{"536671":{"#nid":"536671","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Technology of Trees","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBy Margaret Tate (originally posted at\u0026nbsp;http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2016\/05\/09\/technology-trees)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EIf Hyacinth Ide had walked around Georgia Tech\u2019s campus before hiring on with Landscape Services in 1999, he might not have accepted the job. \u201cLuckily,\u201d said the associate director of Landscape Services and Fleet Services, \u201cmy former boss said there was a plan to focus on landscaping, and we have done it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EHave we ever. Tech\u2019s certification as a Level II Arboretum is just the latest feather in the Institute\u2019s gardening cap \u2014 on top of Tree Campus USA, Bee Campus USA, and 3 Star Landscape Management Accreditation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6 class=\u0022p6\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E12,000 Trees and Calculating\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s 2010 Landscape Master Plan included a goal to increase the tree canopy to more than 50 percent. Planners knew the campus had a long way to go, but how far? The last time Tech had inventoried its trees was 2004.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003ETo get a new baseline, Landscape Services, Capital Planning and Space Management, and the Center for Geographic Information Systems (CGIS) came together to design a plan for documenting and measuring every tree on campus \u2014 with 40 different data points for each one.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EA vendor was hired to execute the plan based on an estimated 7,000 trees, but the contract soon had to be revised \u2014 it turned out the campus had almost 12,000 trees.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6 class=\u0022p6\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe A Word\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EWith new information in hand, one of the first decisions \u2014 aided by technology \u2014 was to make the inventory a moving picture, rather than a one-off snapshot. Since 2013, landscape crews have been armed with handheld GPS devices on which they record tree plantings, removals, and maintenance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cWe don\u2019t know of any other institutions with an inventory that is as up-to-date as ours,\u201d Ide said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EThe first person to say the A word \u2014 according to several members of the Tree Campus USA committee \u2014 was Executive Vice President of Administration and Finance Steve Swant.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cOnce we had this incredible database, he\u2019s the one who asked what it would take to be an arboretum,\u201d said Jason Gregory, senior education facilities planner and landscape architect with Capital Planning and Space Management. \u201cSo we started looking into it and saw that it really wouldn\u2019t be too difficult with all the documentation and protocol we already had in place.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EAs the project evolved, Gregory said, so did the questions surrounding it. \u201cWe needed to define why we wanted to be an arboretum \u2014 why it was important,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWe realized we could break that down to the individual tree: What does it actually do and how does it perform in the landscape? Can we teach people about that and use this information across campus?\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6 class=\u0022p4\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EArboretum \u2014 Georgia Tech Style\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003ERamachandra Sivakumar, who goes by Siva, is a senior research engineer at CGIS. He manages Tech\u2019s site license for GIS software and promotes its use for academic and research projects across campus, so the tree inventory and arboretum project have been a natural fit for his expertise.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBefore all this, he\u2019d never really paid much attention to trees beyond their beauty and the shade they provide. Now, he is working with computer models that can look at a geographic area of trees and calculate such benefits as carbon sequestration, heat mitigation, air purification, and rainfall interception for stormwater management. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s even a program that can look at health impacts,\u201d he said. \u201cSo knowing the importance of our campus tree canopy, we have greater motivation to preserve it or add to it.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003ETo ensure the numbers stay up to date, the campus has been divided into five zones and has set up a five-year schedule during which, zone by zone, each tree will again be measured and evaluated according to the 40 data points.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EGregory, like Siva, has been making presentations in hopes that faculty and students will find ways to use the arboretum and database as a springboard for innovative projects.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s going to be part of the fun,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cIf you were at UGA, you\u2019d have the horticulture or agriculture people looking at this. But Georgia Tech \u2014 we\u2019re a completely different arena.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Campus Arboretum Offers More Than Beauty"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s 2010 Landscape Master Plan included a goal to increase the tree canopy to more than 50 percent. Planners knew the campus had a long way to go, but how far? The last time Tech had inventoried its trees was 2004.\u0026nbsp;To get a new baseline, Landscape Services, Capital Planning and Space Management, and the Center for Geographic Information Systems (CGIS) came together to design a plan for documenting and measuring every tree on campus \u2014 with 40 different data points for each one.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\u2019s arboretum status \u2014 official as of March \u2014 was an organic development stemming from a tree inventory in 2012. Data in hand, the question became, \u201cNow what?\u201d Campus \u201ctreekeepers\u201d hope the questions will keep on coming."}],"uid":"28044","created_gmt":"2016-05-17 11:19:37","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:39","author":"Jessie Brandon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-05-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-05-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"533941":{"id":"533941","type":"image","title":"Black Tupelo Tree","body":null,"created":"1462892400","gmt_created":"2016-05-10 15:00:00","changed":"1475895317","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:17"}},"media_ids":["533941"],"groups":[{"id":"1221","name":"College of Design"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}