Urban trees management methods and their suitability for creating databases

Abstract

The number of decisions permitting the removal of trees in cities is increasing every year, which suggests long-term negligence, or rather insufficient funds for proper management of urban forests. Lack of appropriate tools causes difficulties in the decision-making process. This problem is especially important in a situation of increased pressure exerted by residents to remove trees, mainly due to the safety reasons. An essential element in maintaining the proper tree management in a city is to improve management systems by applying comprehensive methods and tools. For this reason, many methods are used to support the inventory and identification of dangerous trees. The presented research is a response to the need for unification of management systems based on the most effective and proven methods of defining the resource, health and static condition, value, assessment of tree life expectancy or tree damage. Such a multilateral approach can improve the safety and management of urban forests. The results of the presented analyses led to the formulation of objective guidelines for the urban tree management standards.