The main goal of this project was to provide current status of the Gulf Coast Urban Forests, especifically, the existing Live Oaks within the urban forests. Gulfport, MS was selected as an urban forest with significant need for live oak preservation. This Poster presents the following: 1)a standard Urban Forest Tree Inventory for the Gulfport, MS. 2)Assessment of the health of the Urban Trees, 3)Base-line data for a larger Urban Forest structure and function study, and 4)A management guidelines for the City of Gulfport, MS.

METHODOLOGY · Tree inventory will be conduced according to the protocols described in the USDA-FS urban forest inventory ( from the USDA-NEFES, attached). Data will be handled by the Microsoft Programs. · International Society of Arboriculture ( ISA) described procedure on tree hazard evaluation and condition will be followed according to the ISA published guidelines. · Aerial photos for the city of Gulfport will be obtained from the Gulf Coast Aerial Mapping to be used for the Ecosystem Analysis portion of this study. · Citygreen software (developed by the American Forest) or the UFORE Model (developed by the USDA-FS, David Nowak) will be used to obtain cost benefit analysis for a local portion of the city as an example for further expansion of the study as needed. · Statistical packages SAS and STATISTICA will be used to analyze the data obtained. · A Report will be developed to included the 10% tree inventory of the City and the status of urban forest health.