Capture the tree
Species, DBH, multi-stem equivalent diameter, girth, height, growth context, GPS, notes and photographs.
Public beta · England
VERA
Veteran Evidence & Reasoned Assessment
An evidence-led tool to assist professional arboriculturists assessing potential veteran trees against the NPPF 2026 definition. VERA brings multiple strands of tree evidence together while keeping professional judgement at the centre.
VERA is a decision-support tool. It does not replace professional judgement.
What VERA does
Evidence in. Reasoned assessment out.
VERA is designed to help veteran trees be considered as individuals, bringing biological history, structural response, habitat value and human story together within one assessment.
Build the evidence picture
Bring maturity, size, architecture, microhabitats, heritage and cultural evidence together in a structured workflow.
Produce a reasoned outcome
Generate a transparent, reviewable assessment with report text and practical outputs.
Evidence framework
Building the tree’s biography
VERA brings together the different strands of evidence that can be gathered about a tree and assembles them into a coherent biography, helping arboricultural professionals judge whether it has the special qualities associated with a veteran or ancient tree.
ATF
Ancient-tree status and size context.
FCIN12
White (1998) maturity, indicative age and development context.
OpenBARD
Species-relative size and form context using reference records.
VAI
Veteran Architecture Index for established restructuring and adaptive response.
TreMs
52 tree-related microhabitat types grouped into a practical field catalogue.
Human value
Heritage and cultural evidence carried alongside the biological evidence.
Professional judgement remains central.
VERA structures, contextualises and reports the evidence. The arboriculturist remains responsible for interpreting the individual tree, the strength of the evidence and any uncertainty.
Built for use
More than a lookup table.
The release app contains practical field and reporting tools as well as the evidence framework.
Single and multi-stem treesIncludes automatic BS5837 equivalent stem calculation.
FCIN12 proxy workflowHandles species not present in the White table while retaining the actual species elsewhere.
10 veteran architecture featuresRecord development from absent or uncertain through to established and advanced.
52 TreM typesCavities, exposed wood, deadwood, fungi, epiphytes, nests, microsoils and more.
GPS and photographsRecord location and add photographs; photos remain on the device for the current report or PNG.
Useful outputsReport text, PNG snapshot, saved trees, CSV export and backup tools.
Incomplete
ReviewStrong review
SupportedTry the public beta
Open VERA
Assess a tree with VERA
Open the live release in your browser. No account is required for the current beta.