Project Overview
The purpose of this project is to review and assess the current state of urban and community forestry (UCF) in the United States, and to develop a Ten-Year Action Plan with recommendations for improving the status of urban and community forestry. The Action Plan will provide goals and actions developed by and for the UCF community of practice. It is also intended to serve as a framework for funding priorities by the NUCFAC for the U.S. Forest Service’s National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Grant Program.
To accomplish this task, the project team will review trends and factors that will influence UCF in the next 10 years, as well as strengths, opportunities, issues and challenges. It will also review the current status of UCF programs, activities, resources, and scientific research. Contributing to this assessment will be key stakeholder interviews, guidance from the Strategic Advisory Team (see below), and diverse methods of engaging the UCF community of practice. The Project Team (see below) will synthesize all of these inputs to identify specific UCF needs and gaps and develop draft goals and actions for the next ten years. These draft goals and actions will be vetted through community engagement as well as guidance from the Strategic Advisory Team, and will be refined into the final Ten-Year Action Plan.
Highlights of the Action Planning Process
- Multidisciplinary Project Team: facilitation; community engagement; forestry; social psychology; planning; economics and finances; research.
- National Strategic Advisory Team: represents key stakeholder groups in community of practice.
- Big Picture Key Issues report: trends and factors influencing UCF in the next 10 years, strengths and opportunities, issues and challenges.
- Inventory Nuts and Bolts Assessment: programs and activities, resources, and scientific research.
- Community Engagement: a mix of key stakeholder interviews, workshops at key conferences, and online engagement using new technologies, to develop and refine recommendations for the next ten years.
- Vision, Goals, Actions: finalization of UCF ten-year priorities for its community of practice into the Ten-Year Action Plan.
- Costs of Implementation: development of costs and resources needed to implement UCF ten-year priority goals.
- Final Report: includes two sections – a profile of UCF in the United States, and the Ten-Year Action Plan.
- Evaluation: an online survey of all participants in the process.
