Landscape Architecture Students Map Trees for Baton Rouge Community










Trees create oxygen, cast shade, and also play a role in reducing air pollution, especially in major cities. Trees have ecological benefits including contributing to storm water management, and other pressing issues for Louisiana. Trees can even improve mental health, lower surface temperatures, and fight the effects of climate change.
LSU landscape architecture students and alumni have teamed up on an innovative project: to collect data on the trees in the East Baton Rouge Parish’s public spaces, and share the information to help communities. This summer the LSU students inventoried the trees in the Baton Rouge region, using technology to analyze their impact on the surrounding community.
“Trees are the first line of defense from flooding,” explained Warren Kron, (BLA alum), GIS Practice Lead at Environmental Science Services, Inc. (Es2).
LSU landscape architecture students River Heath (MLA candidate), BLA candidates Brock Efferson and Andrew English, and Taylor Williams (BA 2024, now MLA candidate), are working with Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC) to catalog trees in Greater Baton Rouge area parks to provide meaningful data for a novel environmental database.
“The students are collecting data such as stormwater runoff retention, measuring the gallons of water per year saved by the trees, pollution impacts, carbon storage, and even all the dust that trees can hold. The aim is to create an inventory of over 10,000 trees,” Kron said. “I don’t know of any other communities conducting such a widespread tree inventory of this kind, so this is a truly innovative project.”
Fellow LSU alumni involved in the project include Reed Richard and Brett Wallace with BREC, Andrew Milanes, the Es2 President, and professional land surveyor Brennon Albarez.
The project’s goals include collecting geographic positions and characteristics of trees throughout a variety of different BREC parks. A goal of the data is to objectively value the tree canopy in public spaces, and ultimately create a public inventory for East Baton Rouge. The plan is to publish the information to communicate the value of these trees to the Baton Rouge community, Kron said.
“These parks have been spread out, which has allowed us to collect and provide a wide variety of data dependent on the areas of East Baton Rouge Parish (EBRP) each park is in and the unique microclimate and microecosystem each park has,” Heath said.
Parks where they have collected data so far include Anna T. Jordan Community Park, Blackwater Conservation Area, Howell Community Park, Jones Creek Nature Reserve, and Airline Highway Park, Zachary Community Park and Memorial Sports Complex.
The data collected by LSU students is then put into iTree, a collection of urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools. Some of the important calculations iTree can put a number on include carbon sequestration, air filtration, urban cooling, stormwater management, property value added to a site and nearby sites, stress relief, and ecological benefits.
“The students are getting hands-on experience in the field, learning about plant materials, and using emerging technology in new and interesting ways,” said Kron, LSU landscape architecture alum who previously worked with Baton Rouge City planning.
The students conducted both individual surveys on specimen/individual trees, and plot surveys of forested areas. Individual tree characteristics collected include: tree species, ground cover, trunk diameter, height, tree “crown,” light exposure, physical characteristics such as leaves/bark, etc., and geographic position.
Kron, who is assembling all the data collected in the field, has used geographic information systems (GIS) to place boundaries around the forested areas at these parks along with the guidance of BREC. “Using some GIS and some of our own judgment in the field, we have attempted to spread out the plots equally throughout the forested area at each park to collect the widest variety of different plot data that we can,” Heath said. “I believe this has allowed us to collect the most accurate overall average of what type of tree canopy is found in each park (even if there are a variety of microecosystems and/or forest types in each park).”
“The most difficult part about this process, by far, is the number of invasive species that take up the forest floor blocking our sightlines and making moving throughout the plot nearly impossible at times,” Heath shared. “I knew invasive species were an issue in forests coming into this summer, but this job has made it glaringly evident.”
“I would say a plot is typically around 30-40 trees collected, but we have collected plots with up to 75 trees!”
“The project has been a lot of fun,” the students agreed. “Simply from a social standpoint, getting to hang out with Taylor, Brock, and Andrew and getting to know them better has been great. We were already familiar with one another because we are all in the landscape architecture program together but getting to know each other outside of the classroom and pick one another’s brain, especially while immersed in the local landscape, has been an enriching experience,” Heath said.
“Getting the opportunity to explore BREC parks all throughout EBRP has also been interesting. It has truly put into perspective for me how many properties BREC owns and how valuable they are to the urban areas where they are located. Simply from a conservation standpoint, preventing these areas from being developed but instead be used as ‘third places’ as well as an overall benefit to the environment around them is awesome.”
“I have learned a lot regarding the local ecology here in EBRP. I would say I can confidently name 90% or so of the trees I see on a day-to-day basis in the area now,” Heath said.
“As someone with an interest in ecological design and restoration, this experience has been very rewarding and encouraging to me that I am on the right track regarding what I would like to do with my future using my landscape architecture degree,” he said. “I believe BREC’s potential next step with this data collected is identifying and establishing a plan for eliminating invasive species and planting beneficial native species using ecological design and restoration.”
Learn more about the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.