Evaluating Stormwater Benefits of Atlanta's Urban Forest

This is a Featured Article in the January 2020 Stormwater Magazine expounding on a presentation given by Amanda Medori Hallauer and Eric Kuehler at the 2019 StormCon annual conference in Atlanta, GA.

Urban forests provide myriad benefits, but for municipalities or stormwater programs where budgets are tight, it can be challenging to quantify those benefits. In “Evaluating Stormwater Benefits of Atlanta’s Urban Forest” (page 10), we look at how Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management used i-Tree Eco, a US Forest Service model designed to use field-collected data along with local hourly meteorological and air pollution data to quantify a community’s forest structure, function, and value. DWM is now able to quantify the economic value Atlanta’s urban forests provide residents in addition to the rainfall and stormwater capture benefits. [Rachel Sim, Editor's Comments]

Evaluating Stormwater Benefits of Atlanta's Urban Forest