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.
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.
cities as a proxy for climate change; which urban tree species have succeeded in tropical cities can yield insights into potential climate-induced changes in tropical forest types. In turn, which tropical tree species that may adapt best to climate change
Project compared how cool roofs and urban forests affected temperatures in the city and found the greatest benefits of lowering temperature in neighborhoods with mesic landscaping and 25% tree canopy cover compared with bare neighborhoods without tree
This research was made possible by a grant from the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Committee of the U.S. Forest Service, along with funding from the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA) and the Associated Landscape
urban forester/tree warden charged with the day-to-day care of community trees, the most important limiting factor relative to successful tree planting and urban forest management are the resources required to acquire and plant street trees ( Stobbart
, as shown in Fig. 2 . Rural children agreed to the claim “I know the trees of the forest by their names” with the answer of “yes” more often than their urban counterparts ( Table 1 ). From the Paltamo drawings, it was also easy to recognize such
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
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
-resistant ones. This strategy, known as host plant resistance, or HPR, is an important strategy in agricultural and forested settings ( Beck, 1965 ; Herms, 2002 ). With mounting social and regulatory pressures demanding the use of less pesticides in urban and