Community involvement is critical for the continued vitality of the urban forest. To encourage this involvement, an understanding is needed of what promotes shared stewardship as well as of different cultural perspectives regarding trees. A survey of the general public in 109 large metropolitan areas across the continental U.S., a culturally and ethnically diverse group, was conducted. Two thousand adults were surveyed to assess the extent of their childhood experiences with nature, their current attitudes toward urban forests, and their demographic backgrounds. Respondents were questioned particularly about their earliest experiences with nature and their current understanding and appreciation of the urban forest. Other researchers have examined the relationship between childhood contact with nature and attitudes toward nature among professionals in environmental fields, but this relationship has not been explored in the general public. Correlations between survey respondents' memories of childhood contact with nature, their current perceptions of the urban forest, and the influence of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds will be presented. For example, respondents who reported very easy access to nature as children were likely to agree strongly that trees should be planted in business districts to reduce smog. Results from this survey may be applied in programs to teach children about trees and gardening, thus better tailoring these programs to engender future appreciation for the urban forest. Raw data from this survey will be made available to other researchers.
therefore fruitless, a useful attribute for urban forest selections ( Thompson and Grauke, 1991 ). Although desirable for a variety of applications, some species belonging to the genus Carya are restricted by nursery production bottlenecks. Their
Abstract
Since 1905, the United State Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has been manager of the nation’s forests and wilderness resources — 187 million acres (75.7 million ha) in national forests and grasslands. Except where excluded by law, these lands are managed for multiple products like recreation, wildlife, range, timber, and water. The Forest Service also cooperates with state forestry organizations to organize technical and financial assistance programs that improve forest management on 1.4 billion acres (0.57 billion ha) of private and non-Federal public forest and rangelands throughout the country.
Urban sprawl of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area is rapidly replacing agricultural and non-irrigated desert vegetation with an irrigated urban forest comprised of a mixture of woody ornamental plant materials. Our objective was to estimate and compare the carbon acquisition potential (CAP) of residential landscape plants to the dominate plant species found in adjacent agricultural and desert sites. Maximum shoot and leaf gas exchange measurements were made at monthly intervals for one year (Aug. 1998 to July 1999) using a portable photo-synthesis system. Concurrent diel gas exchange measurements were made seasonally. Gas exchange measurements were made on alfalfa at agricultural sites, blue palo verde, creosote bush and bur sage at desert sites, and on a mixture of 19 different woody ornamental tree, shrub and ground cover species at residential sites. A trapezoidal integration model was used to estimate daily CAP at each site based on maximum assimilation flux values and seasonally adjusted diel assimilation patterns. Annual landscape CAP was then calculated as the summation of estimates of daily CAP. Calculated annual CAP was highest at agricultural sites (159.0 mol/m2 per year), lowest at desert sites (35.3 mol/m2 per year), and intermediate at residential landscape sites (99.3 mol/m2 per year).
In a unique partnership. the University of Kentucky Dept. of Horticulture, the Cooperative Extension Service, and the Kentucky State Division of Forestry are teaming up to produce two training packages for “train-the-trainer” workshops throughout the state. The workshops will be open to people interested in urban/community trees and arboriculture.
The first training session will be held in 1993 and will cover five modules: 1) Designing the planting site to compensate for a disturbed environment; 2) Species selection for the existing site; 3) Scientific planting techniques; 4) Post-planting care: and 5) Integrated pest management.
The second training session will be held in 1994 and will cover the following topics: 1) Establishing a scientific management program for the urban forest; 2) Preparation and administration of grants: 3) Fund-raising and efficient use of volunteers; 4) Developing an urban tree inventory; 5) Recognition of hazard trees; and 6) Selecting quality nursery stock.
The training packages will consist of a written manual, videos, and slide sets. Training sessions are open to foresters, county agents, city planners, developers, and others in Kentucky who are interested in returning to their communities and training others on the topics covered.
The frequency of tropical cyclones is a major factor affecting the vegetation of the Mariana Islands, where these storms are called typhoons. An average of about one typhoon per year has passed within ≈100 km of Guam during the past 50 years. The physiognomy of Guam's natural and urban forests is largely determined by these typhoons. The impact of each typhoon is determined by a long list of interacting factors such as species characteristics; environmental and horticultural conditions preceding the typhoon; the intensity, direction, and duration of winds; the amount of rainfall associated with the typhoon; and the environmental and horticultural conditions following the disturbance. Many species survive typhoons by reducing aerodynamic drag of the canopy by abscising inexpensive leaves or breakage of small stems which results in an intact major structural framework. Speed of recovery for nonlethal damage following disturbance depends on nonlimiting conditions during recovery. Thus, the most destructive typhoons are those that occur in sequence with other environmental stresses. The most common of these may be heat and high-light stress, associated with subsequent high pressure systems, and severe drought conditions. For example, the 230–298 km·h–1 winds of Typhoon Paka in Dec. 1997 were followed by the driest year on record for Guam. Typhoon debris and drought generated 1400 forest and grassland fires from Jan. through May 1998. Sequential typhoons are also severely damaging. For example, Guam experienced three direct eye passages and two more typhoons within 113 km during the months Aug. to Nov. 1992. Damage susceptibility and recovery dynamics will be discussed in relation to these and other physical, chemical, biological, and human-induced factors.
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed over 1000 mature trees in the City of North Miami, located 50 mi north of the storm center. The cleanup cost over $1,000.000. Most of the tree failures were caused by structural faults: co-dominant leaders, narrow limb attachment, included bark, over-lifting, hatracking, poor vertical limb placement, crown imbalance, overly-dense crowns, crossing and in-growing branches. All could have been corrected with proper pruning. Action was taken to reduce future damage. The city arborist made a complete, computerized inventory of all trees on public property, creating a data-base with all structural problems identified. These were prioritized so the worst could be addressed first. After any pruning work was done on a city tree, a follow-up evaluation was made, and any additional pruning needed was scheduled. Pruning followed the recommendations of state specialists and three county extension agents with the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service. City workers were taught using lectures, demonstrations, site visits, CES publications, and individualized instruction. In addition, all new trees purchased were grades FL Fancy or FL no. 1, based on Grades and Standards for Nursery Plants; such trees require little or no corrective pruning at planting and mature as structurally-sound trees which resist wind damage. Two later storms (1993, 1999) produced winds in North Miami similar to those of Hurricane Andrew. Together they destroyed only 35 trees which cost $35,000 to remove. These data demonstrate that following CES pruning recommendations reduces storm damage to trees, saving money and preserving the urban forest canopy.
; McCullough et al., 2001 ). It is a significant tree species in urban forests, identified as the species of greatest importance in Washington, DC ( Nowak et al., 2006 ) and listed as one of the most important park trees in Boston ( Welch, 1994 ). Increased
al., 2007 ). The UN-World Health Organization recommends at least 9 m 2 of urban green space per capita to mitigate several undesirable environmental effects and provide aesthetic benefits ( Deloya, 1993 ). Urban forests are particularly critical to
Sequestration Potential of Ornamental Plants in the Landscape Another potential C sink in ornamental plant production is the ability of plants to store C in biomass. Previous research has shown that urban forests have a significant potential for removing CO 2