2015 Conference

Full Presentation Panel

The challenging and rewarding relationship between urban forestry and interdisciplinary environmental studies programs

Jessica M. Vogt, Ph.D.

Urban forests – or trees and vegetation in the cities, towns, and communities where people live and work – produce numerous benefits (ecosystem services), including decreased urban temperatures, improved air quality, and stormwater management. The study of urban forests and practice of managing these forests aim to understand the how trees and their benefits are produced and maintained over time. Urban forestry and the related field of arboriculture (which focuses on single-tree maintenance and hazard management) are relatively little known outside of the forestry and horticulture programs in which these fields were developed. However, urban forests are best understood as social-ecological systems of linked human and natural components (Vogt & Fischer 2014; Mincey et al. 2012), and research on urban forests has begun to use interdisciplinary environmental science methods and theory is beginning to become more common. This presentation examines where urban forestry programs occur within traditional schools of forestry and horticulture, trade schools, and interdisciplinary environmental science programs. We survey leaders of forestry and horticulture programs listed in databases maintained by the International Society of Arboriculture (the trade and professional organization for the discipline) and U.S. Forest Service State and Private Forestry Regional Coordinators, as well as the general population of educators in the broader fields of natural resource management and environmental sciences/studies. The survey focuses on the location of formal and informal urban forestry programs within higher education, the challenges that urban forestry faces as an interdisciplinary field, and the approach to incorporating concepts from other disciplines into urban forestry program curriculum. Results are framed within the context of a professional urban forestry curriculum accreditation program.

Neighborhood and Nonprofit Urban Forestry Frontiers: Results of a 5-City Study

Dr. Sarah K. Mincey, PhD

Trees in urban areas provide ecological, economic, and social benefits to urban residents, and urban communities may plant trees with the intent of increasing these benefits. Few studies have examined the success of urban trees in the ecological and social context in which they are planted and grow. And even fewer have considered potential social benefits to community groups who partake in tree planting. This presentation will discuss the results of a 5-city study of urban nonprofit tree-planting programs. We gathered extensive data about tree planting projects occurring in neighborhoods between 2009 and 2011 in cooperation with 5 nonprofit members of Alliance for Community Trees: Trees Atlanta (GA), The Greening of Detroit (MI), Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (IN), Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (Philadelphia, PA), and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri (St. Louis, MO). This study collected information about the planted trees and their growing environment using the Planted Tree Re-Inventory Protocol and about maintenance practices and other community dynamics gathered through interviews and surveys of residents in neighborhoods in which trees were planted. By using a unique multi-city dataset that combines information on planted trees, nonprofit programs, individual planting projects, land use, and neighborhoods and neighborhood residents, this presentation will start to answer two questions: (1) What factors influence the survival of recently-planted urban trees? and (2) What are the social outcomes of participation in neighborhood and nonprofit tree planting for the community?

Looking up and out: Finding food security beyond gardens and cultivars in the city

Patrick Hurley, Ph.D.

As scholars and practitioners continue to explore ways to improve urban food security, an oft overlooked component is the city’s urban forest and the ways this existing, unintentional food-producing ecological feature can support the food needs of diverse populations. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative analyses of the urban forests in New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, we discuss insights gained from examining the species diversity, food potential of these species, and harvesting practices by diverse individuals in these three cities.   

"Border Crossings" Through Urban Gardening

Sister Damien Marie Savino, Ph.D.

Urban gardens are expanding across the country as a way of growing food, improving the environment, and enriching community life in urban environments. The University of St. Thomas is a small Catholic liberal arts university located in the heart of Houston, Texas, where thousands of refugees from around the world are settled each year. Early in 2010, the Environmental Science and Studies Department at the University identified an opportunity to “green” the campus by constructing an urban garden on a vacant lot at the edge of campus. The development of the campus garden began with the building and planting of the first raised beds in the Fall of 2010 by undergraduate students in an Authentic Development and Sustainability class. In 2012, the Department was approached by an alumnus of the university who had founded a group called Plant It Forward Farms (PIFF). PIFF is dedicated to training Congolese refugees how to farm in Houston and locating urban garden plots for them to farm in order to grow their own businesses and support their families. In the spring of 2013, the university began an innovative program in which a partnership between PIFF and the University was established and a Congolese farmer was placed at the university community vegetable garden. In consultation with the Department of Environmental Science and Studies, the garden plots were significantly expanded, as were native flower gardens surrounding the garden plots. A small section was developed by a local student into a meditation area. This presentation describes the “frontiers” and different types of borders that have been crossed as the University has collaborated with the Congolese farmer and his family to bring students for service work at the garden and to open a farmer’s market on campus.