At last, summer is upon us and for the seventh consecutive year NeighbourWoods volunteers, wearing their bright yellow t-shirts, will be conducting the tree inventory on residential streets of Elora and Fergus to identify, measure and assess the health of local trees.
To date, volunteers have collected detailed data on more than 9,000 trees.
During June and July volunteers will be recording 31 variables about each tree they inspect.
Various aspects that will be examined include height, crown size, trunk diameter and species. Other factors that are evaluated include tree health such as defoliation, dead or broken branches and the presence of cracks and conks.
Using this information the group will create thorough documents and at the end of the field work, the detailed profiles will then be sent to the University of Toronto for analysis and compilation.
New this year is one of summer student Jenessa Lowndes. She is currently a full time student attending the University of Guelph. She is striving towards obtaining a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Marketing Management.
After graduating Jenessa is interested in working for a company that is focused on environmental preservation. Returning this year is the other summer student, Joe Atkinson. He is currently at Fleming College and is working towards a degree in Ecosystem Management Technology.
A recent summary report from the first five years of the inventory can be found on the Elora Environment Centre Website www.eloraenvironmentcentre.ca under the Trees Tab. For more information about the program, please call NeighbourWoods at 519-846-0841 or contact us by email at neighbourwoods@eloraenvironmentcentre.ca
