Council offers free tree surveying training

Published: 29 June 2021

Deal Town Council is offering free tree surveying training to local residents as part of a tree mapping project

Deal Town Council is working to quantify the many benefits that trees bring to both to the environment and to the people who live and work here and is asking local people to help.

So far 25 trainees made up of Councillors from Deal Town Council, Sholden Parish Council, Walmer Parish Council and Dover District Council as well as from members of local community groups including The Deal Society, Deal With It, East Kent Climate Action, Friends of North Deal, Kingsdown Conservation Group and Mill Hill Community Forum.

The Town Council has teamed up with specialists Treeconomics who will show trainees how to survey plots – a plot is an 11m diameter circle and there are 250 mapped across the area - and how to use the online data tool, i-Tree Eco.

The i-Tree Eco software will analyse how much carbon dioxide and pollution trees filter from the air. It will also measure how much our trees help us avoid carbon emissions and stormwater runoff, and more.

Despite the many benefits that our trees provide, they are still an undervalued resource. In the minds of many, they are seen as a risk, or even a nuisance, rather than an asset. Trees require maintenance and they require care, and there is a cost attached to this. However, the benefits they provide far outweigh this cost. There is a lot of work to be done to convey the true value of trees and this is what Deal Town Council is working to do, promoting the benefits and value of our trees.

Chair of the Environment Committee, Councillor Christine Oliver said, “Trees are great at improving air quality, absorbing carbon, protecting our watercourses, saving energy, and for adding aesthetic value. They help improve our mental health, provide pleasant areas for us to walk and sit, and for our children to play. This work will enable us all to plant the right trees in the right places. Given the right care, our trees really can transform our urban environments and make them more sustainable.” 

The virtual training will take place later in July and surveying in August with the aim of being completed by the end of summer.

To get a free place on the tree surveying training, please send an email