Orange County, FL, Trees to Offset Stormwater

This project, called Trees to Offset Stormwater, is a study of Orange County, Florida’s forest canopy and the role that trees play in uptaking, storing and releasing water. This study was undertaken to assist Orange County in evaluating how to better integrate trees into their stormwater management programs. More specifically, the study covers the role that trees play in stormwater management and shows ways in which the county can benefit from tree conservation and replanting. It also evaluated ways for the county to improve forest management as the county develops.

Satellite imagery was used to classify the types of land cover in Orange County. This shows the county those areas with vegetative cover that allow for the uptake of water and those that are impervious and more likely to have stormwater runoff. High-resolution tree canopy mapping provides a baseline of tree canopy cover that can assess current status and evaluate future progress in tree preservation and enhancement. An ArcGIS geodatabase with all GIS shape files produced during the study was provided to Orange County for its future use.

This is one of 12 case study reports produced by GIC for the Trees to Offset Stormwater Project.
You can view the Summary Report here.
You can learn more about this project on our Trees and Stormwater page here.