students in the urban forest
DESCRIPTION
Most of Vermont’s municipalities have small budgets for tree management, so volunteer community leaders are often the impetus for moving local urban forestry efforts forward. Since 2012, Vermont’s Urban & Community Forestry Program has focused on partnerships with higher education institutions to engage more than 550 students in more than 20 Vermont towns through service-learning courses and internships. These student projects increase local capacity and provide real-life experiences for future environmental leaders.TRANSCRIPT
Students in the Urban Forest
Elise SchadlerVT Urban & Community Forestry
Partners in Community Forestry ConferenceNovember 2014
Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program
The Vermont Context
• 4 communities with paid Arborist on staff• Few communities with explicit tree budgets• Urban and community forest stewardship efforts largely grassroots
Project Class Community Number of students
Burlington Urban Forest i-Tree Eco – long term monitoring NR 1: Natural History & Field Ecology Burlington 200
Village Green Tree Inventory and mapping, round I NR 206: Environmental Problem-Solving
New Haven, Waterbury, Jericho, Burlington, Middlebury, Bristol,
Williston, Vergennes 2
TreeAGE project - Community Tree Nursery tree mapping NR 206: Environmental Problem-Solving South Burlington 2
Branch Out Burlington Tree Walk: NR 25: Measurements & Mapping Burlington 4
Ash inventories NR 25: Measurements & Mapping Enosburg, Essex, Richford 8
Inventory of UVM's Green, including i-Tree assessment HCOL 186: Trees & Culture Burlington 20
Ash Tree Tagging in Burlington: raising awareness about emerald ash borer
NR 285: Community-based Natural Resource Management Burlington 28
Village Greens ethnography project - interview people using greens
NR 285: Community-based Natural Resource Management Barre 2
Village Greens landscape architecture drawings of 8 greens PSS 166: Landscape Design Fundamentals
New Haven, Waterbury, Jericho, Burlington, Middlebury, Bristol,
Williston, Vergennes 25
Village Greens landscape design recommendations for Fair Haven PRT 138: Park & Recreation Design Fair Haven 12
GIS: Ranking towns for need and capacity of a public tree inventory: prep for summer 2014 tree inventory work NR 243: GIS Practicum Statewide 1
GIS: UVM canopy cover estimation and UVM Green tree mapping NR 243: GIS Practicum Burlington 1
Land Stewardship (LANDS) Program & VT UCF Inventories• Summer 2013, Summer 2014, Fall 2014• 13 field days• 6 community tree inventories• 4,000 + trees inventoried• 600 + potential tree planting locations
Why Does it Matter?
• Increases our capacity to fulfill our mission
• Enhances urban and community forest stewardship in VT
• Exposes young environmental leaders to the field
What we’ve learned
• Planning
• Adaptability
• Feedback
What we’ve learned
• Attainable objectives
• Faculty relationships
• Student autonomy
• Connection to place
The Future
