Service Description: The City of Austin’s Community Tree Priorities (formerly Planting Prioritization) serves as a decision support tool to determine where to focus forestry activities in Austin, TX. This is the current and authoritative layer for 2020.

Service ItemId: 7d7c5260e60c4f8ab811d2c5fda6c40f

Has Versioned Data: false

Max Record Count: 2000

Supported query Formats: JSON

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• community_tree_priority_areas_2020 (0)

Description:

Date of Publication: 10/23/2020

Name of Person Responsible: Alan Halter

Date to be removed/updated: Ongoing updates. Last updated on 07/31/2023.

Also available for download through the City of Austin's Open Data Portal:  https://data.austintexas.gov/Locations-and-Maps/Community_Tree_Priority_Map/ugty-5b95

Note: there is an older version of this layer for 2015 which is deprecated and should only be used for historical reference.

Note: this layer has been updated with 2020 Census population data and tree canopy data for years 2022, 2018, and 2017 in fields "TOTAL_POPULATION_CENSUS_2020", "PERCENT_CANOPY_2022", "PERCENT_CANOPY_2018", and "PERCENT_CANOPY_2017_LIDAR" respectively.

This map shows U.S. Census tracts (2010) containing tabular data related to community forestry priorities determined by the Community Tree Preservation Division’s Urban Forest Program. Prioritization is determined through the attribute field, “PRIORITY_SCORE_2020” aka the “Priority Score.” This score combines nine measures normalized and summarized into four broad categories outlined below. The score is aggregated at the neighborhood (U.S. Census tract) level. Scores can range from 0 to 100 with higher scores meaning a higher need for community forestry activities to achieve more equitable canopy distribution.

Priority Score = ( Σ Natural Environment + Σ Social Vulnerability + Σ Community Investment + Σ Health & Well-Being ) / 4

(+) means a measure was maximized – the higher the measure, the higher the priority. For example, we want to plant trees where there are high chances of flooding events.

(-) means a measure was reversed – the lower the measure, the higher the priority. For example, we want to plant trees in neighborhoods with lower % tree canopy.

Data normalization method was Min-Max Feature Scaling method:

Natural Environment

(-) Tree Canopy: % of land area covered in tree canopy (2014, City of Austin, Watershed Protection Department). Note: the layer has been updated with new tree canopy data in the "PERCENT_CANOPY_2022" and "PERCENT_CANOPY_2018" fields.

(+) Flooding: % of land area covered in floodplains (City of Austin, Watershed Protection Department)

(+) Urban Heat Island: mean maximum land surface temperature observed between 2018-2020 (USGS/NASA Landsat 8, Climate Engine)

Social Vulnerability

(+) Social Vulnerability Index: a community’s sensitivity to hazards and ability to recover from them. Includes measures of wealth, race, gender, and language (Austin Area Sustainability Indicators, University of Texas). More info here https://www.austinindicators.org/project/climate-and-community-resilience/

Community Investment

(-) Urban Forest Funding: dollar amount of funding provided to a neighborhood through the Urban Forest Program’s Urban Forest Grant and Funding Portal (City of Austin, Tree Division)

(-) Tree Plantings: count of trees distributed per square mile (City of Austin, Tree Division). Only inclusive of contracted tree plantings through NeighborWoods, Ready Set Plant, and Austin Community Tree programs.

Health & Well-Being

(+) Physical Health: % of survey respondents self-reporting poor physical health (CDC 500 Cities, BRFSS)

(+) Mental Health: % of survey respondents self-reporting poor mental health (CDC 500 Cities, BRFSS)

(+) Air Quality: total projected roadway emissions for 2035 (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization). Reported in lbs. per road mile.

“Need” was determined by academic literature, programmatic interests, stakeholder feedback, and most importantly, youth engagement from the Youth Forest Council and Park Ranger Cadet program. Measures were weighted equally. Future applications will allow users to weight measures according to personal priorities.

Layer production followed the U.S. Forest Service framework for urban tree canopy prioritization. More info at https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/urban/utc/

Copyright Text: Alan Halter, City of Austin, Development Services Department, Community Tree Preservation Division

Spatial Reference: 102739 (2277)

Initial Extent:

XMin: 2992832.94135636
YMin: 9961328.51491365
XMax: 3241653.40765799
YMax: 10178411.6768401
Spatial Reference: 102739 (2277)

Full Extent:

XMin: 3004142.96255189
YMin: 9976686.2784719
XMax: 3230343.38646246
YMax: 10163053.9132818
Spatial Reference: 102739 (2277)

Units: esriFeet

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