mapping against a basemap from ArcMap’s database

Work Plan and Deliverables

Week of 2/3: Start inventorying campus trees

Week of 2/10: Finish inventory and input data Deliverable: campus tree inventory

Week of 2/17: Upload data to iTree Eco and start obtaining carbon stock and other data outputs from the software

Week of 2/24: Transfer data to ArcMap Deliverable: carbon storage values for Siena’s campus’ trees

Week of 3/2: Start mapping carbon data

Week of 3/23: Finish map(s) and start data table Deliverable: Map of carbon storage by Siena’s campus trees

Week of 3/30: Finish data table Deliverable: data table

Week of 4/6: Create poster Deliverable: Poster