During summer (2007) a GIS-based Urban Ecosystem Analysis of the
Claremont Graduate University campus was conducted. This research
was part of a larger initiative supported by the Council of Presidents
to assess the environmental impact of the Claremont Colleges Campuses
and to implement new ideas and approaches for advancing environmental
sustainability. The analysis conducted for this project
enumerates the benefits of the existing urban ecosystem and outlines
the expected benefits of augmenting this system. Specifically,
this project investigated the benefits of increasing the urban tree
canopy through the planting and preservation of appropriate tree
species, which can provide measurable benefits in economic,
environmental, energy saving, and social terms.
An Urban Ecosystem Analysis (UEA) is a methodology for establishing
the environmental and economic benefits of trees within an Area of
Interest. Trees provide communities with many valuable services
that can be measured in terms of quantifiable benefits that
include:
Stormwater Runoff Reduction –
trees reduce the infrastructure needed to manage stormwater and reduce
the need for landscape irrigation.
Improved Air and Water Quality
– trees absorb and filter air pollution plus they filter surface water
and prevent erosion.
Carbon Storage and Sequestration
– trees absorb carbon dioxide thereby lowering the rate of global
warming.
Reduced Summer Energy Use –
trees provide building shade and help to mitigate the heat island
effect and in so doing, reduce air conditioning use, electricity costs,
and air pollution from the generation of electricity.
An UEA also provides a baseline of an area’s urban forest resources
that can be used to help community leaders better manage these
resources and to extract additional benefits from increased tree
coverage.
Additionally, trees provide benefits that, while more difficult to
quantify, include improved scenic values and improved human health and
well being.