This lecture was presented as part of the International Seminar Series in Forest Conservation on the theme "Inventory and Monitoring Approaches in Forest Conservation: from Tree to Landscape Scale", 4-25 November 2016. The seminar series was organised as part of the Master of Forest Conservation Program, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Canada.

1. The 360o toolkit tree recording method
Iris Glimmerveen
Project Coordinator
1

2. Introduction
• Tree recording
• What is Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees
• Tree recording: why, what & how?
• 360o toolkit
• Questions and feedback
2
Ian Jack – Forester
www.cumbriastop50trees.org.uk

3. Tree recording:
• Only when the purpose of the tree
recording is clear, can you determine what
needs to be recorded and how you’re going
to do it.
• So (project) background is needed before I
can get to the why, what and how
3
Joanne Hunter – Manager Ginger Bread Shop

4. Annie O’Shea
Pensioner
Annie’s Barrow
Plane
4
A childhood trip to the dentist provided
the inspiration for one pensioner’s tree
nomination in the heart of Barrow.

5. What is Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees?
• A project raising
awareness of individual
trees
• Local to Cumbria, a county
in North West England
• A brain child of Ted Wilson
and myself
5

6. 6
Rowan – Calbeck Common
Oak – Blencathra Hawthorn– Little Asby
Scots pine – Derwent Water
Cumbria

7. Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees concepts
• Focus on individual trees because:
• they fall in between the stools of woodland and
agriculture
• are the ones people come across most often –
street, garden, park trees
• Linking people with trees because then trees:
• become ‘personal’ – close to home
• will be ‘valued’ – less vandalism
• will be ‘seen’ – not taken for granted
7
Duncan Darbishire – Photographer

8. Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees concepts
• Using competition format (Top 50 trees)
because it is easier to:
• enthuse the general public
• get message across to local media
8
Marilyn Leech – Graphic Designer

9. Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees concepts
• Asking people to nominate their favourite
tree because it gives a:
• wider geographic and community spread
• sense of how trees are currently valued
• potentially greater variety of trees highlighted
• Making use of volunteers because then:
• forestry skills can be passed on
• it provides an opportunity for people to be active
outdoors with a purpose
9
Jimmy Beveridge – Farm Worker

10. Iris Glimmerveen
Project Coordinator
Miranda Morgan
Volunteer Manager
Alan Air
Public Relations
Manager
Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees team
10

11. Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees time line
 1 January 2016 – project start
 21 March 2016 – project launch
• 28 February 2017 – nominations close
• 1 March 2017 – Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees exhibition
tours 6 districts for 14 days each
• 31 May 2017 – voting closes
• 15 June 2017 – project booklet and map produced
• 30 June 2017 – award ceremony & project close
11
Kath Peters – Cinematographer

12. Christopher Pilling
Poet
The sessile oak
12
Two’s company, three’s a love poem…

13. Tree recording: why?
• The purpose for tree recording with
Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees is to:
• record trees that are important to people
(snapshot in time)
• highlight the importance of individual trees
to those that look after them and their
funders
13
Gillian Kartach – Parish Clerk

14. Tree recording: what?
• Data that is useful for Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees
• characteristics so that the tree can be recognised:
Species, photo – Core
• tree context: Surroundings – Social
• why the tree is important to the nominator: (local)
name, photos, story – Cultural
• why the tree is important to the audience: District,
history, story – Cultural
• can the audience find it: Grid ref, Access –
Cultural
14
Jonathan Kaye – Hotel Owner Restaurateur

15. Tree recording: what?
• Data that is useful for Cumbria’s Top 50
Trees output
• Species, size, age, wildlife signs, plant life, trunk
health, tree & nominator photos, story, access,
location – website & booklet
• Species, tree photo, grid ref, access, location –
free leaflet with A3 size map to be distributed by
libraries and tourist information centers
15
Louise Whitehouse – Personal Fitness Trainer

16. Tree recording: what?
• Data that is useful/meaningful for the end user
(tree officers, archivists of local councils and
state forestry service)
• compatible with their tree databases: species, girth
& height – Core
• tree condition: trunk, dead wood, leaf canopy -
Biology
• tree biodiversity: age, wildlife, shape, plant life -
Ecology
• easy to find: grid ref, access – Cultural
16
Tom Speight – Journalist

17. Tree recording: how?
• record within budget
• using contractors is easy, but has predictable
outcomes
• using nominators & volunteers may notionally be
cheaper, but outcomes are not predictable
• volunteers are not professionals, they’ll need
training, patience and a realistic notion of what
they can achieve
17
Heather James – Marketing Manager

18. Tree recording: how?
• Make sure your data is:
• within the capacity for the type of volunteer you
employ – interview, train and check for consistency
• logical/clear – group data, use plain English
• easy for the recorder – saves time in the field
• easy to transfer – website looks similar to
recording sheet, allowing computer to create a
‘comma separated value’ database
• tested – by both volunteer and end user
18
Henk Glimmerveen – Aviation Consultant

19. Tree recording: how?
• Two equally important elements to
Cumbria’s Top 50 Trees survey:
• Record tree data
• Record why the nominator likes his/her tree, in
short: the story
• Both are captured in the 360o toolkit
• it encourages the volunteer/surveyor to look
both at the tree and its setting
19
Jane Porter – Pensioner

20. Suzanne McNally
Photographer
Suzanne’s Surreal
Sycamore
20
Suzanne first noticed this ethereal looking tree - at
one end of a frankly somewhat rough looking
plantation - three years ago. She gradually fell for it.
On her way to the station, or just on a walk around
with her camera, she would look at its odd shape
and smile inwardly. Being a photographer she
started taking pictures of this odd but surreal looking
Acer family tree; the results are stunning...come see!

