Why is Urban Forestry important? and How do you get involved?

 Urban forestry is important because it is how we care for the environments we live in by managing the trees and vegetation that surround us. Urban forestry creates plans and programs to care for the trees, vegetation, and environments people live in by setting goals within the urban forest to meet as well as identifying the problems not currently being addressed in these environments. These plans establish these goals by collecting data from the forest and using it to maximize the benefits trees bring us in our everyday lives. Management and planning aside, urban forestry is important because healthy forests are how we combat many of the issues seen in cities and neighborhoods today such as pollution or increased temperatures. With healthy urban forests, pollution is reduced, the temperature is reduced, erosion and flooding are reduced, and energy costs are reduced and this, in turn, creates a cleaner and greener environment to live in. As a result, human beings are happier, feel more connected, and have a better sense of well-being. To conclude, urban forestry is important because it helps manage the urban forest we live in which contributes to a cleaner environment and results in healthier and happier humans.

Getting Involved: 

With all these benefits, it provides it's no wonder you may want to get involved. Ways to get involved in urban forestry are:

• Join a tree committee in your area 

• Work with a nonprofit or volunteer group 

•  Participate in a tree planting

• Join online arborist groups

• Donate to tree nonprofits

 Depending on where a person lives and how informed the citizens are about the subject of urban forestry these groups are relatively easy to find online. What if your town, city, or area does not have trees groups or urban forestry programs? 

• Well if there are no groups to be found creating your own tree groups is always an option although it might be hard to gain support or find people who understand urban forestry it can be done, it must be done at the municipal level. 

• Look for county-level groups this way you can contribute to where you live on a broader level. 

•  Join the next town overs group 

• Join  and support different urban forestry or arborist groups such as: 

• Arbor Day Foundation (https://www.arborday.org/ )

• American Forests ( https://www.americanforests.org/ ) 

• International Society of Arboriculture (https://www.isa-arbor.com/ )

• International Tree Foundation (https://internationaltreefoundation.org/ )

What is a management plan?

     In the last post, the urban forestry field was explained along with the responsibilities of an urban forester. We learned that urban forestry is a field that involves multiple different studies to properly manage the urban forest. One of the things that can be pointed out is the amount of planning involved in urban forestry and that caring for it isn’t as simple as planting trees and removing branches it involves an entire urban forestry management plan. Management plans are how urban foresters achieve a healthy and equitable urban forest. These plans establish a course of action for caring for the urban forest, establish goals, identify and reduce tree risks, establish ways to keep the urban forest healthy, and help us increase and maintain the number of trees in certain areas. Urban forest management plans are designed to establish proper management, how to utilize that management, establish how we will benefit from that management, how to execute that management, and determine the end results of following this plan. 

Urban forestry management plans also break down the current benefits and values from the urban forest by doing assessments of trees, collecting tree inventories, and determining which trees benefit us the most. Urban Forestry management plans take all this information described to determine and create a long-lasting plan that will execute not only proper management but management that helps establish the overall goals we want out of the urban forest and establishes the importance of meeting these goals. Urban forestry management plans are how urban forests are cared for by determining problems in the urban forest, how to fix and change these problems, how to accomplish these problems, and help determine how to get proper funding and support. Without urban forestry plans, urban forests become overgrown, increase pests and diseases in the forest, damage infrastructures, and become risks to the people who live there. Urban Forestry plants help maintain the urban forest because they establish what aspects need to care for and why, how the management should be done, and help urban foresters manage the forest in a way that maximizes the social, environmental, and economical benefits the urban forest brings us. As time goes on what the urban forest needs will change so it is important to remember that urban forestry plans are written to change based on the evaluation of the forest and evaluation of plans. 

