Ecosystem Services and Urban Forestry

1. Ecosystem Services and Urban Forestry Greg Arthaud garthaud@fs.fed.us USDA Forest Service Research & Development

2. Forest Service R&D • Who we are and what have we done? • Upcoming research and activities • Research needs

3. Forest Service R&D • Who we are and what have we done? • Upcoming research and activities • Research needs

4. FS R&D Washington Office Stations

5. Merger of North Central and Northeastern in 2007

6. People and Their Environments: Social Science Supporting Natural Resource Management and Policy • Lynne Westphal • Project Leader • 14 scientists • Morgan Grove • Dave Bengston • Paul Gobster

7. 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

8. Urban Forests, Environmental Quality and Human Health • David Nowak • Project Leader • 5 scientists • Eric Greenfield • Robert Hoehn • Gordon Heisler

9. 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

11. State-of-the-art, peer-reviewed software suite • Used for: • Assessing street tree populations • Assessing urban ecosystems

13. Center for Urban Forest Research(Davis, CA) • Greg McPherson • Project Leader • 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.

15. Other R&D activities • Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) • Urban FIA? Price tag about $3 million/yr • Treesearch

17. Other R&D activities • ACES • A Community on Ecosystem Services • Multi-agency • ACES Conference • 2nd to be held in December in Phoenix • ACES Forum • Community of Practice • Currently in development

18. Other R&D activities • ULTRA-Ex • Urban Long-Term Research Areas (Exploratory) • NSF/USFS joint funding: • 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 • Typical grant of $250,000 to $300,000 • Locations: • 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; Fresno-Clovis; Orlando

19. Upcoming research & activities • i-Tree additions (partial list) • i-Tree Hydro • Effects of tree cover on water flow/quality • i-Tree Forecast • Simulates tree data and benefits for up to 100 years. • i-Tree Spatial • Map changes in canopy cover / ecosystem services. • i-Tree Landscape • Proposed concept to link to regional issues

20. Upcoming research & activities • Northern Forest Futures Project • revealing how today’s trends and choices can change the future landscape of the Northeast and Midwest. • Process: • existing assessments and inventories • scoping of trends and public issues • builds alternative futures • analyzes what those futures mean for people and forests • 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.

21. Upcoming research & activities • 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

22. Upcoming research & activities • Urban Waters Federal Partnership • In development • Focus on reconnecting urban populations with their local water bodies. • National Ecosystem Services Partnership (NESP) • Initiated by EPA and being implemented through Duke University • Function: • Inventory of current activities • Research needs and gap assessment • Communication (collaboration with ACES)

23. Ecosystem Services Task TeamMulti-agencyOSTP / CENR • 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? • 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?