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Cities4Forests Toolbox

How do city officials invest in the conservation and management of inner, nearby, or faraway forests to achieve their city goals? What sort of resources and guidance are available to city officials to make the most informed decisions? And how can they tailor projects based on  their goals or outcomes?

The Cities4Forests Toolbox offers city officials, government agencies, NGOs and other forest project stakeholders a full suite of tools to help advance projects at all forest levels. We offer practical, research-based tools to make forests a vital part of your city’s resilience and improve the well-being of your residents. The toolbox includes solutions and guides from around the world to aid your decision-making, planning and investments.

To start, select a category that aligns with your city’s goals. Filter results further by selecting key terms. Or simply browse the full set of tools.

Intro To The Green-Gray Assessment Guide
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Green-Gray Assessment Guide

The Green-Gray Assessment guide allows stakeholders to value the costs and benefits of integrating green or natural infrastruct...

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WaterWorld and Co$ting Nature
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WaterWorld and Co$ting Nature

WaterWorld and Co$ting Nature are two analysis tools to explore ecosystem services using spatial data as well as models of biop...

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Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM)
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Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM)

The Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) is a framework developed for countries to conduct forest landscape ...

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Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit
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Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit

The Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit offers innovative models, tools, and technologies for communities to manage water run...

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Urban Tree Canopy Assessment
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Urban Tree Canopy Assessment

The Urban Tree Canopy assessments report highlights the approaches, methods and data sources used in urban tree canopy assessme...

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Water Funds Toolbox
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Water Funds Toolbox

The Water Funds Toolbox offers a step-by-step guide to help local champions replicate and implement the Water Funds model. The ...

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Complete Streets
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Complete Streets

The Complete Streets program encourages cities to develop more accessible and integrated urban areas, such as by using pedestri...

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Biodiversity
Tool

Biodiversity A-Z

Biodiversity A-Z offers a variety of information about biodiversity, including defining common terms, explaining acronyms, high...

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Green Infrastructure Guide
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Green Infrastructure Guide

The Green Infrastructure Guide helps analyze common trends in the approaches U.S. cities are taking to planning, implementing, ...

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U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions offers cutting-edge methodologies and best...

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Urban Forest Management Plan Toolkit
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Urban Forest Management Plan Toolkit

The Urban Forest Management Plan Toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to designing and implementing an urban forest management...

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Global Forest Watch (GFW)
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Global Forest Watch (GFW)

Global Forest Watch (GFW) is free and simple to use, enabling anyone to create custom maps, analyze forest trends, subscri...

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Community Assessment and Goal-Setting Tool
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Community Assessment and Goal-Setting Tool

The Community Assessment & Goal-Setting Tool helps urban foresters, city officials, and others understand their city’s urba...

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Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities App
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Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities App

The Nature Conservancy’s Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities mobile app helps users to maintain healthy trees. The Healthy...

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i-Tree Eco
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i-Tree Eco

i-Tree Eco Version 6—part of the i-Tree Suite—is a flexible software application designed to use data collected in the field fr...

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i-Tree Hydro
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i-Tree Hydro

i-Tree Hydro Version 6—part of the i-Tree Suite—is a flexible tool for users interested in comparative analyses of differe...

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i-Tree Suite
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i-Tree Suite

The i-Tree suite provides urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools. The i-Tree tools can help strengthen...

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Tree Plotter
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Tree Plotter

Tree Plotter is a web-based urban forest management software program, compatible with i-Tree, ESRI, and other mapping APIs. Bui...

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InVEST
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InVEST

Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) is free, open-source software that provides modeling and...

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Toolkit for Community Participation in Pocket Parks
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Toolkit for Community Participation in Pocket Parks

The Toolkit for Community Participation in Pocket Parks offers recommendations on how to implement community participation proc...

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Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Program (STEW-MAP)
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Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Program (STEW-MAP)

STEW-MAP (Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Program) surveys civic stewardship groups to enhance the social and ecological res...

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Urban Forestry Toolkit
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Urban Forestry Toolkit

The Vibrant Cities Lab and USDA Forest Service partnered to create the Urban Forestry Toolkit, which provides a step-by-step gu...

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Collect Earth
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Collect Earth

Collect Earth, developed as part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Open Foris suite, enables data...

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Mapping Social Landscapes
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Mapping Social Landscapes

The Social Landscapes Guidebook takes a new approach to environmental governance by focusing on identifying the social capital ...

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The Atlas
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The Atlas

The Atlas provides a platform for information exchange and innovation, helping connect cites around the globe. Cities can share...

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Sustainable Procurement Guide
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Sustainable Procurement Guide

The Sustainable Procurement Guide assists city sustainability officers and business procurement managers in the development and...

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Learning For Nature
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Learning For Nature

Learning for Nature provides opportunities to learn about biodiversity conservation, natural capital valuation, and more. Cours...

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Resource Watch
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Resource Watch

Resource Watch features hundreds of data sets all in one place on the state of the planet’s resources and residents. Users can ...

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Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES)
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Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES)

Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) helps assess, map, and quantify the perceived social values of ecosystem ser...

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Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA)

The Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) helps users to understand the value of their natural capital at...

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A Worksheet for Review of Municipal Codes and Ordinances

The Worksheet for Review of Municipal Codes and Ordinances can help cities understand the degree to which their policies and re...

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Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer

The Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer is a web-based interactive platform which measures river flood impacts by urban damage, affe...

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