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These slides represent work-in-progress. If you have questions, or are interested in citing our work, please contact the

authors for the latest information:

Jess Vogt: jessica.m.vogt@gmail.com

Burney Fischer: bufische@indiana.edu

TREES AND PEOPLE: ASSESSING URBAN GREENING ORGANIZATIONS’

NEIGHBORHOOD TREE PLANTING PROGRAM OUTCOMES AN INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH RESEARCHERS

Burney Fischer, Indiana University Jess Vogt, Furman University

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Urban Forestry Research Group at

CIPEC

Bloomington

Nov 4, 2014 Charlotte, NC

USFS NUCFAC Grant (2012-15)

¨  2011 NUCFAC grant ¤  “Tree and People” – A two way street: A research program

to assess the direct and indirect effects of urban tree-planting programs in the face of climate change

¨  Matching funds from 6 partners (next slide)

¨  Additional support from USFS Northern Research Station, Indiana University Bloomington

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NUCFAC Partners and Study Sites

¨  ACTrees – National partner

¨  5 urban greening nonprofits

¨  25 tree-planting & 25 comparison neighborhoods in each city

Urban Forests as SESs

Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Framework

(Ostrom 2009)

Model of Urban Forest Sustainability (Clark et al 1997)

OUR  FRAMEWORK

Urban Forests as Social-Ecological Systems

(BUFRG)

Resource System Resource Units

Vegetative Resource Biophysical Resource

(Trees & Surrounding Environment)

Users Supportive Community Community

(Neighborhood)

Governance System Adequate Management Institutions & Management

Research Questions for NUCFAC & Beyond

People influencing trees: Does the design of urban nonprofit tree-planting programs and of neighborhood tree-planting projects affect planted-tree success?

Trees influencing people: Does participation in a tree-planting project have social effects on neighborhoods and individuals?

Outcomes* of Interest

¨  Tree Success n Survival n Growth

¨  Community Capacity n Neighbor familiarity n Trust neighbors have for one another n Collective activity

¨  Environmental knowledge about trees

* Based on informal discussions with nonprofit partners & review of scientific literature

Data Collection

¨  Planted Tree Re-Inventory Protocol (Vogt & Fischer 2014) ¤  Tree-level and local environmental variables ¤  Sampled all or nearly all trees planted between 2009-11 in all

sampled neighborhoods ¨  Social Survey

¤  Individual-level variables (social and demographic) ¤  Tree-planting neighborhoods: individual participation and evaluation of

the tree-planting project ¨  Interviews with nonprofit employees and neighborhood leaders ¨  U.S. Census

¤  Neighborhood-level information (income, demographics)

¨  City governments ¤  Spatial data

Early Research Results

¨  Tree results by city

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CITY TREES SURVIVAL of inventoried

trees # planted 2009-11

# inventoried 2014 (%)

Atlanta 21,349 577 (2.7%) 80%

Detroit 7,040 1,241 (17.9%) 79%

Indianapolis 18,283 1,076 (6.0%) 80%

Philadelphia 7,012 1,742 (25%) 59%

St. Louis -- 101 *86%

* Reflects the percent of trees that remained alive of those trees were able to be located during re-inventory

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version)

¨  E.g., Indianapolis

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Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

*This is for surviving trees, 3-5 years after planting

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version)

¨  E.g., Indianapolis

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Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

*This is for surviving trees, 3-5 years after planting

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version)

¨  E.g., Indianapolis

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Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

*This is for surviving trees, 3-5 years after planting

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version)

¨  E.g., Indianapolis

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Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree =

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

*This is for surviving trees, 3-5 years after planting

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version)

¨  E.g., Indianapolis

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Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree =

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

*This is for surviving trees, 3-5 years after planting

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version)

¨  E.g., Indianapolis

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Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree =

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

*This is for surviving trees, 3-5 years after planting

Tree benefits (back-of-the-envelop version) 16

Value

# trees imported to iTree 772 living trees

Total benefits of inventoried trees ~$21,000

Benefits per inventoried tree ~$27

80% of 18,283 trees * $27/tree =

Total for ALL trees planted 2009-2011* Just under $400K

Benefit of 1 years worth of planted trees (~6,000 trees), just 4 years after planting, assuming ~20% mortality

~$132K

¨  If we could GROW these trees 10 years using observed growth & survival rates, think how many benefits…!

¨  Dynamic model of annual tree plantings

What have we learned to date?

¨  Keeping track of individual tree data ¤ Nonprofits are unique in their record keeping ¤  Systems could serve as models for others ¤ Updating records with removals, replacements, oddities

¨  Social outcomes are highly desired by funders, but rarely evaluated in any systematic way

¨  These nonprofits are large (plant 2-7,000 trees/yr) ¤  Results may not apply to other organizations

Policy implications

¨  Lack of standard record keeping makes cross-city comparisons & multi-city policy-making difficult (ACTrees)

¨  Nonprofits recognize unique context - city, culture, neighborhoods… (per interview data)

¨  “No panacea” – Lin Ostrom ¤ No one-size-fits-all solutions/recommendations

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Audience Questions & Discussion

What questions would your organization

like to see answered by research?

Other thoughts/comments?

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If you want to work with researchers…

1.  Have tree data – ideally, locations of individual trees

2.  Be able to describe your institution: how you operate, how your tree plantings work, etc.

3.  Outline social context of interest: City level? Neighborhood level? Household level?

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BUFRG  RESEARCH  FUNDED  BY:  USDA  Forest  Service    

Na=onal  Urban  &  Community  Forestry  Advisory  Council  (NUCFAC)  USDA  Forest  Service,  Northern  Research  Sta5on    

The  Efroymson  Family  Fund    Indiana  Department  of  Natural  Resources  

City  of  Bloomington,  Parks  &  Recrea5on  Department  Garden  Club  of  America  Urban  Forestry  Fellowship  Indiana  University  (IUB)  Office  of  Sustainability  

IUB  Center  for  Research  in  Environmental  Science  Center  for  the  Study  of  Ins5tu5ons,  Popula5on,  and  Environmental  Change    

The  Ostrom  Workshop  in  Poli5cal  Theory  and  Policy  Analysis    IUB  School  of  Public  and  Environmental  Affairs    

 

NONPROFIT  PARTNERS  :    Alliance  for  Community  Trees  

Keep  Indianapolis  Beau=ful,  Inc.  

Forest  ReLeaf  of  Missouri  

 

The  Greening  of  Detroit  

Pennsylvania  Hor=cultural  Society  

Trees  Atlanta