IACA - SRIV

SUSTAINABLE RETENTION INDEX VALUE (SRIV) © 2010 Version 4

A visual method of objectively rating the viability of urban trees for development sites and management, based on general tree and landscape assessment criteria.

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INTRODUCTION

Sustainable Retention Index Value (SRIV)©

SRIV © provides a dual method of objectively rating the viability of urban trees for development sites based on general tree and landscape assessment criteria, and a numeric index for each tree as a tree management tool. SRIV © is designed as an objective system based on set criteria to replace previous subjective systems. SRIV © is based on the principle of sustaining trees in the urban environment including remnant forest trees, but does not cover social aspects of trees, or hedges. Dead trees and environmental or noxious weed species are not considered as removal of these trees is generally encouraged.

SRIV© benefits the arboriculturist by defining each variable providing certainty and clarity to their meaning and by issuing a definite index value to each category. This enables the professional manager of urban trees with an assumed knowledge of the taxa and its growing environment to consider the tree in situ and is based on the physical attributes of the tree and its response to its environment. SRIV© considers its age class, condition class, vigour class and its sustainable retention with regard to the safety of people or damage to property. The ability to retain the tree with remedial work or beneficial modifications to its growing environment or removal and replacement is also considered.

To promote tree retention, remediation works to improve the growing environment should always be attempted where ever possible. Successive assessments may document improvements in a tree where it responded favorably to remediation, or where conditions in its growing environment improved naturally, or conversely a decline, or a static rating if the tree deteriorated, or no change was observed, respectively.

SRIV© is designed to achieve a quick and readily understood value for a tree but does not replace the need for a comprehensive assessment of a tree and as a tool is intended to be used in conjunction with or complementary to a detailed tree assessment. As a management tool the ongoing SRIV© assessment of a tree may indicate its response to remedial works or other modifications to its growing environment over time.

SRIV© is a realistic approach to managing trees but recognises from the outset that as tree taxa are a vast and varied array of organisms, not all will fit easily into the system e.g. tree species with a lifespan shorter than twenty years, most Acacia species. Field trials have revealed that it is suitable for the majority of trees.

An example of a SRIV© for a Mature tree with Good Vigour and Poor Condition is an assessment value of MGVP - 6, with 6 as the index value, see page 4. The matrix provides indices as a tree management decision making tool and the Age / Vigour / Condition classes as a tree assessment system.

The Glossary details the definitions for terms to be used with the SRIV© system and are taken from the Institute of Australian Consulting Arboriculturists (IACA)© Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments¹.

¹ Draper BD and Richards PA 2009, Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments, Institute of Australian Consulting Arboriculturists (IACA), CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.

MATRIX - SUSTAINABLE RETENTION INDEX VALUE (SRIV) ©

Use of this document and referencing

The Sustainable Retention Index Value (SRIV)© is free to use, but only in its entirety and must be cited as follows:

IACA, 2010, Sustainable Retention Index Value (SRIV)©, Version 4, A visual method of objectively rating the viability of urban trees for development sites and management, based on general tree and landscape assessment criteria, Institute of Australian Consulting Arboriculturists, Australia, www.iaca.org.au.

The matrix is to be used with the value classes defined in the Glossary for Age / Vigour / Condition.
An index value is given to each category where ten (10) is the highest value.

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GLOSSARY

Values for terminology of SRIV©
Sustainable Retention Index Value ©

From

Draper BD and Richards PA 2009, Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments, Institute of Australian Consulting Arboriculturists (IACA), CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.

Vigour

Vigour Ability of a tree to sustain its life processes. This is independent of the condition of a tree but may impact upon it. Vigour can appear to alter rapidly with change of seasons (seasonality) e.g. dormant, deciduous or semi-deciduous trees. Vigour can be categorized as Normal Vigour, High Vigour, Low Vigour and Dormant Tree Vigour.

Normal Vigour Ability of a tree to maintain and sustain its life processes. This may be evident by the typical growth of leaves, crown cover and crown density, branches, roots and trunk and resistance to predation. This is independent of the condition of a tree but may impact upon it, and especially the ability of a tree to sustain itself against predation.

High Vigour Accelerated growth of a tree due to incidental or deliberate artificial changes to its growing environment that are seemingly beneficial, but may result in premature aging or failure if the favourable conditions cease, or promote prolonged senescence if the favourable conditions remain, e.g. water from a leaking pipe; water and nutrients from a leaking or disrupted sewer pipe; nutrients from animal waste, a tree growing next to a chicken coop, or a stock feed lot, or a regularly used stockyard; a tree subject to a stringent watering and fertilising program; or some trees may achieve an extended lifespan from continuous pollarding practices over the life of the tree.

