Improving Urban Forest Management
In a new report by the Natural Areas Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, urban forest professionals from 125 American organizations were asked about the management of the 84% of natural areas that are found in urban parkland.
Of the most important factors in decision making, respondents ranked balancing ecosystem services, ecological integrity, biodiversity, and native species planting of highest consideration over issues like stormwater capture, access, climate change, and urban heat island effect.
Four main findings:
- Urban forested natural areas provide critical benefits to quality of life but are in need of efficient management to thrive,
- Invasive species is the major management effort and the biggest challenge faced by urban forest managers,
- There is local collaboration of urban forest management, but little regional or national networking, and
- There are opportunities to increase connections between public health, urban planning, and climate resilience.
For more details, make sure to check out the full report: hUntapped Common Ground: The Care of Forested Natural Areas in American Cities. http://naturalareasnyc.org/content/national/nac_careofurbannature_lores-singles.pdf?15
More trees and shrubs? Less health care costs!
A new study out of Illinois looks at how the increase in forests and shrub cover corresponds to less health care spending – even when accounting for economic, geographic, and other factors that could impact health care costs.
The study compared land cover and per capita Medicare spending and found for every 1% of forest cover on a county’s land, there were associated Medicare savings of $4.32 per person annually.
This research adds to the growing body of research that suggests forested areas can improve community health and wellbeing.
Read the full article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S161886671830534X?via%3Dihub