Presentation on the use of novel and innovative technologies to sustainably manage the urban forest. Numerous examples are shown from various projects carried out by ArborCarbon scientists for their clients throughout Australia and south-east Asia.

1. Thriving trees and sustainable ecosystems for all
Environmental & Arboricultural Consultants
Remote sensing technologies for
sustainable vegetation management
Paul Barber
Director / Forest Pathologist, ArborCarbon Pty Ltd
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Murdoch University
August 2012

2. Contents
• Who is Arbor Carbon - briefly
• Is our current approach to urban vegetation management
sustainable?
• Remote sensing for Sustainable Vegetation Management
• Showing real-life examples

3. Arbor Carbon – core values
Partnership
•We seek synergistic collaborations with clients and complimentary
organisations.
•Our partnerships are based on trust and integrity.
Innovation
•We look for new ways to overcome problems.
•We view problems holistically and think laterally.
Expertise
•We are scientific in our approach.
•We are highly qualified and fuelled by a love of learning.
Sustainability
•We pursue sustainability in all we do.
•We aim to leave skills with our clients.
3

4. Arbor Carbon – some of our clients
For sustainable vegetation
management

5. Current approach to urban vegetation management

6. Current approach to urban vegetation management
Phytophthora in the urban environment
And that’s not all….P. sp. ohioensis and P. palmivora

7. Current approach to vegetation management
Misdiagnosis and spread of disease

8. Current approach to vegetation management
Councillor xxxxxxx, “I for one was hoping to see the tree lopped, as the residents of No20 will surely be killed should that diseased
limb which must be in excess of 100 foot high decides to fall and fall it will onto those residents at No20….”

9. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
DATA ACQUISITION, PROCESSING, ANALYSIS, REPORTING
• Must select the right product(s) for the desired outcome
• See past the initial excitement
• Can use a combination of data on the same sites
• Acquisition and processing is the easiest component….now how do
we analyse and use in day to day management

10. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAV’s) and very high-resolution imagery

11. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management

12. High-resolution multi-spectral airborne imagery
Spectral Resolution
Vegetation Spectral Reflectance & Quickbird
Satellite Bandpasses
0.7
0.6
0.5
R
e Rice
f 0.4 Soil
l Stubble
e Blue Gum
c 0.3
Red Stringybark
t
a
0.2
n
c
e 0.1
0
400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900
Wavelength (nanometers)

13. High-resolution multi-spectral airborne imagery
Spectral Resolution
Standard airborne multispectral bandpasses
0.7
0.6
0.5
R
e Rice
f 0.4 Soil
l Stubble
e Blue Gum
c 0.3
Red Stringybark
t
a
0.2
n
c
e 0.1
0
400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900
Wavelength (nanometers)

14. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management

15. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management

16. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Monitoring growth and pruning of vegetation near powerlines - Perth
2009-2010 2009-2011

17. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Quantifying annual growth of urban trees - Perth

18. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Monitoring change in health of urban trees - Perth

19. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Monitoring change in growth and health of urban bushland - Perth

20. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Monitoring effectiveness of landscape revegetation

21. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Quantifying change in canopy cover, impervious layers, soil etc.
Model developed to select vegetation within
scene. Overlay of shapefile of vegetation
(khaki) on high-resolution true colour airborne
imagery.
First version of model > 95% accuracy.
Calculated 18.4% canopy cover within scene

22. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Desktop risk assessment leading to operations
Phytophthora & Armillaria risk assessment of > 450 parks and natural areas
Priority ranking for field-based assessment
Annual monitoring of change in vegetation cover and condition

23. Remote sensing for sustainable vegetation management
Quantifying area and vigour of vegetation

24. Something to think about….
• These technologies are a very cost effective and precise way to:
• Acquire data for modelling the benefits of trees (i.e. UFORE)
• Determine whether targets have reached (i.e. increase in canopy cover)
• Pro-actively diagnose spread of disease and decline
• Audit the activities of contractors
• Identify illegal removal or damage to trees
• Set trigger thresholds for implementation of management
• Monitor the efficacy of treatments
• Monitor the effcicacy of irrigation
• Present data to justify allocation of budgets
• Determine the link between vegetation and the HIE
• Early identification of risky trees (i.e. marri canker)