The Impact of Tree Planting Program Governance Structure on Tree Survivorship and Vigor: A Case Study using the Massachusetts Greening the Gateway Cities Program

Trees in urban neighborhoods benefit residents by reducing building energy costs, providing cleaner air, decreasing surface runoff, and improving quality of life. However, tree canopy cover is not evenly distributed across neighborhoods in many mid-sized American cities which leads to higher air and surface temperatures, and increased energy bills for residents who are the most economically vulnerable. The state of Massachusetts (USA) created the Greening the Gateway Cities (GGC) program to increase tree canopy cover by 10% in post-industrial, midsized cities with lower educational attainment and lower income than state averages. The study posed two questions: what is the governance structure of the GGC program? How successful is the program using annual survivorship and vigor of the trees? This research examines the GGC program as a case study for a governance structure that fosters connections between the city, community and residents can create the social and environmental infrastructure to support increased tree canopy in urban neighborhoods. Data was collected in four gateway cities in Massachusetts: Chicopee, Fall River, Holyoke and Chelsea. 49 residents who received trees as part of the program were interviewed as well as two DCR foresters, three city planners, one head of the city’s community maintenance (Department of Public Works), and two paid staff and three volunteers of community partners. These interviews informed the creation of a governance framework for the GGC program. Tree survivorship, annual mortality and vigor of 3459 trees were used to measure the initial success of the planting program and to forecast potential benefits to residents. Results show how the GGC planting program can produce increased sense of ownership between cities, communities and individuals in the planting zones. The governance model, with an emphasis on stewardship, showed high rates of annual survivorship (~96.5%), low annual mortality rates (~3.5%) and average vigor rating of 1.5 (1 being healthy, 5 being dead)

18. Late to the Run

https://crossworks.holycross.edu/poetry2022/1016/thumbnail.jp

Mapping photovoltaic power stations and assessing their environmental impacts from multi-sensor datasets in Massachusetts, United States

Solar energy is often viewed as a sustainable alternative to non-renewable energy, yet the debate between solar energy promotion and environmental cost has received growing attention. Accurate geographic information of photovoltaic power stations is a prerequisite for quantifying cost and benefit of clean energy promotion. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the environmental impacts of photovoltaic power stations by geo-mapping solar panels over space and time. Based on the case of Massachusetts, United States, we classified the solar panel arrays using object-based image analysis on Sentinel-2 monthly composites, identified the per-array construction year based upon 20-year all available Landsat time-series dataset, and assessed the solar-induced environmental impacts with various environmental datasets. The accuracy assessment suggests that our classification performs well for detecting solar arrays (overall accuracy: 96%), depicting photovoltaic power stations geometry (average Jaccard Index value: 0.70), and capturing the construction years (percentage of temporal bias less than one year: 73%). Solar-induced land use and cover changes have largely occurred in forest and cropland, where 49% and 23% of the solar arrays have been installed, respectively. Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis uncovers that more than half of the mapped solar arrays were built in proximity (within 500 m) to rare wildlife habitats or adjacent to wetlands. This work exemplifies a new framework for identifying multifaceted land change information through a combination of finer-resolution Sentinel-2 images and long Landsat-based data archive. The findings can be useful for informing spatial planning and contributing to the growth, expansion, advancement, and location selection of solar installation arrays. The study also provides a new perspective for monitoring forest loss due to clean energy promotion and addressing critical issues of local conflicts between solar energy and environmental conservation. © 2023 Elsevier B.V

A Relational theory of risk: a case study of the Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation in Worcester, MA

The rise of globalization and global increases in temperature have prompted the spread of invasive species, which poses a major threat to the ecosystem benefits provided by urban forests. Stakeholders such as urban residents, policy-makers, and forestry industry professionals deem these risks differently because they place value on threatened goods and services at different spatial and temporal scales. This article will use the frameworks of relational risk theory and relational place-making to connect ‘risk objects’ and ‘objects at risk’ to better understand how relationships of risk shape responses to threats to the environment. The data in this study comes from Worcester, MA, where discovery of the Asian Longhorned Beetle prompted the United States Department of Agriculture to remove 35,000 trees from streets and backyards in the quarantine zone. The three different stakeholder groups that were targeted for data collection were green industry representatives, government decision makers, and residents. Green industry representatives, decision makers, and residents were interviewed while additional residents responded to a survey. The results showed that greater understanding of the different objects and places at risk removed misconceptions between different stakeholders. Understanding is increased when each stakeholder recognizes the different spatial scales of the objects at risk. This improvement of transparency can lead to better communication of the variety of risks posed by invasive species and a faster and more unified response to the threats from invasive species or other natural disasters

Historical urban tree canopy cover change in two post-industrial cities

Present-day spatial patterns of urban tree canopy (UTC) are created by complex interactions between various human and biophysical drivers; thus, urban forests represent legacies of past processes. Understanding these legacies can inform municipal tree planting and canopy cover goals while also addressing urban sustainability and inequity. We examined historical UTC cover patterns and the processes that formed them in the cities of Chelsea and Holyoke, Massachusetts using a mixed methods approach. Combining assessments of delineated UTC from aerial photos with historical archival data, we show how biophysical factors and cycles of governance and urban development and decay have influenced the spatiotemporal dynamics of UTC. The spatially explicit UTC layers generated from this research track historical geographic tree distribution and dynamic change over a 62-year period (1952–2014). An inverse relationship was found between UTC and economic prosperity: while canopy gains occurred in depressed economic periods, canopy losses occurred in strong economic periods. A sustainable increase of UTC is needed to offset ongoing losses and overcome historical legacies that have suppressed UTC across decades. These findings will inform future research on residential canopy formation and stability, but most importantly, they reveal how historical drivers can be used to inform multi-decadal UTC assessments and the creation of targeted, feasible UTC goals at neighborhood and city scales. Such analyses can help urban natural resource managers to better understand how to protect and expand their cities’ UTC over time for the benefit of all who live in and among the shade of urban forests

Urban Forest Management Motivations and Practices in Relation to a Large-Scale Tree Planting Initiative

The success of public trees planted in urban areas by tree planting initiatives (TPIs) depends on how well the new trees fit into existing municipal structures and capacities. We sought to understand municipal management of trees in mid-sized towns through a case study in Massachusetts (US) involving a state-funded and state-managed TPI. Data was collected through structured interviews with tree wardens (municipal urban forest managers) to understand the various impacts that maintenance practices, municipal support and funding, and departmental structure may have on recently planted trees. In this Massachusetts program, municipal structure influenced the number of proactive management practices as well as the size of the tree activity budget. Consideration of municipal department roles and structure by TPIs may allow for more effective implementation of these initiatives. Our study begins to fill a research gap regarding small to mid-size municipalities and their role in tree planting and maintenance. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Elements Fall 2012 Issue

PDF of Elements' Fall 2012 journal