Aggregation of Thai arborist judgments on urban tree hazard inventories used to determine tree health at single-tree level

Abstract

Tree risk assessment has evolved greatly in recent years, from ground-based visual hazard inspection methods. In this paper, we focus on Thai arborist judgment aggregations on the common optimization of urban tree hazard inventories by using the visual tree assessment (VTA) method to develop qualitative risk assessments for tree risk mitigation. The aim of this study was to develop a tree hazard inventory identifies at single-tree level based on 35 parameters with interviewing arborist experts. And then to assess parameters that are relevant to the VTA method, content validity analysis used as the basis for screening the optimal tree inventories. The results showed that VTA inventories as having 11 parameters and the definition was clarified on tree health assessment at single-tree level. Understanding the tree inventories and tree hazard level can promote management decisions that will improve public health and environmental quality in urban areas of Thailand.