Agroforestry Suitability Decision Tool User Guide

The Agroforestry Suitability Decision Tool was developed to assist program administrators identify areas that are most suitable for targeting agroforestry practices. This interactive decision-support tool allows users to select criteria that align with their priorities. Agroforestry encompasses a set of practices where trees and shrubs are intentionally integrated into agricultural and animal systems, such as in alley cropping, riparian buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks (USDA). As interest in agroforestry grows, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers need effective tools to identify regions where agroforestry practices can be most effectively targeted. This Agroforestry Decision Support Tool aims to guide stakeholders, such as researchers and practitioners, in identifying areas where resources for agroforestry expansion will likely have the greatest impact. The Agroforestry Suitability Decision Support Tool allows users to define criteria for modeling agroforestry suitability for different agroforestry practices across the US Midwest. The tool allows users to specify which criteria they would like to include in the model and how they weigh the relative importance of each criterion in decision-making. Users may run the model for the entire 12-state Midwest region or specific states, counties, or watersheds. Here, we provide the user's guide providing background and instructions for using the Agroforestry Decision Support Tool. The tool is hosted through a Google Earth Engine app, which can be accessed directly through this link: https://agroforestrymap.projects.earthengine.app/view/agroforestry-suitability-tool The Agroforestry Decision Support tool runs the user's analysis with their defined parameters in real time to generate customized results.