# Street Tree Steward: Adopt a Sidewalk Sapling ## The Problem Cities invest heavily in planting street trees—often $300-500 per tree including labor—but mortality rates in the first two years can exceed 30% primarily due to inadequate watering during summer dry spells. Municipal forestry crews simply cannot visit thousands of newly planted saplings weekly during critical establishment periods. This creates a tragic waste of public resources and lost urban canopy benefits (shade, air quality, stormwater management) that compounds over decades. ## Who Uses It **The Block Champion**: Retired residents or work-from-home neighbors who walk their street daily and notice when new trees appear. They want to help but don't know which trees need attention or how to water properly. **The Eco-Anxious Apartment Dweller**: Young renters without yards who want to contribute to urban greening. Adopting a street tree gives them a tangible, local climate action they can see from their window. **The Community Group Coordinator**: Leaders of neighborhood associations, watershed groups, or tree advocacy organizations who need to identify "orphan tree" clusters for volunteer events and grant applications. **The Municipal Forestry Contact**: City staff who plant the trees and desperately want community help but lack tools to coordinate it. They could seed initial tree data and monitor adoption rates by ward. ## Core Features 1. **Tree Discovery Map**: Interactive map showing all tracked saplings in the neighborhood, color-coded by status: 🟢 Adopted (someone's pledged to water it), 🟡 Needs Adoption (no steward yet), 🔴 Distress Reported (yellowing leaves, dry soil observed). Users can filter by "trees near me" within a configurable walking radius. 2. **Sapling Registration**: Anyone can add a young tree they've spotted by dropping a pin, uploading a photo, estimating trunk diameter (< 3 inches = sapling), and noting species if known. Form includes optional fields for planting date and whether it has a watering bag installed. 3. **Adopt This Tree**: One-tap pledge to become a tree's steward. Stewards commit to checking soil moisture weekly during growing season (typically May-September) and watering when dry. A tree can have multiple stewards—the app encourages "backup buddies" for vacation coverage. 4. **Care Visit Logging**: Stewards log visits with one tap ("Checked & Watered" / "Checked, Soil Still Moist" / "Noticed Problem"). Optional: add photo, estimate gallons given. Logs create a care history timeline visible to anyone viewing the tree. 5. **Dry Spell Alerts**: Integration with weather data to push notifications when the area has had <0.5 inches of rain for 7+ days. Alert says: "Your adopted maple on Oak Street may need you! No significant rain since [date]." 6. **Orphan Tree Report**: Community coordinators can generate a list/map of all unadopted trees in a selected area, exportable as CSV for volunteer event planning or council presentations. 7. **Steward Leaderboard & Badges**: Gentle gamification showing neighborhood care statistics ("147 trees adopted on the East Side!") and personal badges ("First Watering," "10 Visits," "Summer Survivor"—for trees that make it through their first July). ## WellSpr.ing Integration Points **MCP Tool: `get_city_services`** Query for existing municipal tree programs, forestry department contacts, and any official young-tree registries. This helps bootstrap the map with city-planted locations where available and surfaces relevant care guidelines. ```json { "method": "get_city_services", "params": { "category": "forestry", "query": "street tree planting program" } } ``` **MCP Tool: `search_civic_services`** Find local tree advocacy nonprofits, master gardener programs, or watershed groups who might partner on adoption drives or provide watering training resources. **MCP Tool: `get_civic_ideas`** Surface related civic proposals (e.g., "Expand tree watering bag program") that stewards might want to support or comment on, creating a feedback loop between on-the-ground care and policy advocacy. **MCP Tool: `ask_ody`** Power a "Tree Care Helper" chat feature where users can ask questions like "How much water does a newly planted oak need?" or "My tree's leaves are curling—what does that mean?" Ody can provide species-specific guidance. **MCP Tool: `submit_business`** Allow local nurseries or garden centers to register as "Steward Supporters"—businesses offering discounts on watering cans, hoses, or tree care supplies to active stewards. **REST: `GET /api/officials`** Display relevant elected officials (city council members, parks board) on orphan-tree reports so coordinators can easily contact decision-makers about under-served areas. **REST: `GET /api/geo/portals?area_code=NNN`** Use geographic boundaries to segment the tree map by neighborhood or ward, enabling per-area statistics and targeted outreach. **Future: Covenant Commerce (not yet live)** When WellSpr.ing payment rails launch, this could support: micropayments to stewards who care for orphan trees outside their immediate block; "sponsor a tree" donations from local businesses; or bounties from the city for verified survival of at-risk saplings. ## Data Model ### Trees | Field | Type | Notes | |-------|------|-------| | id | uuid | Primary key | | location | point | Lat/lng coordinates | | species | string | Optional, from dropdown or free text | | trunk_diameter_inches | decimal | Estimated at registration | | planting_date | date | Optional, estimated OK | | photo_url | string | Most recent photo | | status | enum | `needs_adoption`, `adopted`, `distress`, `mature`, `removed` | | created_by | uuid | FK to Users | | created_at | timestamp | | ### Stewards (Adoptions) | Field | Type | Notes | |-------|------|-------| | id | uuid | Primary key | | tree_id | uuid | FK to Trees | | user_id | uuid | FK to Users | | pledged_at | timestamp | | | active | boolean | Can "unadopt" if moving, etc. | ### CareVisits | Field | Type | Notes | |-------|------|-------| | id | uuid | Primary key | | tree_id | uuid | FK to Trees | | user_id | uuid | FK to Users | | visited_at | timestamp | | | visit_type | enum | `watered`, `checked_moist`, `reported_problem` | | gallons_estimated | decimal | Optional | | notes | text | Optional problem description | | photo_url | string | Optional | ### Users | Field | Type | Notes | |-------|------|-------| | id | uuid | Primary key | | display_name | string | Can be pseudonymous | | email | string | For notifications, private | | notification_prefs | json | Dry spell alerts, weekly digest, etc. | | created_at | timestamp | | ### SupporterBusinesses | Field | Type | Notes | |-------|------|-------| | id | uuid | Primary key | | wellspring_business_id | string | Reference from submit_business | | offer_description | text | "10% off watering cans for stewards" | | active | boolean | | ## Vibe Coding Prompt to Get Started Paste this into Claude or Replit Agent: --- **Build a "Street Tree Steward" web app for