Management Recommendations
We didn't have management goals for the property. The purpose of the project was to analyze the trees themselves and their value in the community. Rock Point could benefit from using iTree with proper resources. The area is very valuable to Burlington and the surrounding communities.
Discussion
We encountered more problems than expected during this project. The data collection went smoothly, with the exception of the time constraint we were presented. If there was more time and resources, it would be possible to survey the 30 plots needed in order to run iTree. We also would have been able to survey bigger plots, giving us more diversity in trees. Since we couldn't use iTree, our analysis of the forest health is not as in depth as it would have been using the program. If the project itself was more organized, we would have been more prepared and the outcomes would have been different. Clearer instructions and knowledge of the iTree program would have been useful. For example, we could have collaborated with the Wednesday iTree group (Dan and Ethan) and completed the thirty plots needed to run the program. The original premise of the project was quality control for the NR1 class's iTree plots to determine the accuracy of their data and ensure the Burlington iTree Initiative was as accurate as possible. As it stands, it was less of a service-learning project and more of a learning experience for everyone involved.
