Land Cover Classification
|
Hudsonville’s tree canopy is estimated at 21% (Table 16), which is on the lower end of the reference Michigan communities. Impervious surfaces (buildings and roads) make up 33% of the land cover. Grass and low-lying vegetation comprise 39% of the community. The city's borders, particularly on the southern portion of the city, have the greatest canopy cover, while the major neighborhoods and commercial areas have the greatest amount of impervious surfaces (Figure 11).
|
|
Figure 11. Hudsonville land cover classification.
To view this and other maps in an interactive format visit the Story Map
Tree Canopy Related to Land Use
Tree canopy levels tend to correlate with land use types. Figure 12 illustrates a land use map of Hudsonville. Table 16 presents land uses as they relate to land cover types detailed in the previous section.
In a typical community, commercial areas tend to have lower levels of tree canopy and higher levels of impervious surfaces than residential districts. This is true in Hudsonville, where the commercial areas have the lowest level of tree canopy, 9% and highest amount of impervious surface, 56%; while residential areas have 25% tree canopy and 39% impervious surfaces. The agriculture/forested lands in Hudsonville have the highest level of tree canopy, 34%.
Opportunities should be pursued to increase canopy cover in commercial areas due to low canopy cover and high amounts of impervious surface. These two factors may indicate that this land use has a significant impact on the quantity and quality of the community’s stormwater runoff.
The open space/recreational land use, contains the highest percentage of grass and low-lying vegetation (64%), which provides opportunities to increase canopy cover in this land use. In addition, low-lying vegetation makes up at least 31% of the land cover across the city's other land use types, providing additional opportunities for tree planting and increasing canopy cover. For example, the residential land use’s lower canopy level (25%), moderate level of impervious surfaces (39%), and higher percentage of grass and low-lying vegetation (35%) indicates there is room for canopy expansion in this land use. Providing public outreach on tree canopy specifically related to quality of life benefits (e.g. increased property values, health improvements, social benefits) could make this an ideal land use to pursue for canopy expansion.
Overall, these results indicate that there are planting opportunities across land use classes, however these might be limited in some cases by impervious surfaces.
Figure 12. Hudsonville land use classification.
Priority Planting Areas
|
The planting priority levels map (Figure 13) can be used to focus in on the locations in which plantings may deliver the highest impacts in terms of ecosystem benefits and overall benefits to the community. Hudsonville can use this as a guideline for deciding where future trees can be planted to have the greatest impact on benefits and stormwater runoff. Of the 1,118 plantable acres, 19% of those acres (214 acres) are listed as a planting priority of Moderate or above. If only these areas are planted, Hudsonville’s canopy would increase from 536 acres to 750 acres, increasing the total canopy cover to 29%.
|
|
In many cases the lower levels of priority planting can be attributed to land use type. In Hudsonville’s case, the location and amount of agricultural lands led to many low priority planting areas. More information on the inputs for the planting analysis can be found on the Project Overview.
Figure 13. Hudsonville prioritized planting areas.
Tree canopy percent by census block analysis found below can be used as a supplemental tool to determine which neighborhoods are in most need of planting (Figure 14). For Hudsonville, the tree canopy percent analysis largely confirms the results of the planting priority analysis, which shows small pocketed areas of Moderate and higher planting priorities dotted throughout the central residential and commercial areas in conjunction with lower levels of canopy.
Figure 14. Hudsonville tree canopy by census block.
Ecosystem Benefits Analysis
Community forests are important components of the ecosystem and provide quantifiable benefits. Hudsonville realizes an annual benefit of $770,719 for reductions in air pollution, stormwater reduction, and carbon sequestration from the tree canopy. The city also benefits from carbon stored in the trees, which contributes $3,176,128 over their lifetime.
Custom Analysis: Tree Placement Analysis for Creekside Park
|
The potential tree planting opportunities at Creekside Park were analyzed utilizing a tree placement model. This custom analysis models tree placement by planting trees according to random placement and size. These outputs gave the number of large, medium and small mature-sized trees that could be planted on the proposed park.
|
|
The proposed number of trees that can be planted on the site are; 39 large trees, 7 medium trees, and 39 small trees. The approximate numbers and recommended tree size were generated with an emphasis on maximizing the population of large to medium canopy tree species. Larger species trees will provide more benefits further into the future than their smaller counterparts.
Figure 15. Creekside Park tree placement analysis.
