Research

College Park, MD (January 10, 2012)- Trees and urban forests produce enormous benefits for people and communities. They improve our environment, our economy, our health, and our quality of life. Research by top scientists has begun to quantify the diverse benefits of urban forests, proving the many ways trees enhance our cities and towns. Alliance for Community Trees has compiled these statistics into Benefits of Trees and Urban Forests: A Research List.

Washington, DC (December 6, 2011)- The HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities and the USDA has released Supporting Sustainable Rural Communities, a report that discusses how the four agencies are collaborating to support rural communities.

Washington, DC (December 1, 2011)- The USDA Forest Service Forests to Faucets project uses GIS to model and map the continental United States land areas most important to surface drinking water, the role forests play in protecting these areas, and the extent to which these forests are threatened by development, insects and disease, and wildland fire.

By Nate Berg

Los Angeles, CA (November 21, 2011)- Cities are hot spots. Their paved surfaces and dark rooftops absorb energy from the sun, which creates localized areas of high temperatures. Expanded out from the building scale to the city scale, these hot roofs and blacktops collectively create a blanket of retained warmth in a city, raising temperatures an annual average of about 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Durham, NC (November 1, 2011)- More than half of eastern US tree species aren't adapting to climate change as quickly or consistently as predicted, according to a new Duke University-led study.

New York, NY (October 27, 2011)- Although corporate philanthropy increased in 2010, corporate giving by industry has followed strikingly divergent paths since 2007, a new report from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy finds.

By Eric Jaffe

Portland, OR (September 30, 2011)- Most people enjoy a good tree, especially the rare one found inside city limits, but typically they leave it at that. Not so with Geoffrey Donovan of the U.S. Forest Service in Portland, Oregon. As Donovan told SF Gate in May, it's the fact that most people stop there that keeps him going:

Washington, DC (September 29, 2011)- Investors and buyers have funneled record amounts of capital into forestry projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by conserving forests and capturing carbon in trees, according to a global survey of carbon market participants published on Thursday by Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace.

Birmingham, UK (September 20, 2011)- Covered with a growing medium and plants, green roofs can benefit a building's insulation, control storm-water drainage and remove pollution from the air, as well as provide wildlife habitats. Extensive green roofs might even be able to compensate for urban habitat lost at ground level, but there isn't much information about how well they match ground-based habitats.

Washington, DC (September 1, 2011)- The Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook provides a framework for any organization or community interested in developing an urban farm on cleaned brownfields or vacant lands, food access, or community development challenges.

By Matthew Tallis, Gail Taylor, Danielle Sinnett and Peter Freer-Smith

Southampton, UK (September 1, 2011)- New research by scientists at the University of Southampton has shown how London's trees can improve air quality by filtering out pollution particulates, which are damaging to human health.

By Bronislaus B. Kush

Worcester, MA (August 31, 2011)- Trees infested with the Asian longhorned beetle have shown remarkable resilience in physically coping with the insect's devastating, decade-long onslaught, a recently released study by researchers from Harvard University and the U.S. Forest Service shows.

By J. Morgan Grove and Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne

Newton Square, PA (August 1, 2011)- An important part of urban tree planting campaigns is measuring and evaluating current urban forests so that realistic tree-planting goals can be set. The term "urban tree canopy" (UTC) is used to describe the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. Scientists now use various aerial and satellite reconnaissance methods to measure and evaluate the UTC. Northern Research Station (NRS) scientists have developed techniques to analyze and prioritize UTC data so that urban planners and parks departments can focus their efforts on locales that benefit most from tree planting.

By Terry Grobe, Kate O'Sullivan, Sally T. Prouty, Sarah White

Washington DC (July 19, 2011)- The paper explores the extent to which this emerging green economy can offer a pathway out of poverty for low-income young people, many of whom have disengaged from school and are struggling to find a way into the economic mainstream. These disconnected youth - some six million strong - represent an untapped resource. Despite the fact that they have experienced difficulties in their personal lives or communities and may not have completed high school, many seek a second chance, returning to programs such as Service and Conservation Corps or other education and work initiatives in their local communities.

By Yude Pan, Richard A. Birdsey, Jingyun Fang, et.al.

Cambridge, UK (July 14, 2011)- The terrestrial carbon (C) sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem C studies, we estimated a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 Pg C yr-1 globally for 1990-2007.

By Mark Muro, Jonathan Rothwell and Devashree Saha

Washington, DC (July 13, 2011)- The "green" or "clean" or low-carbon economy-defined as the sector of the economy that produces goods and services with an environmental benefit-remains at once a compelling aspiration and an enigma. Seeking to help address the questions around the green economy, researchers at the Brookings Institution worked with Batelle to develop, analyze, and comment on a detailed database of employment statistics about the clean economy in the U.S. and its metropolitan areas.

By Thomas Welch Gillespie, Stephanie Pincetl, Shea Brossard, Jenny Smith, Sassan Saatchi, Diane Pataki and Jean-Daniel Saphores

Los Angeles, CA (July 12, 2011)- There has been an increasing interest in the evolution of urban forests. This research uses historic and digital aerial photography to quantify changes in tree density in Los Angeles, California since the 1920's. High-resolution geographic information system analysis (4 to 6 time periods) of three regions (San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, Los Angeles Basin) of Los Angeles reveals that there has not always been an increase in tree density with time.

By Heather E. Wright Wendel, Joni A. Downs, and James R. Mihelcic

Tampa, Florida (July 5, 2011)- Urban green space and water features provide numerous social, environmental, and economic benefits, yet disparities often exist in their distribution and accessibility. This study examines the link between issues of environmental justice and urban water management to evaluate potential improvements in green space and surface water access through the revitalization of existing engineered water infrastructures, namely stormwater ponds.

By Neela C. Poudyal, Jacek P. Siry, and J.M. Bowker

Malden, MA (June 26, 2011)- To better understand how businesses' motivation and support for green projects varies by their organizational objectives and characteristics, this study investigates a case of urban forestry carbon credits in a broader context of climate change mitigation efforts.