Low Vigour Reduced ability of a tree to sustain its life processes. This may be evident by the atypical growth of leaves, reduced crown cover and reduced crown density, branches, roots and trunk, and a deterioration of their functions with reduced resistance to predation. This is independent of the condition of a tree but may impact upon it, and especially the ability of a tree to sustain itself against predation.

Dormant Tree Vigour Determined by existing turgidity in lowest order branches in the outer extremity of the crown, with good bud set and formation, and where the last extension growth is distinct from those most recently preceding it, evident by bud scale scars. Normal vigour during dormancy is achieved when such growth is evident on a majority of branches throughout the crown.

Age

Age Most trees have a stable biomass for the major proportion of their life. The estimation of the age of a tree is based on the knowledge of the expected lifespan of the taxa in situ divided into three distinct stages of measurable biomass, when the exact age of the tree from its date of cultivation or planting is unknown and can be categorized as Young, Mature and Over-mature.

Young Tree aged less <20% of life expectancy, in situ.

Mature Tree aged 20-80% of life expectancy, in situ.

Over-mature Tree aged greater than >80% of life expectancy, in situ, or senescent with or without reduced vigour, and declining gradually or rapidly but irreversibly to death.

Periods of Time

Periods of Time The life span of a tree in the urban environment may often be reduced by the influences of encroachment and the dynamics of the environment and can be categorized as Immediate, Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term.

Short Term Period of time less than <1 - 15 years.

Medium Term Period of time 15 - 40 years.

Long Term Period of time greater than >40 years.

Condition

Condition A tree's crown form and growth habit, as modified by its environment (aspect, suppression by other trees, soils), the stability and viability of the root plate, trunk and structural branches (first (1st) and possibly second (2nd) order branches), including structural defects such as wounds, cavities or hollows, crooked trunk or weak trunk/branch junctions and the effects of predation by pests and diseases. These may not be directly connected with vigour and it is possible for a tree to be of normal vigour but in poor condition. Condition can be categorized as Good Condition, Fair Condition, Poor Condition and Dead.

Good Condition Tree is of good habit, with crown form not severely restricted for space and light, physically free from the adverse effects of predation by pests and diseases, obvious instability or structural weaknesses, fungal, bacterial or insect infestation and is expected to continue to live in much the same condition as at the time of inspection provided conditions around it for its basic survival do not alter greatly. This may be independent from, or contributed to by vigour.

Fair Condition Tree is of good habit or misshapen, a form not severely restricted for space and light, has some physical indication of decline due to the early effects of predation by pests and diseases, fungal, bacterial, or insect infestation, or has suffered physical injury to itself that may be contributing to instability or structural weaknesses, or is faltering due to the modification of the environment essential for its basic survival. Such a tree may recover with remedial works where appropriate, or without intervention may stabilise or improve over time, or in response to the implementation of beneficial changes to its local environment. This may be independent from, or contributed to by vigour.

Poor Condition Tree is of good habit or misshapen, a form that may be severely restricted for space and light, exhibits symptoms of advanced and irreversible decline such as fungal, or bacterial infestation, major die-back in the branch and foliage crown, structural deterioration from insect damage e.g. termite infestation, or storm damage or lightning strike, ring barking from borer activity in the trunk, root damage or instability of the tree, or damage from physical wounding impacts or abrasion, or from altered local environmental conditions and has been unable to adapt to such changes and may decline further to death regardless of remedial works or other modifications to the local environment that would normally be sufficient to provide for its basic survival if in good to fair condition. Deterioration physically, often characterised by a gradual and continuous reduction in vigour but may be independent of a change in vigour, but characterised by a proportionate increase in susceptibility to, and predation by pests and diseases against which the tree cannot be sustained. Such conditions may also be evident in trees of advanced senescence due to normal phenological processes, without modifications to the growing environment or physical damage having been inflicted upon the tree. This may be independent from, or contributed to by vigour.

Dead Tree is no longer capable of performing any of the following processes or is exhibiting any of the following symptoms;

Processes

Photosynthesis via its foliage crown (as indicated by the presence of moist, green or other coloured leaves);
Osmosis (the ability of the roots system to take up water);
Turgidity (the ability of the plant to sustain moisture pressure in its cells);
Epicormic shoots or epicormic strands in Eucalypts (the production of new shoots as a response to stress, generated from latent or adventitious buds or from a lignotuber);

Symptoms

Permanent leaf loss;
Permanent wilting (the loss of turgidity which is marked by desiccation of stems leaves and roots);
Shedding of the epidermis (bark desiccates and peels off to the beginning of the sapwood).