The politics of urban trees: Tree planting is associated with gentrification in Portland, Oregon

AbstractTrees are a traditional component of urban spaces where they provide ecosystem services critical to urban wellbeing. In the Tropics, urban trees’ seed origins have rarely been characterized. Yet, understanding the social dynamics linked to tree planting is critical given their influence on the distribution of associated genetic diversity. This study examines elements of these dynamics (seed exchange networks) in an emblematic indigenous fruit tree species from Central Africa, the African plum tree (Dacryodes edulis, Burseraceae), within the urban context of Yaoundé. We further evaluate the consequences of these social dynamics on the distribution of the genetic diversity of the species in the city. Urban trees were planted predominantly using seeds sourced from outside the city, resulting in a level of genetic diversity as high in Yaoundé as in a whole region of production of the species. Debating the different drivers that foster the genetic diversity in planted urban trees, the study argued that cities and urban dwellers can unconsciously act as effective guardians of indigenous tree genetic diversity.

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A tree-planting decision support tool for urban heat island mitigation

10.1101/821785 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Zoey Werbin ◽

Leila Heidari ◽

Sarabeth Buckley ◽

Paige Brochu ◽

Lindsey Butler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urban Heat Island ◽

Web Application ◽

Tree Mortality ◽

Urban Canopy ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Heat Island ◽

Support Tool ◽

Mortality And Morbidity ◽

Urban Heat

AbstractHeat poses an urgent threat to public health in cities, as the urban heat island (UHI) effect can amplify exposures, contributing to high heat-related mortality and morbidity. Urban trees have the potential to mitigate by providing substantial cooling, as well as co-benefits such as reductions in energy consumption. The City of Boston has attempted to expand its urban canopy, yet maintenance costs and high tree mortality have hindered successful canopy expansion. Here, we present an interactive web application called “Right Place, Right Tree - Boston” that aims to support informed decision-making for planting new trees. To highlight priority regions for canopy expansion, we developed a Boston-specific Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) and present this alongside maps of summer temperatures. We also provide information about tree pests and diseases, suitability of species for various conditions, land ownership, maintenance tips, and alternatives to tree planting.

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Tree Ordinances as Public Policy and Participation Tools: Development in Alabama

Arboriculture & Urban Forestry ◽

10.48044/jauf.2009.029 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 165-171

Author(s):

Yaoqi Zhang ◽

Bin Zheng ◽

Brenda Allen ◽

Neil Letson ◽

Jeff Sibley

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Private Property ◽

The United States ◽

Legal Framework ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Government Support ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Species Selection ◽

Tree Protection

Following a brief overview of the historical evolution of tree ordinances in the United States, this paper focuses on the development of tree ordinances in the state of Alabama to demonstrate how the tree ordinances evolve into law and the role such ordinances have on urban trees. Even though tree ordinances have a long history in the United States, they have been rapidly developing since the 1970s. Among the 100 municipalities that have some type of tree ordinance in Alabama, based on this investigation, the major responsibilities of tree ordinances include: having a tree commission (board), defining tree planting, removal and replacement of trees on public land, public tree protection and care, tree species selection, and dead tree removal on public and private property. Considering the broadness and complexity of urban trees, this paper indicates tree ordinances provide not only a legal framework, but also an effective tool to engage public participation and awareness of urban trees in the process of formulating, implementing, and amending of the tree ordinances. Development of tree ordinances requires government support, citizen participation, and consideration of local resources.

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The Benefits and Limits of Urban Tree Planting for Environmental and Human Health

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.603757 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Diane E. Pataki ◽

Marina Alberti ◽

Mary L. Cadenasso ◽

Alexander J. Felson ◽

Mark J. McDonnell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Social Issues ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Current Evidence ◽

