/**
 * Converts a list of treeIds from a string to an integer array
 * @param treeIds : list of tree ids seperated by commas
 * @return : integer array of tree ids
 */
private int[] getTreeIDs(String treeIds) {
	treeIds = treeIds.trim(); // remove any white space from the list of ids
	final String [] trees =  treeIds.split(","); // create a seperate string for each tree id that is seperated by a ','
	final int [] tree_ids = new int [trees.length]; // create an integer array to store the tree ids
	for(int i = 0; i < trees.length; i++) {
		// iterate through the array of tree id strings and convert them to integers and place them inside the tree id integer array
		tree_ids[i] = Integer.parseInt(trees[i]);
	}
	return tree_ids;
}