Nahant to conduct tree inventory

NAHANT – The town is preparing to launch a comprehensive inventory of public trees in town this spring.Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan explained the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Open Space Committee Chairman Linda Pivacek are assisting with the project development.”We’re going to develop tree inventory for the town,” Cullinan said. “Trees will be put on our town GIS system. People would be able to go online and reference information about the trees in town. When it is complete you could search by type of tree and find out where every tree of the type is located in town.”Cullinan said the initial efforts would be to inventory all public trees. He said the trees would be located with the GIS system, photographed and a complete data sheet would be filled out.”This information will be placed on the Town’s GIS map as a layer,” he said.Cullinan explained the Mobile Community Tree Inventory (MCTI) system is a tree inventory software application that was developed by the United States Forestry Service and is available at no cost to municipalities. He said it is a stand alone program that does not require the purchase of additional computer softwarePivacek said she is pleased the town is moving forward with the project.”This is something the committee has been interested in doing for a long time,” she said. “It’s something that has been in our (Open Space) plan so we will work with Mark (Cullinan) on this.”Pivacek said taking an inventory of the trees is only the first step in a comprehensive tree management program.”After the trees are inventoried ultimately we would like to protect them,” she said. “I’m hoping that there will be funding somewhere to help maintain trees but the first thing is to locate and identify them.”Cullinan said the town would be looking for volunteers this spring to assist with data entry.”We’re going to try working with different groups in town,” he said. “At first we’re going to concentrate on trees on public land but it would be possible to add trees located on private property as well.”Pivacek said the Open Space Committee has received inquiries from private homeowners who are looking for information about trees located on their property.”People want to know what kind of trees they have, how old they are and how to protect them,” she said.