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Picks and Shovels: Urban and Community Forestry FAQs, Resources, and Fact Sheets
Frequently Asked Questions: Why Should Communities Invest in Urban and Community Forestry? Urban Forestry Resources: Resources on Establishing and Sustaining Community Tree Boards and Committees Example Urban Forest Management Plans Sample Community Forest Inventories and Assessments Why Should Communities Invest in Urban and Community Forestry?
What Makes a Strong Urban and Community Forestry Program? An excellent urban and community forestry program uses coordinated community resources to efficiently and effectively grow, protect and manage community trees in a way that maximizes the social, economic, and environmental benefits that the urban and community forest provides to all residents. The Massachusetts DCR Urban and Community Forestry Program and the USDA Forest Service have developed some standards criteria that can help indicate a strong program. In fact, the USDA Forest Service monitors each state's performance based on how many communities are meeting these standards. Massachusetts will receive more federal dollars, as more communities achieve these standards. National Performance Standards for a Strong Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Program: A strong program will meet each of the following standards: 1.Management Plans: A strong UCF Program will have an urban natural resource management plan that guides the management of one of more urban natural resource at the community or watershed level. The plan must be based on some systematic / professional assessment of the resource(s). Plans that focus on or significantly include the "urban forest" (including street trees, parks and forested lands) will be preferred. 2. Professional Staffing: A strong UCF program will rely on the services of an individual(s) who has one or more of the following credentials, and who advise and/or assist in the planting, protection, and maintenance of urban and community trees and forests on an annual basis:
3. Ordinances / Policies / Regulations: A strong UCF program follows and enforces a local or statewide ordinances or written policies that focus on planting, protecting, and maintaining urban and community trees and forests. This includes following and enforcing Massachusetts General Law Chapter 87. You can view sample Massachusetts tree ordinances at http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/forestry/urban/urbanFAQs.htm#ordinance. 4. Advocacy/Advisory Organizations: A strong UCF program actively works with one or more citizen or non-profit organizations, such as a tree board, tree commission, or non-profit organization that is chartered to advise/advocate for the planting, protection and maintenance of urban and community trees, forests or urban natural resources. 5. Inter-Agency Coordination: A strong UCF program regularly coordinates with multiple agencies on issues of planting, protecting and maintaining community trees and forests. Other agencies might include planning boards, highway departments, conservation commissions, utilities, etc. 6. Tree City USA: A strong UCF program will have achieved the Tree City USA status. Massachusetts Community Forestry Capacity Worksheet: The Massachusetts DCR Urban and Community Forestry Program has also developed a worksheet to assist communities in assessing their capacity for excellent urban and community forestry. This worksheet identifies eight different areas that contribute to an excellent UCF program. These standards for a strong UCF program is obviously slightly different from the ones defined above, however, this tool has proven to be useful for communities in their efforts to assess and strengthen their local UCF programs. The eight standards in this worksheet are:
Download Urban and Community Forestry Rapid Assessment Worksheet (pdf)
What is Tree City USA and How Does Our Community Become One?
Tree City USA Application Materials (Downloadable )
What are the State Laws that Govern Public Trees?
A “hazard tree” is a tree with structural defects likely to cause failure of all or part of the tree, which could strike a “target.” A target can be a vehicle, building, or a place where people gather such as a park bench, picnic table, street, or backyard. Because of the natural variability of trees, the severity of their defects, and the different sites upon which they grow, evaluating trees for hazardous defects can be a complex process. Inspecting trees for potential hazard liability is one of the most important components of any tree management system. Find out more information about hazard trees, hazard tree rating, and risk tree management from the USDA Forest Service Northeast Center for urban and community forestry. Urban Tree Risk Management: A Community Guide to Program Design and This fully-illustrated, easy to read, training manual is designed to improve public safety and protect tree health by assisting communities to design, adopt, and implement tree risk management programs; and training field staff to detect, assess, and correct hazardous defects in urban trees.”
Resources on Establishing and Sustaining Community Tree Boards and Committees
Educational Materials for Urban and Community Forestry
Please check out some examples of what other Massachusetts communities did this year to celebrate Arbor Day by clicking here. For Arbor Day resources from the National Arbor Day Foundation visit www.arborday.org.
Funding and Sustaining an Urban Forestry Program Here are some valuable resources to help you fund and sustain your urban and community forestry program:
Tree Survey / Inventory Resources
Planning, Selecting, and Planting Community Trees
What are some Resources on Caring for Mature Trees?
Protecting Trees During Construction
How Can Trees Help Manage Stormwater Beginning in 2003, many Massachusetts communities will be faced with a mandate from the USEPA to develop and implement non-point source pollution and stormwater management plans. Fortunately, urban forestry strategies can help satisfy many of these stormwater management requirements in a cost effective manner. Trees, forests, and other natural areas effectively manage water through interception, evopo-transpiration, and infiltration. Together, these processes can significantly reduce peak stormwater flows, stabilize base flows, and naturally filter drinking water.
What is a “ Rain Garden?” For more information on “rain gardens” and how they can help manage and filter stormwater naturally, visit the following sites:
How Can Trees Help Cool Communities, Save Energy and Improve Air Quality?
If urban and community forestry is to ever be sustainable, then the benefits that an urban forest provides must be translated into tangible funding. To help explore this potential, the U.S.D.A. Forest Service recently released a valuable publication on Utilizing Municipal Trees with examples from around the country, and the California Department of Forestry has launched a project focused on Urban Wood Waste Utilization with a web document on Urban Wood Utilization and a web site called Urban Wood to support use of urban wood. Come Massachusetts communities recycle urban wood for mulch and fire wood, but perhaps there opportunities to do more with the products of the urban forest.
Are there Resources for Tree Emergency Planning?
Resources on Historic Landscape Preservation The growing interest in historic landscape preservation has given rise to numerous organizations and programs – and there's lots of information available on the web. A sampling:
Example Urban Forest Management Plans
Invasives, Insects and Diseases
Community Tree Ordinances and Bylaws for Massachusetts Communities (If you do not see your community's tree ordinance here, or we have an outdated copy, please send us an updated digital copy to Eric.Seaborn@state.ma.us . Community Tree Ordinances:
Additions to Zoning and Sub-Division Regulations
Draft or Sample Tree Ordinances
Newburyport tree protection easement
Index of Community Forest Resource Assement Tools; STRATUM, UFORE, CityGreen and Other Resource Analyses |
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