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Tree Tagging

Tree tagging

Overview

Tree tagging is the practice of attaching a small, durable label to each tree, carrying — at minimum — its scientific name, local Bengali name, and a unique identifier. Tags turn anonymous green space into a teaching collection. They also become the seed of every campus or community tree inventory ANCF runs afterwards.

Study Area: University and college campuses, school grounds, public parks in Bangladesh Duration: Ongoing Role: Lead organisation Status: Ongoing — expanding to new campuses

Why It Matters

  • Most people — including students on science and forestry courses — can name fewer than ten of the trees around them. Tags fix that quickly.
  • A labelled tree is a monitored tree. Survival, growth, and phenology data become possible only after each individual has a stable ID.
  • Tagging campaigns are cheap, fast, and visible. They are a good entry point for new volunteers and partner institutions.

Methods

What's on a tag

  • Scientific name (genus, species)
  • Local Bengali name
  • A unique tree ID (institution prefix + serial number)
  • Optional: family, year planted, QR/short URL to a species page

Workflow

  1. Inventory walk — a coordinator walks the site with students and logs every tree by species. Where the species is uncertain, samples are collected for later identification.
  2. Tag production — durable tags (aluminium or weather-proof plastic) are produced from the inventory list.
  3. Tagging day — tags are fixed to trees with non-girdling fasteners, geolocations are recorded, and a printed key is produced for the site.
  4. Monitoring — tagged trees are revisited annually (or as resources allow) to update growth and survival data.

Sites Tagged or Inventoried

  • Chittagong University (2015 – present)
  • Cumilla University (multi-year inventory work)
  • Dhaka University — Jagannath Hall (early plantation + nursery, 2013–2015)
  • Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet (2017–2018)

ANCF project history (PDF) Related story: Tree Tagging and Prospects