Local Cooling ◽

Local Climate ◽

Urban Tree ◽

Site Design

Many of the world’s major cities have implemented tree planting programs based on assumed environmental and social benefits of urban forests. Recent studies have increasingly tested these assumptions and provide empirical evidence for the contributions of tree planting programs, as well as their feasibility and limits, for solving or mitigating urban environmental and social issues. We propose that current evidence supports local cooling, stormwater absorption, and health benefits of urban trees for local residents. However, the potential for urban trees to appreciably mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution over a wide array of sites and environmental conditions is limited. Consequently, urban trees appear to be more promising for climate and pollution adaptation strategies than mitigation strategies. In large part, this is due to space constraints limiting the extent of urban tree canopies relative to the current magnitude of emissions. The most promising environmental and health impacts of urban trees are those that can be realized with well-stewarded tree planting and localized design interventions at site to municipal scales. Tree planting at these scales has documented benefits on local climate and health, which can be maximized through targeted site design followed by monitoring, adaptive management, and studies of long-term eco-evolutionary dynamics.

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Replication data for "The politics of urban trees: Tree Planting is associated with gentrification in Portland, Oregon"

Forest Service Research Data Archive ◽

10.2737/rds-2021-0026 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Geoffrey H. Donovan ◽

Jeffrey P. Prestemon ◽

David T. Butry ◽

Abigail R. Kaminski ◽

Vincent J. Monleon

Keyword(s):

Urban Trees ◽

Tree Planting

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Public Perceptions of the Value of Urban Trees in the River Rouge Watershed

Michigan Academician ◽

10.7245/0026-2005-41.3.310 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 310-331 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

ANDREA OLIVE ◽

LARA RUSCH ◽

ANGELA AYERS

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Green Space ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Urban Forestry ◽

Urban Green Space ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Individual Responsibility ◽

Urban Green ◽

Personal Benefit

ABSTRACT This study examines attitudes toward urban green space among homeowners in the River Rouge Watershed of southeast Michigan. Trees play a significant role in urban areas by providing numerous environmental, economic and social benefits to community residents. But public attitudes toward trees are not well understood. Through survey research we found that residents are most likely to value trees for personal benefit (like shade) but that social reasons are also valuable (improving the neighborhood). We also illustrate that cost is not an impeding factor in willingness to plant trees. Finally, our study reveals that homeowners felt tree planting is both an individual responsibility as well as a government responsibility. On the basis of these findings, we recommend that urban forestry policy should focus on education and outreach in an attempt to marry tree-planting initiatives to the individual benefits of trees as well as the community benefits of urban green space.

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Valuing the Benefits of Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.605 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amy W. Ando ◽

Noelwah R. Netusil

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Green Roofs ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Rain Gardens ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), a decentralized approach for managing stormwater that uses natural systems or engineered systems mimicking the natural environment, is being adopted by cities around the world to manage stormwater runoff. The primary benefits of such systems include reduced flooding and improved water quality. GSI projects, such as green roofs, urban tree planting, rain gardens and bioswales, rain barrels, and green streets may also generate cobenefits such as aesthetic improvement, reduced net CO2 emissions, reduced air pollution, and habitat improvement. GSI adoption has been fueled by the promise of environmental benefits along with evidence that GSI is a cost-effective stormwater management strategy, and methods have been developed by economists to quantify those benefits to support GSI planning and policy efforts. A body of multidisciplinary research has quantified significant net benefits from GSI, with particularly robust evidence regarding green roofs, urban trees, and green streets. While many GSI projects generate positive benefits through ecosystem service provision, those benefits can vary with details of the location and the type and scale of GSI installation. Previous work reveals several pitfalls in estimating the benefits of GSI that scientists should avoid, such as double counting values, counting transfer payments as benefits, and using values for benefits like avoided carbon emissions that are biased. Important gaps remain in current knowledge regarding the benefits of GSI, including benefit estimates for some types of GSI elements and outcomes, understanding how GSI benefits last over time, and the distribution of GSI benefits among different groups in urban areas.

