As part of Activity 1, we are developing the RISE Scorecard as a tool that will measure the value of ecosystem services provided by natural assets in residential developments.
The first iteration of the RISE Scorecard, known as RISE-Beta, was developed to characterize hypothetical land developments in a mock landscape under different scenarios. The RISE-Beta Scorecard (see below image on right), presents three different land development scenarios as follows:
- In a pre-development state (represented in green);
- In a projection of 30 years post-development at a higher density development (represented in blue); and
- In a projection of 30 years post-development at a lower density development (represented in purple).
The three development scenarios are compared using their land cover characteristics (trees, vegetation, buildings, roads, etc.), as well as terrestrial carbon and stormwater attributes.
The Scorecard will be complemented by a full document containing information about the temporal changes of the attributes (from pre-development over time up to 30 years) as well as technical details of the calculations used in the scoring.
RISE-Beta Scorecard
- In the pre-development scenario (green), the landscape is fully tree covered (100%). The trees store about 14 tons of carbon and they sequester 2.6 tons of carbon per year. Tree cover consists of 12 species and the trees have an average diameter at breast height of 22 cm. The complete tree cover results in a stormwater benefit value of 1.0 as practically all rainwater is infiltrating on site where it can support tree growth and replenish groundwater.
- In the post-development at higher density scenario (blue), the landscape has lost almost its entire tree cover (3%). Instead, the landscape is covered by grassed lawn (7%), buildings (68%), and roads (23%). The few remaining trees store just under 1 ton of carbon and they sequester <40 kg of carbon per year. The trees consist of 5 species and their average diameter at breast height is 15 cm. The >90% impervious cover (buildings and roads) with little grassed lawn results in a stormwater benefit value of 0.1 as most rainwater is running off and needs to be managed off-site.
- In the post-development at lower density scenario (purple) the landscape has retained just over half of its tree cover (53%). In addition, the landscape is covered by grassed lawn with infiltration swales (7%), buildings with green roofs (30%), and roads (10%). The remaining trees store 7.5 tons of carbon and they sequester 1.3 tons of carbon per year. The trees consist of 8 species and their average diameter at breast height is 17 cm. The partial tree cover, buildings with green roofs, and grassed lawn with infiltration swales result in a stormwater benefit value of 0.7 as a large amount of rainwater is infiltrating on-site and only a smaller portion needs to be managed off-site.
