• CCSI Home
• Initiatives
• Application
• Contact
• More sustainability@claremont

2008 Initiatives

• Claremont Colleges Tree Canopy
• Solar Technologies for the Claremont Colleges
• Scripps College Food and Sustainability Community Project

2007 Initiatives

• Greening the Office Supply Stream
• Urban Ecosystem Analysis Using GIS:
  • Introduction
  • Major Findings
  • Tree Inventory
  • Web Maps
  • Recommendations
  • GIS Data
  • Final Report
  • Presentation slides
  • Resources
  • Team Members
• 5-College Environmental Audit

Campus Trees

Recommendations

Urban Ecosystem Analysis Using GIS

Recommendations for the Claremont Colleges Urban Forest and Future Analysis

• The Claremont Colleges should set tree canopy goals and strategies to achieve these goals. For example, existing tree coverage for CGU is 23.4%. In comparison to similar urban settings, this value would fall near the median leaving much room for improvement. These improvements could be generalized to all the Claremont Colleges due to the similarities in their urban ecosystems.
• The Claremont Colleges should conduct a comprehensive Urban Ecosystem Analysis of the Claremont Colleges Campuses utilizing the findings of this study. This analysis would require up-to-date, comprehensive, detailed GIS data sets of the Claremont Colleges Campuses. The development of these data sets would require the use of existing CAD drawings from all the schools as well as the Claremont University Consortium. These data sets would useful for future UEA, other Sustainability Initiatives, and other campus needs and applications such as emergency planning.
• Because the current CITYgreen software cannot calculate energy savings, a methodology to calculate energy savings for large buildings using GIS should be developed as part of any future sustainability initiatives. A number of published articles could provide the foundation for this methodology (see the final report )
• Integrate the GIS data sets provided as part of this project into a Claremont University Consortium database for use in current campus maintenance programs as well as in any new development projects so as to provide decision makers with information on the impact of the planned development.
• Promote greater understanding and awareness of the environmental benefits of the existing urban ecosystem resident on the Claremont Colleges campuses.

More detailed description of the recommendations is included in the final report .