Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda

Transcription

1 Support provided by: Reflec&ng upon the A National Academy of Sciences workshop Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda FEBRUARY 25-26, 2013

2 Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda A National Academy of Sciences workshop summary Presented by Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition February 25, 2014 Laurie Geller, National Academy of Sciences Beth Larry, USDA Forest Service Diane Pataki, University of Utah Gary Allen, Center for Chesapeake Communities

3 The Na&onal Academies Includes the Na&onal Academy of Sciences (NAS), Na&onal Academy of Engineering (NAE), Ins&tute of Medicine (IOM), and Na&onal Research Council (NRC). Non- profit organiza&on chartered by Lincoln in 1863 to provide advice to the Na&on on science, engineering, and medicine. Carries out consensus studies and convenes workshops, using volunteer experts chosen for exper&se, balance, and objec&vity. All reports go through careful peer- review, and are available (free) at hup://na&onalacademies.org

4 Ecosystem Services of Urban Forestry: Why does it ma-er? There is growing apprecia&on of green infrastructure as a cri&cal element of urban sustainability. Many ci&es are declaring ambi&ous goals for tree plan&ng. Some ci&es/regions want to include tree plan&ng as an official mi&ga&on measure in air- and water- quality control plans, climate change ac&on plans, etc. This entails new requirements to rigorously quan&fy these benefits. Our understanding of ecosystem services is improving, due to a growing base of scien&fic research, new modeling tools, and advances in remote sensing and GIS. But many important uncertain&es and knowledge gaps s&ll need to be addressed. 4

5 The NAS workshop was charged to explore:. current capabilities to characterize and quantify the benefits ( ecosystem services ) provided by trees and forest canopy cover within a metropolitan area key gaps in our understanding, and our ability to model, measure, and monitor such services; and improvements that may be needed to allow tree planting to be sanctioned as a creditable strategy in official regulatory control programs current capabilities for assigning quantitative economic value to these services, and strategies for improving these capabilities the challenges of planning/managing urban forests in a manner that optimizes multiple ecosystem services simultaneously (e.g. tradeoffs in selecting tree species, determining planting locations) opportunities for enhancing collaboration and coordination among federal agencies, academic researchers, and other stakeholders 5

6 What ecosystem services? mi&ga&ng air pollu&on buffering waterways from pollu&on and stormwater overflow reducing urban heat island effects sequestering carbon for climate change mi&ga&on providing habitat for wildlife dis- services : increased pollen, greater water demand, invasive species, risks from storms, fires social and economic impacts: improved mental health and well- being, enhanced social cohesion and community livability 6

7 Planning Committee members GARY ALLEN (Chair), Center for Chesapeake Communities MARINA ALBERTI, Univ. of Washington MOLLY BROWN, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center MARIE O NEILL, University of Michigan S.T. RAO, North Carolina State Univ. KENNETH POTTER, Univ. of Wisconsin Workshop Speakers Ann Bartuska, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics Thomas Ballestero, University of New Hampshire, Stormwater Center. Mark Buscaino, Casey Trees Stuart Gaffin, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University. J. Morgan Grove, USDA Forest Service's Baltimore Field Station. Laura Jackson, EPA Office of Research and Development Janet McCabe, EPA Office of Air and Radiation David Nowak, US Forest Service s Northern Research Station Jarlath O Neil-Dunne, Vermont Spatial Analysis Laboratory. Diane Pataki, Dept. of Biology, Dept.of City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah Stephanie Pincetl, California Center for Sustainable Communities, UCLA. Jonathan Pleim, EPA Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division Richard Pouyat, United States Forest Service. Shubhayu Saha, Climate and Health program, CDC Douglas Tallamy, Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, Univ. Delaware 7

8 Federal agencies US Forest Service [many] U.S. EPA [many] U.S. Dept.Agriculture U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Science Foundation National Park Service NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Centers for Disease Control and Prevention State/County/Local County of Fairfax, VA MD National Capital Park and Planning Commission DC Urban Forestry Administration DC Department of Transportation Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments NYC Parks and Recreation MD Dept. Natural Resources Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments County of Denver CT Dept. of Energy and Env. Protection Nebraska Forest Service Workshop participants from Academia Univ of Michigan Univ of Vermont Univ of Maryland George Mason Univ Loyola Marymount Univ Univ of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Univ of Washington Univ of Delaware Univ of Florida Univ of Pennsylvania Penn Institute for Urban Research Univ of Massachusetts Univ of Michigan North Carolina State Univ Univ of Wisconsin Univ of California, LosAngeles Univ of Utah Cornell Univ Columbia Univ Univ of New Hampshire NGOs/Foundations/Other Society of American Forests Sacramento Tree Foundation National Assoc of State Foresters Azavea National Assoc of Conservation Districts SavATree Clean Air Task Force Sustainable Urban Forest Coalition Plan-it Geo Conservation Fund American Forests Casey Trees Davey Institute/USFS Global Ecosystem Center Texas Trees Foundation MN Cities Stormwater Coalition US National Arboretum Trees Forever National Wildlife Federation Casey Trees The Morton Arboretum USFWS Patuxent Research Refuge Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay The Nature Conservancy American Rivers Center for Chesapeake Communities 8

