Urban Long Term Research Area

(ULTRAs) BackgroundJ. Morgan Grove

Northern Research Station, USDA Forest ServiceJanuary 8th, 2008

Boston, Massachusettshttp://nrs.fs.fed.us/urban/ultra/

Background to ULTRAs

• Experimental Forests & Ranges

• Why Urban Areas?

• Schedule: Past and Future

Background to ULTRAs:Experimental Forests & Ranges

• History

• Issues Studied

• Policy & Management Relevance

History• EF&Rs established between 1908 and 1970s: 77 currently

• Enduring philosophy: address land management problems at local scale

• Living laboratories:

✦ seedbeds of discovery

✦ demonstration and training sites for cooperators and stakeholders

• Research over the long term: combine long term with short term studies focused on contemporary issues

• Diverse types of forests and ranges by eco-regions and condition: in some cases, the “worst of the worst”

• Range in size: 47 to 22,500 ha

• Not limited to National Forests: state and private lands included

Issues Studied

• Long term examination of the roles of global change on carbon sequestration, water yield, changes in biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, and other ecosystem goods and services

• Long term studies of silviculture, hydrology, fire ecology, and other aspects of vegetation change related to management and restoration

• Landscape change detection analysis

• Disturbance

How Might ULTRAs be Different from Existing EF & R?

Existing Network ULTRAs

How Might ULTRAs be Different from Existing EF & R or LTERs?

• Focus on lands with significant human influence and presence, with mosaic of landuses

• Interdisciplinary

• Framework that includes decision makers and educators

• Comparison among urban areas in different climates, and ecological, cultural, and economic histories

• Includes rehabilitation and restoration of urban lands

• Explicitly include and evaluate role as demonstration sites for cooperators and stakeholders

Why Urban Areas?

We are an Urban Planet

The Need for Sustainable Cities

In response to the challenges of New York City’s growing population, aging infrastructure, an at risk environment, and public health:

land water transportation energy air quality climate change

“We have taken as a basic value…that a healthy environment is not a luxury good, but a

fundamental right essential to creating a city that is fair, healthy, and sustainable.”

--plaNYC guide

Cities are Increasingly Environmental Leaders

A Great Deal Remains to Be LearnedAbout Urban Environments*:

*ULTRAs: crucibles for the development of interdisciplinary approaches and applications

Schedule : Recent Past• Discussion of Urban Long Term Research Areas (ULTRAs)

within USDA Forest Service Research (USFS).

• Discussion with and interest from cities in urban experimental forest concept.

• Support from USFS Research Station Directors and ADs in developing an Urban Experimental Forest Network (UEFN) and identifying candidate cities (NRS, PSW, IITF).

• Funding from NRS to Boston College’s Urban Ecology Institute to convene an expert group and develop UEFN RFP.

• Change in name back from UEFN to ULTRAs.

• Added interest from PNW and SRS.

Schedule : Future• 2009

✴ Proposals reviewed and awarded (Jan.)

• 2008

✴ Proposals submitted (Nov.)

✴ RFP and related materials distributed (May)

✴ RFP and related materials submitted to Deputy Chief (Feb.)

✴ RFP and related materials reviewed and revised at NEURON in Boston (Jan.) <-- YOU are here

• 2007

✴ RFP materials revised (Nov. - Dec.)

✴ RFP draft materials reviewed (Oct.)

✴ RFP materials drafted (Sept. - Oct.)

✴ RFP materials outlined, background thinking formulated (Sept.)

List of Candidate Metro-Regions for Phase I

• Baltimore

• Boston

• Chicago

• Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill

• Los Angeles

• New York City

• Seattle

• San Juan

• Washington D.C.

The Fine Print

• An important goal is to encourage creativity and activities that are BOTH relevant at a local level and comparable at a network level. We seek a convergence of local and network level interests, needs, and capabilities.

• Metropolitan regions (cities) are not in competition with each other.

• More than one proposal submission is possible from a metropolitan region.

Discussion?

Collaboration Between Researchers and

Decision makers in the ULTRA Program

J. Morgan GroveNorthern Research Station, USDA Forest Service

January 8th, 2008Boston, Massachusetts

http://nrs.fs.fed.us/urban/ultra/

Collaborations

• Research, Decision making, Education

• Interests and Disciplines

• ULTRAs

• Networks

• Leveraging and Outcomes

Bull’s Eyes and Boundaries:

versus

Prescribe versus Guide & Converge

STRATEGIC APPROACH

Application Framework

• Identify questions

• Collect and analyze data

• Interpret findings

• Disseminate and apply findings

• Identify new questions

Scientists, decision makers, and educators work together to:

San Juan

Application

Education

Dissemination

Examples of ULTRA Questions

• How do urbanization, coastal disturbances, and climate change interact to shape the San Juan socio-ecological systems?

• What are the biophysical and social drivers of urban forest health and how will urban forest health change with climate change?

• How does biodiversity vary across the metropolitan mosaic and what are its implications for ecological functions?

• What is the relationship between urban vegetation and critical ecosystem services associated with hydrology, carbon storage, nutrient retention, heat island mitigation, and reduced energy consumption?

• What is the relationship between urban tree canopy, public health, and quality of life?

• What are the spatial, temporal, and social drivers of natural resource stewardship?

Reminder of EF&R Issues Studied

• Long term examination of the roles of global change on carbon sequestration, water yield, changes in biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, and other ecosystem goods and services

• Long term studies of silviculture, hydrology, fire ecology, and other aspects of vegetation change related to management and restoration

• Landscape change detection analysis

• Disturbance

Conceptual Framework: San Juan

Based upon Integrated Science for Society and the Environment template

Collaborative Modes of Answering Questions

• Monitoring

• Historical Analyses

• Experiments

• BACI: Before After Control Impact

• Models

Building Network Level Science, Applications, and Education

• Information Management: metadata, practices, and policies

• Network committees on ULTRA-ISSE questions to reconcile data and protocols (Q1-Q6)

• Network committees on specific functions: Information Management, for instance

• Ad hoc committees on specific topics of interest: lawns

• All ULTRA Meetings (formerly All Scientists Meetings)

• Governance: Executive Committee, Lead PI Committee

• Cyber-infrastructure: listservs, videoconferencing, data sharing, etc.

• Cross-site research proposals

Interoperability with Other Platforms, Networks, and

Partnerships

• Experimental Forests & Ranges

• LTER

• NEON

• NCEAS

• UEC

• Others?

Leveraging and Outcomes

• Stone Soup Model: emphasis on who will contribute and what they will contribute

• Improved science

• More informed decision making

• Improved eco-literacy and outdoor activity

• Enhanced environment

Leveraging

Outcomes

Discussion?