Progress Made in Last Decade

In the last ten years, since 2005, urban and community forestry has grown from an infant profession that often needed to justify its place at the table to a young adult that is often, but still not always, invited to the community planning table—though many thought leaders noted that UCF should have a seat at the head of the table. Urban population centers are growing, with 83% of Americans now living in cities. Urban forests in the United States are estimated at 138 million acres, and are expected to continue to grow. To put this in perspective, urban forests are approaching the size of our national forests, which encompass 177 million acres. But in some ways, urban forests could be said to exert a far more profound influence on American health and welfare because their circle of influence is both extensive (through impacting four-fifths of our nation’s population) and intensive (through repeated exposure on a daily basis). Thought leaders expressed a range of ideas about the areas of the most significant progress in the UCF field in the past decade, primarily around the following ideas.

Public Awareness

The maturation of urban forestry is evident at all levels in a community. Most thought leaders felt that over the past ten years the public has gained significant awareness of the trees in their environment and the benefits they provide. One thought leader pointed to climate change as one contributing factor for this increasing public awareness about urban forests. Many others noted that there is significant need to expand public awareness in the next decade with a national leader and a unified field moving ahead, particularly around the threats from climate change and a continued net loss of urban tree canopy in America.

Community Planning

An additional area of progress in the field is around collaboration in planning – community planners and decision-makers now frequently discuss the nature, extent, role and maintenance of their tree canopy and urban forests, whereas ten years ago most did not see the need or relevance. This heightened awareness among planners has also led to greater awareness and interest in urban forests among decision-makers such as mayors and policy makers, who are responding to pressures to develop sustainability plans. Evidence of the increasing attention to the role of urban forests are the thousands of communities that did not have tree ordinances ten years ago but now do.2 Additionally, evidence that concern for community trees is that demand for tree work has reached an all-time high.

Paradigm Shift

Another area of significance is that the paradigm for understanding urban forests has matured from a focus on tree selection and placement to a broader focus on forest and ecosystem management. The latest step in this progression, is the emerging understanding of cities as urban ecosystems, the first point of defense for urban human and environmental health. Additionally, there has been a significant shift in the understanding for the need for highly functioning, connected urban forests and ecosystems. Broader considerations such as the psycho-social, health, and resilience benefits of trees are being strongly considered when looking at the value of urban forests through the lens of ecosystems services, beyond solely the environmental health services of urban forests. Many noted that considering these broader benefits of trees will catapult the field ahead in the coming decade.

Collaborative Partnerships

In the past ten years the number of collaborative partnerships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in urban forestry and a wide range community partners has greatly increased, according to interviewed thought leaders. Because of these partnerships, urban forestry has created linkages to a variety of public services and urban stewardship causes, which was not widely evident ten years ago. Thought leaders noted that there are many opportunities to build on the existing network of partnerships in the next decade. Thought leaders also noted that the creation or expansion of umbrella organizations, such as Sustainable Urban Forest Coalition (SUFC), the Alliance for Communities Trees, and Arbor Day Foundation, has been and will be very important, particularly for increasing communication and collaboration in the field.

Professionalism

Over the past ten years urban forestry has come into its own as a recognized profession. Universities and schools of forestry offer more programs in urban forestry than before, and more young foresters are aware of career opportunities in urban forestry. Arboriculture, a specialized field within urban forestry, has also made significant strides in safety equipment and standards of practice. Improvements in tree planting technologies involving soils, species selection, infrastructure, have helped tree planting initiatives be more successful. Thought leaders observed that the field of urban forestry has broadened its tent to include more disciplines such as stormwater management, urban and environmental planning, and potential threats from climate change, thereby strengthening the knowledge base. One thought leader suggested that the field has made advancements by using webinars and professional training such as the week-long Municipal Forestry Institute training and the Tree Board University. Lastly, interviewees noted some gains have been made in professional diversity, with more people of color in the profession thanks to different university scholarships and programs like that offered by Southern University. However, all seemed to agree that there is still a long way to go in this arena.

Research

The primary advancement in research in the past ten years cited by thought leaders was in the arena of social science research, particularly research on the public health, mental/ psychological, and other social benefits of trees. Research by Ming Kuo, Bill Sullivan and Kathy Wolf were frequently cited as pioneering and groundbreaking contributions. Thought leaders felt this kind of research has helped communicate the benefits of trees to both the public and policy makers, and is more powerful than research on just the biophysical benefits of trees alone. Thought leaders noted several opportunities for collaboration and advancement around specific research needs, as well as ideas to build on the existing body of research in UCF in the coming decade.

Technology, Tools and Resources

Perhaps most importantly, the tools, resources, programs and activities to support this growing field have literally exploded in the last decade. These resources have allowed for a more integrated understanding of the urban forest, as well as the opportunities and challenges facing UCF. Many thought leaders noted the progress made with new valuable tools and technology. In particular, most interviewees highlighted the importance of the i-Tree tools suite, the Stew-Map, and Urban Forest Canopy assessment. These tools are readily available to communities and have made the biggest difference in enabling communities to communicate the benefits of trees, to survey the current status of their urban forest canopies, and to identify possible locations for increasing urban tree canopy cover in specific locations. Additionally, many technology advancements have drastically reduced costs of local data gathering on urban forests and have helped communities prepare for threats such as the Emerald Ash Borer as it moves west.

Grant Funding

Many thought leaders suggested the NUCFAC grant program has been helpful for strategically supporting innovation and addressing real needs in urban forestry. However, there were mixed feelings about NUCFAC’s cost-share grant program. Some felt that the grant program has greatly improved in the last four to five years by placing an emphasis on strategic priorities. However, others noted that the grant process is cumbersome and doesn’t sufficiently help build the capacity of fledgling initiatives or urban forestry maintenance programs. Others noted and applauded the recent effort by NUCFAC to support grants for communities that haven’t been previously reached. However at least one thought leader felt that NUCFAC has lost the ability to fund new and innovative ideas and is now only funding green infrastructure. Outside of NUCFAC, another change in the last ten years is that private foundations have increased their funding for urban forestry. Virtually all interviewees noted that funding is not keeping pace with the either the physical growth of our urban forests or the rising importance of urban forests as a core tool for improving urban health. One example given by several interviewees is that, without funding for maintenance, urban forests may limp along and fail to provide needed community benefits in air quality, water management, or human health. Thought leaders noted the need to look to new funding sources for UCF, to look to public/ private partnerships for new opportunities, as well as making connections around the benefits and needs of UCF with non-traditional sources of UF funding.