9 Workshop Agenda Keynote remarks I: Urban Forestry within the Greater Urban Ecosystem Urban Ecosystems and the Services they Provide Services and Regional Tradeoffs Challenges for Green Infrastructure: Science, Practice, Policy Long term Goals and Public Engagement II: Biophysical Services of the Urban Forest Trees Incorporated into Urban Stormwater Management Urban Forest Effects on Meteorology and Air Quality Urban Climate and Urban Forests: A View from New York The Role of Urban Forests in Sustaining Biodiversity Health Benefits and Caveats of the Urban Forest Breakout groups III: Tools for Ecosystem Service Evaluation Urban Forestry Models Mapping the Urban Forest from Above The Role of Urban Forestry in Public Health IV: Managing the Urban Forest Air Quality Management and Urban Forestry From Street Trees to Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Tools Management Challenges and Opportunities Breakout Groups

10 Some examples of R&D needs. Designing urban forestry prac8ces to maximize benefits Iden&fying an op&mal ra&o for the amount of intact forest required to offset a given area of impervious surface; Assessing which tree species are best at suppor&ng wildlife and biodiversity Iden&fying thresholds in the provision of ecosystem services (Will certain benefits be realized only aher the trees have reached a certain size or density)? Understanding what factors increase/decrease uptake of air pollu&on (best tree species? green walls vs trees?) Urban tree health and maintenance Analyzing the factors that lead to large, long- lived trees Assessing urban tree growth and morality rates Assessing costs/benefits of protec&ng trees already in place versus plan&ng new trees Exploring how the risk of falling tress relates to: intensity of storms, aging infrastructure, tree maintenance prac&ces Iden&fying tree species that are best for plan&ng under u&lity lines 10

11 Some examples of R&D needs. Social science research Understanding public aktudes towards trees (What drives behavioral change in managing privately- owned trees? What mo&vates ci&zens to stewardship?) Analyzing outcomes of different types of urban forestry programs. (Why do some programs work more effec&vely than others?) Evalua&ng the distribu&on of urban forestry benefits across socioeconomic divides (environmental jus&ce) Assessments, tools, data Systema&cally iden&fying knowledge gaps in health benefits of urban forests; community- based par&cipatory research to fill these gaps Crea&ng a central open- access database to collect/share the relevant data being collected through different research efforts Developing na&onal standards for urban forestry and metrics for ecosystem services Collec&ng na&onal tree inventory data at the municipality level Further developing i- Tree to include more interac&ve mapping capabili&es 11

12 Some examples of R&D needs. Regulatory / policy issues Using interagency and public- private collabora&on to develop integrated assessment tools for including urban forests in State Implementa&on Plans (e.g., that allow for quan&fica&on, verifica&on, enforceability) Determining how to use urban tree plan&ng to gain credits for TMDL water quality Developing realis&c tree growth models for predic&ng future canopy coverage Exploring efficiencies to be gained in regional- scale coopera&on and collabora&on Outreach, educa8on, and communica8on Determining how to reach the public with sound science on tree benefits; how to deliver scien&fic findings to users in a form that s prac&cally applicable Iden&fying best prac&ces in community engagement, outreach, and targeted marke&ng (what informa&on works best with specific audiences?) Public educa&on covering not just plan&ng, but also, pruning, tending, etc. 12

13 Some take home messages (in my mind).. We ve made significant progress in studying the ecological benefits of urban tree plan&ng. But understanding of some key mechanisms is incomplete, and the exis&ng base of studies is too limited to allow for simple generaliza&ons. Urban tree- plan&ng needs to be guided by more than just personal values that more green is beuer. It needs to be guided by sophis&cated understanding of what will yield the greatest benefits [designing hyperfunc&onal landscapes]. Some areas where progress is needed: agreement on basic defini&ons ( urban forest?) consistent methodological approaches to measure performance/impacts beuer understanding of public values, aktudes, and behavior regarding stewardship of urban green spaces considering unintended effects (e.g., invasive species, reduced ven&la&on that increases air pollu&on, greater demands on local water supplies) moving beyond analyses devoted to single disciplines and sectors, towards systems- level thinking (and effec&ve interagency coopera&on) 13

14 A multi- layered challenge urban sustainability urban green infrastructure urban forestry mental health benefits air quality water quality carbon sequestration heat island mitigation wildlife habitat

15 For further information: Laurie Geller National Academy of Sciences

16 Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda A National Academy of Sciences workshop summary Presented by Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition February 25, 2014 Laurie Geller, National Academy of Sciences Beth Larry, USDA Forest Service Diane Pataki, University of Utah Gary Allen, Center for Chesapeake Communities

17 Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda A National Academy of Sciences workshop summary Presented by Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition February 25, 2014 Laurie Geller, National Academy of Sciences Beth Larry, USDA Forest Service (speaking) Diane Pataki, University of Utah Gary Allen, Center for Chesapeake Communities

18 Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda A National Academy of Sciences workshop summary Presented by Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition February 25, 2014 Laurie Geller, National Academy of Sciences Beth Larry, USDA Forest Service Diane Pataki, University of Utah (speaking) Gary Allen, Center for Chesapeake Communities

19 Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda A National Academy of Sciences workshop summary Presented by Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition February 25, 2014 Laurie Geller, National Academy of Sciences Beth Larry, USDA Forest Service Diane Pataki, University of Utah Gary Allen, Center for Chesapeake Communities (speaking)

20 Support provided by: Ques&ons? A National Academy of Sciences workshop Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda FEBRUARY 25-26, 2013

21 Support provided by: Please take the survey! A National Academy of Sciences workshop Urban Forestry: Toward an Ecosystem Services Research Agenda FEBRUARY 25-26, 2013 Thanks for attending!