Evaluating the Public's Perception of Urban Trees

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Evaluating the Public’s Perception of Urban Trees: The case of Greendale and Burncoat Neighborhoods of Worcester, Massachusetts Value Trees An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science Jeffrey Robinson, Kyle Diaz, Jeffrey Li with Gretchen Folk 12/17/2009 Environmental, economic, social, and health-related benefits associated with urban trees. This study focused on the trees in the Greendale and Burncoat neighborhoods of Worcester, Massachusetts that were infested and eventually removed as a result of the Asian Longhorn Beetle. This project explores the public perception of urban trees in Worcester, Massachusetts. The team employed the use of four data collection methods including a content analysis, questionnaires, focus groups, and Q-methodology to gather data on the economic, Introduction This study is phase-one of a multi-phase research project aimed at better understanding how the public values trees. Phase-one, completed from August – December 2009, examined the Greendale and Burncoat neighborhoods of Worcester, Massachusetts; an area that recently lost over 25,000 trees in a two-mile radius as a result of the 2008 ice storm and the Asian longhorn beetle infestation. Phase-two will probe the opinions of residents in the quarantined zone who have not lost their trees. Phase-three will further explore neighborhoods outside the quarantine zone. In phase-one, the research team explored how residents in the Greendale and Burncoat neighborhoods of Worcester, Massachusetts value the trees in their neighborhoods. Four data collection methods were employed in these neighborhoods including: two focus groups with residents, twenty-five questionnaires with residents, a content analysis on the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, and lastly, q-sorts with residents. The data collected through these methods provided evidence to support the benefits of trees that had been previously documented by experts, and also expanded upon them. The immense tree loss in these neighborhoods presented the team a unique opportunity to understand how the public values trees. These opinions were more easily expressed as a result of deforestation that affected and altered the neighborhood so greatly. The forestry literature provided expert opinions of the benefits of trees, but no systematic study has been done to gauge the public perception of trees. The proportion of people living in urban areas in the US continues to grow and cities consume vast amounts of energy and natural resources. Presently, forty-three percent of Americans live in cities of at least 25,000 people (Birch, 2009). Urban trees are an essential component of the world’s urban ecosystems and provide a broad range of benefits to support, maintain, and improve quality of life. In recent years, scholars in environmental and ecological economics have attempted to identify and quantify the value of natural services earth provides. In 1997, environmental economist and chief authority on the value of earth’s ecosystems, Robert Costanza, published an article in the British journal Nature estimating the total value of U.S ecosystem services at $33 trillion dollars annually in economic value. This number is equivalent to more than twofold the GNP of every country in the world put together (Costanza, 1997). Although trees have always been a valued amenity in U.S cities; academics, policy makers, and politicians are becoming aware of how trees benefit people in urban ecosystems and the services they provide (Wolf, 2004). For example, trees not only provide aesthetic value, but also contribute on an economic scale. Wolf (1998) reported that a twenty-five foot tree has the capability of reducing annual heating and cooling costs by eight to twelve percent in households. Benedict and McMahon, 2002, mention a 1990’s study in New York, which concluded that by purchasing and protecting watershed land in the Catskill Mountains, the city saved approximately 5 billion dollars on filtration and treatment plants. This study has explored the benefits of trees in an urban environment. Experts have outlined a broad array of benefits that trees provide, but the team felt that more could be done to communicate the public’s perception of trees to policy makers who may be willing to acknowledge the opinions of residents. This document contains three separate papers; the first is the focus group paper, the second is the questionnaire paper, and the third is the content analysis paper. Due to time constraints and a lack of diversity in the results of the q-sorts, the paper detailing this method will be delayed and be reported on after stage-two and stag- three of the project has been completed. The q-sorts from this specific area will be analyzed and compared with q-sorts gathered from an area which has not lost its trees. Each method will be described and analyzed in a paper designated to each. Project Number: Focus Group Report: An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science by: Jeffrey Robinson, Kyle Diaz, and Jeffrey Li with Gretchen Folk and Rob Krueger Evaluating the Public’s Perception of Trees: Understanding the nuances of expert and public views of urban trees Project Advisors: Rob Krueger, Bill Baller, Steve Bitar Date: December 17, 2009 Abstract Research in forestry has revealed a broad spectrum of expert opinion detailing the benefits of urban trees. No study has examined the public’s perception; however, the research reported here describes how the public’s opinions relate to expert categories. The team held two focus groups in an effort to better understand how the public values the trees in their neighborhoods. A multi-method approach gave the team a better understanding of how residents in Greendale and Burncoat experience their trees. Recent events have resulted in the deforestation of 25,000 trees, allowing residents to more easily communicate how they value their trees. Table of Contents Executive Summary................................................................................................................1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................2 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................3 Trees provide shade and microclimate regulation ................................................................3 Trees provide shelter from the noise in the bustling city......................................................4 Trees are a major factor in choice of residence and add to property value within a neighborhood .................................................................................................4 Trees provide a habitat for wildlife........................................................................................5 Residents have an emotional attachment to the trees in their neighborhoods ...................5 Trees add aesthetic value to a neighborhood .......................................................................5 Trees control rainfall runoff and flooding therefore stabilizing soils and reducing erosion .5 Health benefits.......................................................................................................................6 Social benefits................... .....................................................................................................6 Methodology..........................................................................................................................7 Selecting participants.............................................................................................................7 Focus groups ..........................................................................................................................8 Focus group instrument .........................................................................................................9 Confidentiality ........................................................................................................................10 Are there any benefits to the tree removal? .........................................................................11 Themes that emerged in the focus groups ............................................................................12 Analysis of findings.................................................................................................................19 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................21 Figure Table Figure 1...................................................................................................................................13 Figure 2...................................................................................................................................14 1 Executive summary The 2008 ice storm followed by the Asia longhorn beetle infestation in Worcester, Massachusetts presented the team with a unique opportunity to conduct a systematic study to gauge the public’s perceptions of urban forests. The project team has completed phase-one of a multi-phase study with the goal of researching and analyzing

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