SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Research to quantify the economic benefits of street trees and further develop a computer program called STRATUM.
- Notice Date
- 7/14/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 800 Buchanon St., Albany, CA, 94710
- ZIP Code
- 94710
- Solicitation Number
- STRATUM-03
- Response Due
- 8/15/2003
- Archive Date
- 8/16/2003
- Point of Contact
- Bernadette Jaquint, Grants and Agreements Specialist, Phone 510 559-6309, Fax 510 559-6440,
- E-Mail Address
-
bjaquint
- Description
- The USDA Forest Service, Center for Urban Forest Research, Pacific Southwest Research Station intends to enter into Cooperative Research and Development Agreements for a research program to quantify the economic benefits of street trees for specified communities. The research program is intended to create an opportunity for every community in the U.S. to quantify benefits of its urban forest, while promoting continued research and development to strengthen the scientific underpinnings of urban forest benefit-cost analysis. The Forest Service will conduct research to develop STRATUM (a computer program developed by the Forest Service called Street Tree Resource Analysis Tool for Urban forest Managers) compatible, priced Resource Units (RUs)?the dollar value (e.g., the amount of energy saved in kWh/yr) used to determine and calculate benefits of individual trees. The Cooperator will use this information and STRATUM to quantify economic benefits of street trees in specified communities. The Forest Service and Cooperator will partner to further develop and transfer this value-added product. This agreement will improve urban forest management in six distinct ways: ? Enable managers to better justify program budgets ? Increase public awareness and support for programs ? Leverage funding for tree management from electric utilities, corporations, stormwater management districts, and air quality improvement programs ? Connect the magnitude of tree benefits with management and budgeting levels ? Promote a population-based management approach over a tree-based approach ? Maximize net benefits. One outcome of this project is an improved computer program for street tree assessment (STRATUM) to optimize design and management and project future benefits and costs given various management scenarios. Another outcome is a low-cost approach to quantifying urban forest benefits that will rapidly enter the market, enabling communities to benefit through improved management. We are looking for Cooperators who will: ? Contribute funds to Forest Service research and development efforts for STRATUM. Funding will be dollar-cost averaged to a per tree basis for the total street tree population. If a sample is taken, the calculated total population is used to determine the total amount. ? Supply Forest Service with tree data as determined by mutual agreement for use in adjusting tree growth curves. ? Provide Forest Service with all information that Cooperator has collected relative to the tree inventory of the specified city, including all trees and/or sites inventoried and their attributes. ? Provide Forest Service with information and specifications relative to the problems encountered with current products and the desired specifications of the products if subjected to the process that is the objective of this Agreement. ? Supply Forest Service with final report produced by Cooperator for its client, including benefit-cost analysis for inclusion in database. The Forest Service will: ? Provide Cooperator with STRATUM software for benefit analysis. Computer code developed by the Forest Service will remain in the public domain. ? Provide Cooperator with priced RUs customized for predominant and ?other? tree species based on tree type for specified city in a STRATUM compatible format. ? Provide Cooperator with a summary report that includes data sources, methods used for calculating RUs and their valuation, and scope of appropriate usage. ? Facilitate annual STRATUM users group meetings for the term of the agreement to discuss current research findings and direction, marketing, and product development. For additional information contact: Greg McPherson, PhD Director, Center for Urban Forest Research USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station c/o Dept. of Environmental Horticulture University of California One Shields Ave. Davis, CA 95616 530-752-5897 ph 530-752-6634 fax
- Record
- SN00370527-W 20030716/030714213222 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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