130 Grande-Ortiz et al.: Methods of Tree Appraisals Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2012. 38(4): 130–140 Methods of Tree Appraisal: A Review of Their Features and Application Possibilities M.A. Grande-Ortiz, E. Ayuga-Téllez, and M.L. Contato-Carol Abstract. Urban trees perform a number of basic functions related to the environment and the welfare of city dwellers (ecological, recreation- al, psychological), although their benefits are not readily quantifiable. However, in certain situations, it is essential to assign an economic val- ue to the trees. There are currently various methods for valuing the benefits of trees and greenspaces in human settlements, including statisti- cal methods, the travel cost method, contingent valuation, the hedonic pricing method, and integrated methods. However, these methods are not used in official valuations of urban trees; in these cases, appraisal methods are used. The aim of this paper is to study the appraisal methods used for their detailed features and the possibilities of their application. The main conclusion of this review is that there are a number of meth- ods with different types of application. The best method is selected according to tree location, type of land ownership, and the availability of data. Methods with a higher degree of applicability are CTLA, a parametric method of low difficulty, and Contato, a mixed method of me- dium difficulty. In any case, it is advisable to increase efforts to objectify the correction index in the case of parametric and mixed methods. Key Words. Appraisal; Parametric Indexes; Urban Trees; Valuation. A tree provides many benefits to the urban dweller, both environmental (Jim and Chen 2009) and psychological (Sugiyama et al. 2008; Lafortezza et al. 2009). The pres- ence of trees, whether grouped together in greenspaces or lining streets, is considered essential in improving the quality of life and well-being of city dwellers (Table 1). In cities, trees have been considered to fulfil a primar- ily ornamental purpose; however, there is no doubt that they also perform other equally important functions, such as their use for recreation (Gundersen et al. 2006), their role as a link between man and nature (Dwyer 1995; Aldous 2007), and their contribution to the general well-being of the city’s residents (Dwyer et al. 2000; O’Brien 2005). Moreo- ver, numerous works have demonstrated the role of urban trees in improving the environment (Nowak 2006) (Table 2). Trees can enhance environments where people show a positive trend in their willingness to pay more for goods and services (Luttik 2000; Wolf 2004; Jim and Chen 2006; Wolf 2009a; Wolf 2009b; Joye et al. 2010). However, all these benefits of urban trees are not readily quantifiable. Recent studies show an increase in public concern over urban trees (Escobedo et al. 2006; Zhang et al. 2007; Kirnbauera et al. 2009; UEA 2009). Nevertheless, the value of trees to urbanites is generally underestimated (Dwyer et al. 1992), and it currently only becomes necessary to establish the economic value of a tree when: * Legal regulations need to be applied for updating rates, taxes, or re-estimating land value (Schmied and Pillmann 2003). * There has been damage to the trees: wounds inflicted by third parties, disasters, floods, storms, or damages ©2012 International Society of Arboriculture * caused by the installation and maintenance of public service networks (Jim 2003). Jobs need to be done involving the planning and management of work on public trees, financial analysis, or updating of public assets, inventories, and cataloging (Miller 1997). The experience of these benefits by any single person does not exclude others from experiencing similar benefits, both immediately and indefinitely (Wolf 2005). In this re- gard, authors such as Fabbri (1989), Miller (1997), Caballer (1999), and Nowak et al. (2002) indicate the difficulties en- countered when attempting to set a value on trees in a city. They maintain that this assessment has to be based on the various functions provided by the tree throughout its life. METHODS TO EVALUATE THE BENEFITS OF TREES AND GREENSPACES There are many methods to valuate the benefits of trees and greenspaces in human settlements, including statis- tical methods, the travel cost method, contingent valua- tion, the hedonic pricing method, and integrated methods. Statistical methods (multiple regressions) are used to relate the value of the property to urban trees (Ander- son and Cordell 1988; Dombrow et al. 2000; Luttik 2000; Sander et al. 2010). The basic principle of these meth- ods is the statistical probing of the association between green features and property value (Jim 2006). These methods are not easily generalizable and require a large amount of data to replicate the model in another city.
July 2012
| Title Name |
Pages |
Delete |
Url |
| Empty |
Search Text Block
Page #page_num
#doc_title
Hi $receivername|$receiveremail,
$sendername|$senderemail wrote these comments for you:
$message
$sendername|$senderemail would like for you to view the following digital edition.
Please click on the page below to be directed to the digital edition:
$thumbnail$pagenum
$link$pagenum
Your form submission was a success. You will be contacted by Washington Gas with follow-up information regarding your request.
This process might take longer please wait