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Chronology of Gloomy Scale (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) Infestations on Urban Trees

Environmental Entomology ◽

10.1093/ee/nvz094 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 (5) ◽

pp. 1113-1120 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kristi M Backe ◽

Steven D Frank

Keyword(s):

Acer Rubrum ◽

Impervious Surface ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Tree Age ◽

Efficient Management ◽

Impervious Surface Cover ◽

Individual Trees ◽

Age Range ◽

Tree Condition

Abstract Pest abundance on urban trees often increases with surrounding impervious surface. Gloomy scale (Melanaspis tenebricosa Comstock; Hemiptera: Diaspididae), a pest of red maples (Acer rubrum L.; Sapindales: Sapindaceae) in the southeast United States, reaches injurious levels in cities and reduces tree condition. Here, we use a chronosequence field study in Raleigh, NC, to investigate patterns in gloomy scale densities over time from the nursery to 13 yr after tree planting, with a goal of informing more efficient management of gloomy scale on urban trees. We examine how impervious surfaces affect the progression of infestations and how infestations affect tree condition. We find that gloomy scale densities remain low on trees until at least seven seasons after tree planting, providing a key timepoint for starting scouting efforts. Scouting should focus on tree branches, not tree trunks. Scale density on tree branches increases with impervious surface across the entire studied tree age range and increases faster on individual trees that are planted in areas with high impervious surface cover. There is a lag between the onset of pest infestations and a decline in tree condition, indicating that gloomy scale management should begin prior to a visible decline in tree condition. Our results inform management of gloomy scale in cities.

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Valuing plants in devalued spaces: Caring for Baltimore's Street trees

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/2514848619854375 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 228-245

Author(s):

Mariya Shcheglovitova

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Urban Space ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Urban Political Ecology ◽

Baltimore City ◽

Spatial Inequalities ◽

Market Practices ◽

Sustainability Initiatives

Baltimore City, MD is addressing its future with expansive sustainability initiatives. These include an aggressive tree planting campaign to double the city's tree canopy by 2037. While discourses of greening present tree plantings and related programs as a resolution for the legacies of racist housing market practices, these programs are themselves subject to the legacies of spatial inequalities in access to infrastructural care. Sustainability discourses present urban trees as inherently valuable economically and environmentally but these discourses are disconnected from trees' needs for ongoing care and maintenance. The daily material practices of caring for and maintaining trees are deprioritized in favor of planting more trees to gain these supposedly “inherent” benefits. In the spaces where trees were meant to bring economic and environmental vitality, their deaths reinforce the racist legacies they claim to correct. This paper examines these links and contradictions within the framework of relational urban political ecology. Through a lens of care, this paper shows how humans and non/humans actively co-construct urban space and how just spaces can come about through attention to the needs of humans and non/humans.

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Tree Planting Configuration Influences Shade on Residential Structures in Four U.S. Cities

Arboriculture & Urban Forestry ◽

10.48044/jauf.2015.020 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Won Hoi Hwang ◽

P. Eric Wiseman ◽

Valerie Thomas

Keyword(s):

Tree Canopy ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Shade Trees ◽

Impervious Surfaces ◽

Heating Season ◽

Tree Form ◽

Northern Latitudes ◽

Large Trees ◽

Building Surfaces

Expanding urbanization, characterized by increased impervious surfaces and decreased tree canopy, is contributing to rising urban temperatures. This trend has implications for energy consumption and human health, which urban trees may help mitigate by casting shade upon building surfaces. This study looks at how tree form and placement can improve on current shade tree planting guidelines to more effectively use shade trees to offset this trend. Shade provision is not only a function of tree characteristics but also daily, seasonal, and latitudinal variability in sunlight exposure. In order to understand how these variables influence shade provision and to evaluate existing tree planting guidelines, a computer program called Shadow Pattern Simulator was employed to quantify shade cast by a single tree upon a prototypical residential structure in four U.S. cities. A total of 576 shade simulations showed large trees situated within five meters on the east or west aspect of the structure provided the greatest amount of shade during the cooling season. The simulation results affirm existing tree planting guidelines in the northern latitude that recommend planting shade trees on the east or west aspect while avoiding tree plantings on the south to minimize the heating penalty of unwanted shade in northern latitudes. However, planting trees on southerly aspect should not be discounted in southern latitudes because the shorter heating season lessens the detrimental heating penalty of unwanted shade while providing much-needed cooling season shade.

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