URBAN FORESTRY: AN EVOLVING DISCIPLINE DR. STEVE BRATKOVICH DR. JIM BOWYER DR. SARAH STAI KATHRYN FERNHOLZ JANET BRATKOVICH DR. JEFF HOWE 21 OCTOBER 2010 Dovetail Staff Page 2 10/21/2010 Urban Forestry: An Evolving Discipline Introduction Urban forests are important because of their size and scope, their impact on local economies, and the many social and environmental benefits they provide, due in large part to their proximity to people. According to the U.S. Forest Service, urban trees in the contiguous U.S. account for nearly one-quarter of the nation’s total tree canopy cover—approximately 74 billion trees.1 Urban forestry—sometimes referred to as urban forest Urban Forestry and Community management—is the planning and management of Forestry trees, forests, and related vegetation within communities to create and add value. Throughout the This report focuses on urban forestry past two centuries in the U.S., the focus of urban (urban forest management) as it is forestry has shifted from one of beautification to one practiced in urban areas as defined that includes the environmental, conservation, by the Bureau of the Census. These economic and social benefits of community trees and areas include (1) urbanized areas urban forests. with populations of 50,000 or more, (2) places that contain some urbanized areas within their This report focuses on urban forestry and its continuing boundaries, or (3) places with at transformation into a discipline that mirrors many of the least 2,500 people and located considerations and complexities of traditional forest outside of urbanized areas. management. Examples are presented that highlight real-world and 21st century urban forest management. Community forestry is a phrase that Recommendations are offered as to how rural and urban can mean one thing in Mexico or foresters can collaborate to maximize benefits from all Nepal, and different things in the of our nation’s forests. United States. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, where the federal Early History government is the major landowner, community forestry might refer to the process by which loggers, Although urban forestry did not become a environmentalists, and others come commonplace term until the 1960s, the discipline has together to craft a vision for the been around a long time. Beginning in the late 1700s management of public lands. In New and early 1800s, Americans began to plant trees in England, community forestry can towns and villages. Immigrants to the U.S. tended to mean the management of favor trees from the “old country” such as Lombardy predominantly rural town forests by poplar, Norway maple, English elm and Ailanthus.2 It local municipalities. wasn’t until the mid-1800s that the concept of planting and propagating indigenous species became common. In this report, community forestry Even as urban forest management became more and urban forestry are used interchangeably to describe tree and deliberate, the philosophy remained largely task- forestry activities practiced in oriented. In 1910 a forester in New York City listed his population centers, whether large or main duties as tree planting and removal, tree small. maintenance and insect control. Even when the new 1 McPherson, E. Gregory. 2006. Urban Forestry in North America. Available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/pdf/urban-forestry-2006.pdf. 2 Also known as “tree of heaven”, Ailanthus is a genus of fast growing deciduous trees native to Asia. DOVETAIL PARTNERS, INC. www.dovetailinc.org Dovetail Staff Page 3 10/21/2010 discipline of urban and community forestry developed into a science in the late 1960s and early 1970s by America the Beautiful Program piecing together the knowledge of a number of fields, the urban forestry profession was dominated by task-oriented In addition to the numerous activities articulated in the early 1900s. activities and programs occurring in the nation to positively impact The concept of urban forestry as the management of a urban forestry in the 20th century, total urban forest system—compared to arboriculture the “watershed” event— which is focused on the individual tree—was spurred by especially as it relates to U.S. the introduction of devastating diseases into the urban laws—took place in 1990. forest such as Dutch elm disease, phloem necrosis, and President G.W. Bush, in his State oak wilt. To respond to such challenges, professionals of the Union message, proposed the America the Beautiful and municipal leaders had to adopt an integrated program, which was enacted in management program for the entire urban forest the 1990 Farm Bill. Concurrent ecosystem. with promoting the annual planting of one billion trees for ten Another factor that provided impetus to the initial consecutive years, the America development of urban forestry was the recognition by the Beautiful program increased American foresters in the 1960s that the political power funding ten-fold for urban forestry base had shifted to cities and that they had to deal technical services. The program increasingly with the demands of urban residents. The also (1) created the Urban and Citizens Committee on Recreation and Natural Beauty Community Forestry Assistance recommended to the President in 1967 that a national program administered by the Forest Service to provide urban and community forestry program be created. education, technical assistance, Consequently, the Pinchot Institute for Environmental and grants to municipalities and Forestry Studies of the U.S. Forest Service was created in local groups through state 1970. However, it wasn’t until 1978 that the federal forestry agencies, (2) formed the government became formally involved in a nationwide National Tree Trust to stimulate urban forestry effort by giving responsibility, and public awareness, volunteerism funding, to the U.S. Forest Service to administer two and local tree planting, and (3) efforts. First, the Forest Service provided financial established a National Urban and assistance—albeit modest amounts—to state forestry Community Forestry Advisory agencies and some non-governmental organizations Council (NUCFAC) to provide (NGOs) to meet county, city or town needs. Second, direction, guidance and a voice for the urban forestry movement. funding was provided to support Forest Service and university research on urban forestry topics. Also, during the 1970s, organizations such as the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and the Society of American Foresters (SAF) played a leading role by promoting urban forestry. In 1974, the SAF recognized urban forestry as a specialized branch of forestry. In 1978 a landmark event was held in Washington, D.C.—the first National Urban Forestry Conference with a 4-day attendance of approximately 450 delegates. Due to the success of this conference, the American Forestry Association (AFA) made a commitment to champion a national urban forestry movement, including sponsorship through the years of additional national conferences and the establishment of the National Urban Forestry Council. Another boost for urban forestry in the later part of the 20th century was the role played by citizen groups and activists. TreePeople in Los Angeles, for example, organized volunteers to plant and DOVETAIL PARTNERS, INC. www.dovetailinc.org Dovetail Staff Page 4 10/21/2010 care for trees with the goal of planting one Urban Forest Inventory million trees prior to the 1984 Olympic Games. Efforts such as these brought to light Urban forest inventories, with an emphasis on the role of trees in improving future air small cities and towns, were developed in the 3 quality. During this same time period, early 1970s. These inventories became research showed a direct connection popular because they enabled city officials to between trees in urban areas and the make management decisions based on the recovery rate of hospital patients. Clearly, tree resource, including health and urban forestry was evolving into a discipline maintenance costs. The advent of personal with recognizable environmental, economic computers in the 1980s enabled complex and social benefits beyond just beauty, analyses to be performed including detailed aesthetics and a feel-good attitude.4 economic evaluations of short- and long-term tree management scenarios. It was also during this same time period that communities Textbooks Trace a Movement began hiring individuals with titles such as City Forester, Municipal Forester or Arborist, The first textbook that focused on urban and Urban Forester. In recent years, urban forest management was published just over tree inventories have continued to take three decades ago. In the preface to Urban advantage of emerging technologies, Forestry (Grey and Deneke 1978) the including the use of mobile phones and digital authors write, “Optimum management [of applications to engage citizens, such as the the urban forest] … requires a system that “Urban Forest Map” project in San Francisco considers both the needs of individual trees (see: http://www.urbanforestmap.org/ ). and the forest as a whole. Ideally, it must be a system that provides for the social values of the forest…” Chapter and section headings in Urban Forestry range from traditional forestry topics such as tree selection and planting, landscape design and pest control to more integrated aspects of urban forestry including tree inventories, pollution abatement and administration. Robert Miller’s 1988 textbook, Urban Forestry: Planning and Managing Urban Greenspaces, builds on the work of Grey and