City of Brandon Undertaking Multi-Year Tree Inventory Project


August 10, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brandon, MB – The City of Brandon’s Community Services Department has embarked upon a multi-year project to create a comprehensive database of municipally-owned trees in Brandon.

Beginning on the north side of Brandon, three Community Services seasonal staff have been dedicated to the project and are spending the summer cataloguing City-asset trees using GIS software, collecting data such as tree species, height, condition, and estimated age. Using established zones, staff will make their way across the City until all trees under the municipality’s care have been logged. It is estimated the project will take roughly three years to complete.

Once compiled, the data will be used to manage the control of the spread of Dutch elm disease or the Emerald Ash Borer beetle, and to assist in the department’s annual tree-planting and removal schedule. Such future removal or addition of City trees will be tracked using the City of Brandon’s specialized Asset Management Program software.

“As the City of Brandon looks more toward asset management as a way to track and evaluate the many community infrastructure assets in its care, we know that our tree inventory is an important part of that,” says City of Brandon Director of Community Services Perry Roque. “Having a comprehensive, ‘living inventory’ of our municipally-owned asset trees will be a very important part of our urban forestry management plan.”

Roque says for logistical reasons, the project will not include trees on private property, or any of the City’s natural forested areas.

Once complete, the catalogue will be added to the City of Brandon’s open data portal, http://opengov.brandon.ca/.