21. 360o toolkit consists of:
• tools, supplied by project:
• 10m measuring tape – girth
• wooden stick, equal to volunteer’s arm length –
height
• microphone & wind muffler – story
• jumper, weather writer, pencil, data recording
sheets, folder, mileage & out of pocket expenses
– volunteer comfort
• training: tree measuring & identification, interview
techniques – volunteer confidence and
consistent data
21
Robin Smalley – National Trust Volunteer

22. 360o toolkit consists of:
• mobile phone, supplied by volunteer:
• geographic positioning system app – location
• winter & tree identification apps – species
• camera – photos
• voice memo/recorder – story
22
Patricia Ross – School Teacher

23. 360o data sheet – basic elements
23
Richard Temperley Little – Writer

24. Dave Camlin
Musician
Borrowdale Yews
24
A tree associated with death that is actually
one of the longest living plants on Earth
offers a spiritual experience for a West
Cumbrian musician.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Ix_I2WZ2Q

25. 360o toolkit datasheet – detail
25
Wendy Meredith – Head Teacher

26. 360o toolkit datasheet – detail
26
Patrick Everingham – Pensioner

27. 360o toolkit datasheet – detail
27
Maureen Foster –

28. 360o toolkit datasheet – detail
28
Martin Clark – Director

29. 360o toolkit datasheet – detail
29
Mildred Gavican – Teaching Assistant

30. Mencap Carlisle Grace Little's
crab apple
30
A splendid crab apple tree, that has
witnessed the comings and goings of
aircraft during war and peacetime, was
bursting with fruit when we visited on a
glorious late summer afternoon.

31. 31

32. 32
Laura Wilson – Estate Owner/farmer

33. Results so far
• website up and running
• 18 volunteers
• 89 nominations of which 28 are visible on
the website
• promotion postcard – 1,000 print run
33
Peter Frost Pennington – Castle Manager

35. Anticipated results and outputs
• Reached out to all of Cumbria Community
• through 20 talks in libraries and hard to reach groups
• media promotion traditional & social
• 100 nominations minimum on website
• Roaming exhibition held in 6 districts with:
• 50 tree images & accompanying stories (A2)
• 10 stories (audio format with close up image of nominator)
• 1 project video (already shot)
• Booklet (80 page) – 2,000 print run distributed to tree carers,
participants and interested parties
• Tourist trail map (A3) – 2,000 print run distributed to libraries and
tourist information centers
• Inventory of ±100 individual trees created and distributed
35
Sheila Gregory – Chief Executive

36. Sue Bond
Pensioner
The Courageous
Tree
36
One tree's astonishing act of survival
against all the odds is a source of
inspiration for one woman who has loved
it for 20 years....

37. Any questions??
Thank you
37

38. 38
Veteran tree site assessment protocol applied @ Geltsdale, Cumbria
Field Measure Possible thresholds
High value Medium value Low value
Primary assessment criteria
No. of veteran trees >100 10-100
No. ancient trees >15 <15 0
No. trees >1.5m dbh >15 5-15 <5
Secondary assessment criteria
Extent of site >50ha 11-50ha 10ha or less
Tree cohort
continuity (assessed
by tree size)
At least 1 cohort per
100 yrs similar spp
and distribution to
veterans
Future generations
present but gaps in
cohorts/new
generations do not
reflect spp/
distribution of
veterans
Large gaps in
cohorts/veteran
trees only
Visible deadwood
(standing and fallen
& incl. rot holes,
hollow trunks etc)
Abundant Present but
evidence of removal
Little present
Ground vegetation Unimproved
grassland/semi-
natural woodland
Semi-improved or
significantly
disturbed
Arable, improved or
suppressed (bare)
Veteran trees near-
by (sites and trees
in the landscape)
Adjacent Within 1km >1km away
Diversity within
veteran tree
population (species,
form, age, situation)
Diversity in at least
three characteristics
(species, age, form
and situation)
Diversity in two
characteristics or
significant diversity
in 1 characteristic
Little diversity
Associated species
interest (eg lichens,
saproxylic
invertebrates)
Known to be high Some interest
known
Documented habitat
continuity –
historical continuity
Documentary
evidence of habitat
continuity (several
centuries)
Potential Interest likely to
increase in short- to
medium-term
Interest likely to
increase moderately
in short- to medium-
term
Interest likely to
decline in short- to
medium term
Other field measures
Density of veteran trees (over site) 7/ha
Species composition of veterans alder, rowan, birch, ash
Scrub (incl. bramble and hawthorn) hazel, hawthorn, apple, holly
Site management/threats year round low intensive cattle grazing
Water-bodies/wetland habitat wet ground conditions
Shape rectangular
Surrounding landuse hill sheep farming
Local pollution load low
Geltsdale,
important for
old trees

39. Alan Air
PR Manager
Squishy sequoia
39
A giant sequoia in Carlisle’s magnificent
Victorian cemetery on Dalston Road
played a key role in Alan Air’s childhood.