The equity of urban forest ecosystem services and benefits in the Bronx, NY

Charity Nyelele and Chuck Kroll Graduate Program in Environmental Science State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse, NY Structure of the presentation

1. Background and overview of the research 2. Quantification and valuation of distributed ecosystem services and benefits 3. Equity in distribution of ecosystem services and benefits 4. Future research direction Background

• Trees provide multiple ecosystem services and benefits • Variations in tree canopy coverage and tree benefits • Environmental injustice • Disparities often correspond with race and income

• NYC Goal: 30% urban tree cover by 2030 • 132 PlaNYC initiatives including MillionTreesNYC • Increase urban forest (currently 24%) • Achieve quality-of-life benefits Background

Why the Bronx? • Air quality, stormwater and urban heat island issues • Availability of tree data • Diverse demographics Ecosystem Services and Benefits

Ecosystem services and benefits for Lumped • Spatially heterogeneous each census block group region modeled as single unit • i-Tree Eco: Air quality improvements • Simplifies relationships (PM₂.₅) between forest structure and function • i-Tree Cool: Air temperature reductions • i-Tree Hydro: Storm water runoff • Carbon storage and sequestration (per Distributed area of tree canopy cover removal rates) • Allows for local heterogenous inputs and outputs Ecosystem Services and Benefits

Three datasets to determine new tree plantings Spatially distributed input data

• Block group estimates of land cover, tree parameters, and environmental variables • 2010 tree cover scenario • Three 2030 tree cover scenarios: • Annual tree growth using species specific equations and parameters from the i-Tree Forecast • 0%, 4% and 8% annual tree mortality Current and future tree cover

Overall, increase of tree cover over time • Not equal distribution • Carbon services and benefits changes proportional to tree cover Estimated services and benefits

• Increasing tree cover increases services and benefits • Tree mortality affects tree cover and subsequent tree benefits Equity of services and benefits Uneven distributions result in environmental injustice • Minority and low income communities rely more upon ecosystem services Are 2010 ecosystem services and benefits equitably distributed? • Mann-Kendall, Sen slope, Atkinson and Theil • Income, minority, population density, poverty and educational characteristics Equity of services and benefits Kendall’s τ: a non-parametric measure of the relationship between two variables Values in bold are significantly different than zero Ecosystem Services and Demographic Data: Census Block Level

• Educational attainment is the sum of the population with at least a high school education • Strong relationship between educational attainment and PM₂.₅ removal by trees across census block groups • Kendall’s τ = 0.33 Equity of services and benefits Overall inequity in the distribution of ecosystem services • Variations more within subgroups and between subgroups To reduce these inequities: • Identify underserved communities and understand underlying factors • Plant trees in disadvantaged block groups with low tree cover Future research direction

Develop a multi-objective decision support tool in NYC • Optimizes ecosystem service provisioning and equity • Ultimately to be incorporated into i-Tree Landscape Tool to be tested in Chicago, IL, Portland, OR, and Phoenix, AR • Identify tree planting locations • Assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and robustness of the tool Acknowledgements

• USDA Forest Service National Urban and Community Forest Advisory Council • SUNY-ESF Department of Environmental Resources Engineering • The Davey Tree Institute • NYC Parks and Recreation • NYC Urban Field Station • USDA Forest Service • Fulbright Program Thank you

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Z5HT5m5d7hkQL