This video shows a bartlett tree expert describing how he established a plan for a town he was working in:

Lastly, the best way to understand an urban forestry plan and get a better sense of what is involved in them is to read one yourself so I have attached a link to the Bozeman Urban Forestry plan to browse:  https://www.bozeman.net/home/showdocument?id=3621 

Citation: Miller, R. W., Hauer, R. J., & Werner, L. P. (2015). Urban Forestry: Planning and Managing Urban Greenspaces, Third Edition (3rd ed.). Waveland Press, Inc.  Chapter 8, Policy, Planning, and the urban forest

What is Urban Forestry?

 Now that a better understanding of the urban forest has been established and what it provides people, some thoughts might come to mind such as, “If the urban forest is so important, how is it taken care of?” or “ What can be done to care for the trees that provide human beings so much?  Luckily, there is a whole field dedicated to caring for and maintaining the urban forest known as urban forestry. Although, it can sound self-explanatory there are many aspects that go into this area of work to care for the urban forest people live in. In short, urban forestry is the management, maintenance, and planning of trees and vegetation of the urban forest. Urban forestry encompasses everything from planting, pruning, selecting, site planning, and policymaking of trees in urban environments. These aspects of urban forestry are usually determined by figuring out the benefits of trees in the urban forest discussed in the last post. In addition to these aspects, urban forestry is not just the care for trees and deciding where to plant them in the urban environment it is also pushing the importance of trees in the urban environment by creating tree ordinances, management plans, and policies. 

Urban forestry is a multidisciplinary field that brings together the natural sciences, social sciences, and city planning ( Ries,2021). Many professional fields come together to make up the urban forestry field the main being, forestry, horticulture/arboriculture, urban planning, and landscape architect (Ries, 2021). All of these fields come together in urban forestry so the urban forest can be cared for, and in order to do this, it requires social and political backings to advocate and push for the expense of that care and to make sure the care can be successfully done. A lot of people view trees as a problem, nuisance, or risk urban forestry helps change this perspective by: 

• Helping communities write, implement, and update urban forest management plans. 

• Writing and implementing tree ordinances 

• Creating tree inventories

• Determining tree benefits( and risks) in specific areas or for certain tree species

• Educating civilians on how to care for the urban forest and what it is

• Planting, pruning, or removing certain trees 

• Securing funding for urban forestry plans 

• Making sure the right trees are planted in the right sites ( Right tree,right place) 

This list above is to not only explain some of the responsibilities of an urban forester, or individuals working in the urban forestry field but to create a better picture of what urban forestry is. Urban forestry is a branch of forestry that helps maintain the urban forest and landscapes people live in by creating policies, designs, and plans to care for the urban forest in a way that brings people the most values socially, environmentally, and economically while also educating people on what urban forestry is and why it is important. This video, "Urban Forestry as a career" helps sum all of these thoughts up:

Citation: Ries, P. (2021)  Oregon State University Lecture Video. Week 3 Technical Foundations of Urban forestry. Retrieved November 28, 2021.

How do we benefit from the urban forest?

     The last post referenced a relationship between the places people live, the trees and vegetation in those areas, and the people who live there. This relationship between trees and vegetation, infrastructure, and humans is environmental, economic, and social (Miller et al., 2015). A large aspect of this refers to ecosystem services trees provide us (Miller et al., 2015). Ecosystem services include filtering stormwater, improving air and water quality, reducing energy costs, and increasing property values. Here is an image of the benefits trees in the urban forest provide us found on https://www.nashvilletreefoundation.org/benefits-of-trees which also goes further in-depth on this subject. 

Benefits Further Explained and Resources to help determine trees benefits: 

• Storm Water Runoff: the amount of water filtrated through the trees during a storm that prevents erosion, flooding, and water pollution from leaching out. 

• Pollution: Trees absorb pollution from the atmosphere by absorbing CO2, NO2, SO2, Oxide through their foliage.  According to NRCS  “ Trees remove gaseous air pollution primarily by uptake via leaf stomata, though some gases are removed by the plant surface” (Nowak, 2002).

