Ecosystem Services and
Urban Forestry
Greg Arthaud
garthaud@fs.fed.us
USDA Forest Service
Research & Development
Forest Service R&D
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Who we are and what have we done?
Upcoming research and activities
Research needs
Forest Service R&D
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Who we are and what have we done?
Upcoming research and activities
Research needs
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FS R&D
– Washington Office
– Stations
Merger of North Central and Northeastern in 2007
People and Their Environments: Social
Science Supporting Natural Resource
Management and Policy
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Lynne Westphal
– Project Leader
14 scientists
– Morgan Grove
– Dave Bengston
– Paul Gobster
Recent publications
•Cost of potential emerald ash borer damage in U.S communities, 2009-2019
•Using real estate records to assess forest land parcelization and
development: A Minnesota case study
•UFORE (i-Tree Eco) Analysis of Chicago
•Assessing urban forest effects and values, Chicago's urban forest
•Cultivating resilience: urban stewardship as a means to improving health and
well-being
•Restorative Commons: Creating Health and Well-Being Through Urban
Landscapes
Urban Forests, Environmental Quality and
Human Health
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David Nowak
– Project Leader
5 scientists
– Eric Greenfield
– Robert Hoehn
– Gordon Heisler
Recent publications
•Urban and community forests of the North Central East region: Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
•Assessing the potential for urban trees to facilitate forest tree migration in
the eastern United States
•Urban and community forests of the North Central West region: Iowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
•Urban and community forests of the South Central East region: Alabama,
Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee
•UFORE (i-Tree Eco) Analysis of Chicago
•Assessing urban forest effects and values, Chicago's urban forest
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State-of-the-art, peerreviewed software suite
Used for:
– Assessing street tree
populations
– Assessing urban
ecosystems
Center for Urban Forest Research
(Davis, CA)
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Greg McPherson
– Project Leader
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Recent Publications:
– Capturing carbon in your community: New reporting protocol for tree
planting projects.
– Trees and the clean air act: Strategic tree planting in Sacramento.
– A method for locating potential tree-planting sites in urban areas: A case
study of Los Angeles, USA.
– Hydrologic processes at the urban residential scale.
– Maybe Only God Can Make a Tree, But Only People Can Put a Price On It.
Other R&D activities
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Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA)
– Urban FIA? Price tag about $3 million/yr
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Treesearch
Other R&D activities
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ACES
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A Community on Ecosystem Services
Multi-agency
– ACES Conference
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2nd to be held in December in Phoenix
– ACES Forum
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Community of Practice
Currently in development
Other R&D activities
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ULTRA-Ex
– Urban Long-Term Research Areas (Exploratory)
– NSF/USFS joint funding:
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Focus: research on dynamic interactions between people and
natural ecosystems in urban settings in ways that will advance
both fundamental and applied knowledge
– 21 sites funded over past 3 years
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Typical grant of $250,000 to $300,000
– Locations:
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Hawaii; New Jersey (Rahway River); Normal, IL; Triangle
region NC; Miami-Dade; Tampa Bay; Syracuse; Boston; Los
Angeles; Phoenix-Tucson; Cleveland; San Juan, PR; Charlotte;
DC-Baltimore-Chesapeake; Arizona gradient; Portland; FresnoClovis; Orlando
Upcoming research & activities
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i-Tree additions (partial list)
– i-Tree Hydro
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Effects of tree cover on water flow/quality
– i-Tree Forecast
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Simulates tree data and benefits for up to 100 years.
– i-Tree Spatial
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Map changes in canopy cover / ecosystem services.
– i-Tree Landscape
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Proposed concept to link to regional issues
Upcoming research & activities
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Northern Forest Futures Project
– revealing how today’s trends and choices can change the future
landscape of the Northeast and Midwest.
– Process:
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existing assessments and inventories
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scoping of trends and public issues
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builds alternative futures
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analyzes what those futures mean for people and forests
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delivers an educational outreach that allows individuals,
organizations, and resource managers to directly assess what
difference possible lifestyle, policy and management choices make to
the well-being of their communities and forests.
Upcoming research & activities
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ULTRA
– Framework is still being developed
– RFP likely to go out by end of 2010
– Very similar to LTER sites (BES, CAP)…
– Likely elements:
Funding of 6 sites
 $1 million/site/year for 5 years
 Mix of large urban and smaller (e.g. under
100,000 population) sites
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Upcoming research & activities
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Urban Waters Federal Partnership
– In development
– Focus on reconnecting urban populations with their local
water bodies.
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National Ecosystem Services Partnership (NESP)
– Initiated by EPA and being implemented through Duke
University
– Function:
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Inventory of current activities
Research needs and gap assessment
Communication (collaboration with ACES)
Ecosystem Services Task Team
Multi-agency
OSTP / CENR
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Current research priorities fall into five categories:
– How do ecosystems and their variability relate to the supply of
distinct ecosystem services?
– What is the current status of key ecosystem services and how
can they be mapped?
– How do human activities at multiple spatial and temporal scales
impact the supply of distinct ecosystem services?
– How can management or altered human behaviors and
expectations mitigate impacts to the supply of distinct ecosystem
services?
– How can market and non-market values of ecosystem services
be estimated and represented in models and other tools?
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In addition, one translation priority can be articulated:
– How can discoveries and research outcomes be incorporated into
a useful body of knowledge and tools for effective decision
making by both the public and private sectors?