An Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) assessment, which provides a measure of a community’s tree canopy cover, is important for understanding the extent of a community’s forest or tree resource. UTC assessments are often used for establishing and implementing municipal tree canopy goals as part of broader urban greening and sustainability initiatives.
This report provides an overview of the approaches, methods, and data sources used in UTC assessments, focusing on the initial steps of project planning, assessment, and analysis. The report also provides general guidelines for conducting UTC assessments and analysis to ensure useful, quality results that can be applied in management and decision-making efforts, and resources for planning and implementing the UTC assessment process. The report is designed to help personnel involved in urban natural resource planning move forward with UTC project planning and assessment.
