The tall, leafy giants freckled throughout Laguna Woods Village may often be overlooked to the untrained eye. Although each tree’s story may seem frivolous to some, there’s actually a significance to each element of the peaceful plants.
Anaheim Hills-based Arbor Pro – whose clients include more than 200 cities nationwide – is set to launch a software system that will catalog Laguna Woods Village’s tree species, conditions and maintenance history.
Keeping an in-depth record of every one of the 35,000-plus trees in the Village at first sounds extreme, but documenting the story of each tree can help keep the “woods” in Laguna Woods thriving.
“It’s basically a management software program that is a complete, overall summary of an urban forest,” Arbor Pro area manager Jeff Davidson said.
Arbor Pro’s tracking of data will result in more efficient trimming and pruning, Davidson said. The software also tracks costs, specifically pertaining to hours performed for a person doing tree maintenance work, he said.
“It manages (the trees) from start to finish, so it allows (landscapers) to know when they started and when they finished,” Davidson said. “It also records all of the work history involved to protect against liability, or trees falling down and damaging property.”
Laguna Woods has among the highest value of trees within the Arbor Pro system, Arbor Pro President Keith Hennig said – about $128 million.
Arbor Pro uses a GPS map, via Google, that shows the precise location of each tree. Users can click on a tree and its information will be displayed.
Surveying and documenting the Village’s trees began mid-September, Davidson said, by certified arborists who were trained by him in the field.
“(Arbor Pro) will be a huge time saver,” said John Parker, Golden Rain Foundation landscape committee chair.
“In addition to that, work will be done not only by cul de sac, but can be done by the species, because you can click on a tree and locate where it’s at in the Village.”
Arbor Pro software also can estimate the monetary value of the trees in specified areas of the the Village, Henning said, which is helpful for future projects. For example, if there is a potential to remove a group of trees, the user can highlight the group and see the dollar amount of its worth.
It can also keep track of which trees may contain pests, which is useful to contain any spreading, he said.
The software should be live and working by the end of this week, Davidson said.
Arbor Pro is primarily a tool for the landscape department, Parker said. “But in addition, with its ability to locate physical locations, it probably will be used for other departments because it can locate streetlights and transformers.”
Although only landscape staff will have access to Arbor Pro in the first stages, there is potential for limited public access as well.
The breadth of public usage is still in discussion, Parker said, but will likely include access to tree species and locations.