In this step, give the initial conditions about the development site. Estimate the original amount of early successional forest/shrubland and late successional forest across the entire site. For tree canopy cover in built areas, estimate tree canopy cover in proposed areas that will contain a substantial amount of human-modified structures such as rangeland, crops, mowed grass, buildings, and asphalt. Essentially any trees currently found in proposed residential/commercial areas will count towards the original tree canopy cover.
Early successional forest fragments are defined here as 1) shrublands composed primarily of shrubs with some scattering of trees and grassland patches, and 2) very young forests composed of primarily planted pine saplings and/or pioneer species such as black cherry (Prunus sp.), trees that are 0-15 years old, and tree height is typically less than 30 ft. Late successional forest fragments are where most of the trees that form the canopy are over 30 ft tall, including both relatively young forests with trees 15-50 years old and mature forests with trees 50+ years or older. To be considered a forest fragment, the minimum size is 1 acre.
