Urban Forestry And Urban Forest Capacity

Fully updated and greatly enhanced, the Third Edition of Urban Forestry addresses current issues in planning, establishing, and managing trees, forests, and other elements of nature in urban and community ecosystems. The authors discuss why we have trees in cities and how we use them, clarify the appraisal and inventory of urban vegetation, and extensively delve into the planning and management of public as well as private vegetation. As urban forestry continues to evolve as a profession, foresters and arborists can expect many challenges as well as opportunities. The continuing development of cities has become linked to a much greater emphasis on urban vegetation, the growing demand for recreation amenities within the urban environment, and the careful and successful management of vegetation in an urban ecosystem. New ways to incorporate the highly versatile urban forest resource into the urban fabric will undoubtedly benefit the lives of its residents.

The solution is far more complex than planting more trees, however. Urban forestry professionals and advocates must maximize green infrastructure (the natural environment) while reducing the costs of gray infrastructure (the built environment). While both are important, communities that foster green infrastructure are more livable, produce fewer pollutants, and are most cost-effective to operate.

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. This new research compendium focuses on urban forestry research and management, while also considering the sociological and community aspects. The book looks at the benefits of urban forests with respect to urban sustainability and human health; issues related to expanding the urban tree canopy; managing urban forests in a community context; and improving our understanding of urban forests through research and practice.

This multidisciplinary book covers all aspects of planning, designing, establishing and managing forests and trees and forests in and near urban areas, with chapters by experts in forestry, horticulture, landscape ecology, landscape architecture and even plant pathology. Beginning with historical and conceptual basics, the coverage includes policy, design, implementation and management of forestry for urban populations.

Much of the ecological research in the past decades has focused on rural or wilderness areas. Today, however, ecological research has been taking place in our cities, where our everyday decisions can have profound effects on our environment. This research, or urban ecology, includes an important element, trees. Trees have had a variety of environmental benefits for our environment including the sequestering carbon, reducing urban heat island effects, providing vital habitat for wildlife, and making nature accessible. These benefits have important impacts on the physical, socio-economic, and mental health of humans as well. Being exposed to trees has been shown to enhance social cohesion, improve health and recreational opportunities, and increase real estate values. In order to gain more knowledge into this urban forestry, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) held a workshop February 25-26, 2013. The workshop brought together more than 100 people with various interests in urban forestry research to share information and perspectives, foster communication across specific areas of ecosystem service research, and consider integrated approaches that cut across these realms. The workshop specifically examined current capabilities to characterize and quantify the benefits, key gaps in our understanding, the challenges of planning urban forests in a way that optimizes multiple ecosystem services and more. Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda: A Workshop Summary presents an overview of the issues discussed by the workshop's breakout groups; summarizes presentations from the four panels which included Biophysical Services of the Urban Forest; and context for the study with introductory material from the workshop.

As cities become larger and more complex, trees may exist in them through careful design, poor design, or by accident. Urban Forestry: Planning and Managing Urban Greenspaces, Second Edition addresses how to carefully and successfully plan for and manage urban vegetation. With its numerous photos, tables, line drawings, graphs, and charts, this new edition contains up-to-date information on the history and uses of urban vegetation, appraisal and inventories, the planning process, and management and maintenance. Another important feature is the book's nine appendices, which offer valuable information covering a broad range of topics from A Disaster Plan for Oak Park, Illinois to Tree Walks in Madison, Wisconsin.

This book focuses on urban "green infrastructure" – the interconnected web of vegetated spaces like street trees, parks and peri-urban forests that provide essential ecosystem services in cities. The green infrastructure approach embodies the idea that these services, such as storm-water runoff control, pollutant filtration and amenities for outdoor recreation, are just as vital for a modern city as those provided by any other type of infrastructure. Ensuring that these ecosystem services are indeed delivered in an equitable and sustainable way requires knowledge of the physical attributes of trees and urban green spaces, tools for coping with the complex social and cultural dynamics, and an understanding of how these factors can be integrated in better governance practices. By conveying the findings and recommendations of COST Action FP1204 GreenInUrbs, this volume summarizes the collaborative efforts of researchers and practitioners from across Europe to address these challenges.

Close to 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas and depends on the essential ecological, economic, and social benefits provided by urban trees and forests. However, the distribution of urban tree cover and the benefits of urban forests vary across the United States, as do the challenges of sustaining this important resource. As urban areas expand across the country, the importance of the benefits that urban forests provide, as well as the challenges to their conservation and maintenance, will increase. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the current status and benefits of America's urban forests, compare differences in urban forest canopy cover among regions, and discuss challenges facing urban forests and their implications for urban forest management.