SWAMPSCOTT — At the Select Board meeting on Wednesday evening the Tree Committee presented their tree canopy study in collaboration with Salem State students. The study found that between the years 2010 and 2016, 110 acres of tree coverage were lost.
“We have been concerned about tree canopy loss. We wanted to see if we could quantify it,” Tree Committee member Tara Gallagher said. “We are thrilled that we were able to work with students from Salem State to look at tree canopy loss.”
Students Danny Szottfried and Becca Smalley presented the findings of a study they did for a class last semester to the board.
“Our main objective of the project is to use satellite imagery in ArcGIS Pro to observe and quantify the loss of trees over time in the town of Swampscott,” Smalley said. “We were able to use this by collecting imagery online from the National Agricultural Imagery Program.”
Their analysis covers every other year from 2010 to 2016.
“We did this project by creating a land cover classification,” Smalley said. “It just shows the different land cover types in Swampscott over time between our timeframe. This includes tree cover development, any areas that are roads or planted cultivated areas, grassland.”
After that they did an accuracy assessment to see how accurate their results were for land cover types. The accuracy came out to 90 percent and above. They then presented their final results.
“From 2010 to 2016, the town of Swampscott lost 110 acres of tree cover which is quite significant for such a small town,” Smalley said.
Szottfried took the data they collected and turned it into a website to make it “accessible” online.
“As you move the map around … the numbers in the bottom will adjust and give you an accurate calculation of how much tree cover was lost in that specific map frame. So you can zoom in on a specific address and you’ll be able to see how many acres of trees were lost from 2010 to 2016,” Szottfried said.
With the loss of tree coverage, the temperature in Swampscott will increase over time. Select Board Vice Chair David Grishman asked how long it would take to replace the 110 acres lost.
“If we plant tree for tree, it’s gonna take 100 years for them to reach the same canopy,” Gallagher said in response. “We do need to change our perspective in light of what we understand about climate change, in light of the heating of temperatures in the area. We need to plant more trees, both public trees, and we need to educate citizens so that they’re planting more trees on their properties and caring for trees and not taking trees down that don’t need to be taken down.”
In terms of getting data from 2016 on, the committee is hoping to work with another class of students.
The Tree Committee will be sending a letter to Massachusetts State Senator Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) asking him to support a reforestation bill. The Select Board voted in favor of signing a similar advocacy letter.
