Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States
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United States Department of Agriculture Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States Forest Service FS-1067 June 2016 United States Department of Assessing the Agriculture Forest Service Sustainability of FS-1067 June 2016 Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all pro- grams). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audio- tape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English. To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: [email protected]. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. Abstract Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agri ultimate aim is to lay the foundation for reporting information culture (USDA), published the National Report on Sustainable about agricultural and urban forests that is roughly comparable Forests—2010 (USDA Forest Service 2011) (hereafter, National with the information presented for conventional forests in the Report) several years ago and will be releasing a subsequent National Report and that can be incorporated into the Forest version of the report in 2017. Based on the Montréal Process Service’s ongoing forest sustainability reporting activities. Criteria and Indicators for Forest Sustainability, the National Report provides information on a comprehensive range of Editors: measures related to forest conditions and sustainability in the Guy Robertson United States. Two important categories of forest resources— Andy Mason agricultural and urban forests—are not treated directly in the National Report, however. Contributing Authors: The current report is designed to augment the National Report Greg Liknes by focusing on agricultural and urban forest resources within Andy Lister the context of national forest sustainability reporting. The report David Nowak provides (1) a brief description of the benefits accruing from Charles Perry these resources; (2) displays and analyses of currently available Steve Rasmussen data describing them, particularly at the national level; and Michele Schoeneberger (3) a discussion of potential strategies for developing consist Chris Woodall ent national datasets and ongoing reporting procedures. The Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States i ii Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States Acknowledgments Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States Numerous individuals substantially contributed to the produc affiliated with the Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analy tion of this report either through extensive review or the provi sis program, provided the final chapter on potential forest sion of important information. inventory approaches. Andy Mason and Richard Straight, both working at the U.S. The Forest Service’s Sonja Beavers and Louise Wilde provided Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agroforestry essential help in editing, formatting, and publishing the final Center in Lincoln, NE, at the time, deserve credit for coming version of this report, and former Forest Service intern Yooni up with the original idea for this report and its application of Choi produced many of the graphics used in chapter 2. forest sustainability concepts to agricultural and urban forests. Numerous people provided comments and advice on the differ Michele Schoeneberger of the National Agroforestry Center ent chapters contained in this report. Of these individuals, Fred led the work on agricultural forests, with Andy Lister of the Cubbage of North Carolina State University deserves special Forest Service and Steve Rasmussen of the Nebraska Forest thanks for his insightful comments on the initial chapters Service contributing writeups on the Great Plains Tree and describing the application of sustainability measures and for his Forest Invasives Initiative, a forest inventory effort with ongoing support of the Forest Service’s sustainability reporting which they are intimately familiar. David Nowak, an expert efforts overall. Richard Pouyat and Beth Larry, Forest Service in urban forestry who works at the Forest Service, Northern research scientists at the Washington Office, each commented Research Station, wrote the chapter on urban forests. Charles on the entire document, and their perspectives on the report as a Perry, Greg Liknes, and Chris Woodall, research scientists whole were invaluable. Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States iii iv Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States Executive Summary Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural and Urban Forests in the United States Society is increasingly realizing the value of individual trees Key Findings and forested areas found on urban, suburban, and agricultural lands. Termed agricultural and urban forests in this report, these Agricultural and urban forests represent a vast topic area, and resources directly enhance our lives and, if managed correctly, the information in this report only touches the surface. None can increase the efficiency and productivity of agricultural theless, we are able to glean a number of summary conclusions and urban systems. A short list of benefits includes aesthetic from the data and analysis presented here. amenities, water and soil retention, biodiversity conservation, recreational opportunities, and the sequestration of greenhouse Agricultural and urban forests are important. This point gases, but many other values have also been identified. More is obvious but deserves to be emphasized. The various and over, research continues to reveal new and sometimes surprising specific ways in which these resources benefit (and sometimes ways in which trees in the places where we live and work cost) human society are discussed in detail throughout this report. provide tangible benefits for people. Agricultural and urban forests represent a vast and varied Wise management is essential to sustain and enhance the values resource. Urban lands in the United States total more than 60 associated with agricultural and urban forests, and wise manage million acres (24 million hectares) (138 million acres [56 million ment, in turn, requires good information. The central purpose hectares] if community lands are included). If current trends of this report is to assess the current state of information for continue, this number will more than double by 2050. Croplands, agricultural and urban forests and lay the foundation for its im grasslands, and rangelands total slightly more than 1 billion provement in the future. As scientists from the U.S. Department acres (400 million hectares). Tree cover on urban lands is cur of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, we use the Montréal rently estimated at 35 percent. Quantitative measures of forest Process Criteria and Indicators (MP C&I) for Forest Sustain cover on agricultural lands are not available, but the percent ability, a comprehensive framework for forest assessment across of forest cover on these lands is likely less than the tree cover the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, on urban lands. Nevertheless, the sheer extent of agricultural as a starting point and frame of reference. Other scientists also lands ensures that the total amount of forests in this category is used the MP C&I to assess the sustainability of the Nation’s immense. These resources span the various ecoregions existing conventional forest lands in the National Report on Sustainable across the United States and play an essential role in all the Forests—2010 (USDA Forest Service 2011), a periodic Forest landscapes in which they are found. Service report with which the current report is closely associ Data on agricultural and urban forests are relatively scarce. ated. Ideally, our aim