• Reduced energy costs: Trees reduce energy by providing shade and reducing temperatures. This occurs because of the canopy's ability to remove pollutants out of the air, trees' ability of evapotranspiration, and how they provide us shade this reduces the amount of energy it is required to heat and cool our homes and reduced the amount of energy being created by power plants.

• Increased equity:  Trees appreciate in value and increase property values. This occurs because of the beauty and ecosystem services they provide our homes and as they mature their values increase.

Knowing the benefits of a tree and how we can increase these benefits is a big aspect of working in urban forestry and working with local environments. There are many websites foresters, city planners, environmentalists, urban foresters, and homeowners utilize to help determine the above benefits a tree is providing a specific area. The most common tool is https://www.itreetools.org/ a website designed by the USDA to help determine benefits and tree values, is utilized to maintain the urban forests, and is utilized in designing and selecting species in the urban forest another popular tool is http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/ 

 Social, mental, and  spiritual benefits:

• Believe it or not, the biggest element in the urban forest ecosystem is people's relationship with the urban forest.  Trees not only benefit us environmentally and economically they increase social wellbeing, social interactions and provide us a sense of connectedness and spirituality. Here are some of the ways trees provide for us socially: 

• - Trees Provide us a sense of place they connect us to where we are from by connecting people to the environments we live in and are from.

 

•  Trees bring a sense of spirituality by connecting us to a bigger picture or higher power.

• Trees provide us a place or places  to socialize and connect us to one and another 

• Trees increase our overall well-being by providing us with cleaner and more peaceful environments which can cultivate better peace of mind and as a result cause human beings to be happier. 

• These are just some of the ways trees benefit humans socially this link goes more into depth:https://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/people-and-trees-an-intimate-connection/ 

Please enjoy this youtube video that goes into further depth about trees and our well being: 

Citations: 

• Miller, R. W., Hauer, R. J., & Werner, L. P. (2015). Urban Forestry: Planning and Managing Urban Greenspaces, Third Edition (3rd ed.). Waveland Press, Inc. 

• Nowak, D. (2002). THE EFFECTS OF URBAN TREES ON AIR QUALITY. Https://Www.Nrs.Fs.Fed.Us/. Retrieved November 26, 2021, from https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/units/urban/local-resources/downloads/Tree_Air_Qual.pdf

What is the Urban Forest?

         

                            
                                                            

    When someone says urban forest, what comes to mind? Maybe you imagine a tree along a sidewalk or a group of trees in a park. Although these are aspects of the urban forest the whole picture is quite more complex. Nature we encounter in our daily lives such as trees in parking lots, trees outside schools, trees in our yards, groves on the sides of the street, parks, and street trees are examples of the urban forest. Truly the urban forest is where nature and infrastructure come together it is the ecosystem relationship between people and the environments we live in (Miller et al., 2015).  One of the biggest aspects of the urban forest is native forest remnants. Native forest remnants refer to the remainder of forests, native flora, and fauna that were once a part of the natural woodlands that neighborhoods, towns, and cities were developed and built (Miller et al., 2015). Native forest remnants surround the many places people call home and they heavily influence the environment, climate, and ecosystems that individuals interact with every day.

This short video clip gives a quick and brief explanation of the components of the urban forest: 

 So to recap; the urban forest is : 

• The trees, vegetation, and landscape that surrounds urban and developed areas.

• It is native forest remnants from past woodlands that border our homes, streets, neighborhoods, and highways. 

• It is our green scapes, parks, recreational areas, arboretums, gardens, and yards.

• It is the trees planted along streets, sidewalks, outside businesses, schools, and agricultural areas.

• Most importantly it is the ecosystem relationships between developed infrastructure, the natural w.orld, and human beings All these aspects are tied together when looking at the benefits of the urban forest on people's well-being and the environments we live in which is discussed in the next post! 

Citation:  Miller, R. W., Hauer, R. J., & Werner, L. P. (2015). Urban Forestry: Planning and Managing Urban Greenspaces, Third Edition (3rd ed.). Waveland Press, Inc.