Palm Springs to use grant money to inventory trees

The city of Palm Springs will count more than 15,000 trees paid for by an $80,000 grant from the Southern California Association of Governments.

Michele Mician, Sustainability Manager for the city of Palm Springs, said tracking trees will help the city track its assets.

“Trees really help us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is one of our goals, and to have an inventory of all of our assets so we know how to do maintenance and what time of year and when and where,” explained Mician.

In addition, it will help the city save money.

Jeff Davidson, Arborist with ArborPro, has already counted 5,000 of the city’s trees and will help organize an online database of all the trees for the city and its residents to use.

“They’ll be able to look at their maps and say ok this area is real heavy, we need to focus here,” said Davidson. “Or, this area is kind of thin we need more trees here. So, it gives them a good working tool to balance out their money cost throughout the year.”

According to Mician, it will also be used by teachers and students as a resource to learn about the community’s local urban forest.

In order for a plant to be counted as a tree, it must have a long standing trunk and an upper canopy.

“So what we’re really looking for too is places where we can add more trees so people near sidewalks or near pathways where we can encourage people to walk more,” added Mician.

Knowledge of what trees do well where will give the city a good idea of what tree species to plant in the future.

“These trees affect the people here and the city everyday with shade, with habitat,” concluded Davidson. “There’s a reason why we have trees and it helps make the landscape pretty. There’s a value to it so they need to know their values too.”

All tree inventory is expected to be completed by Arbor Day.