J. James Kielbaso

Management of Urban Forests in the United States

Many definitions of urban forestry have been proposed and written, but the one I like best was developed by the Society of American Foresters’ Urban Forestry Working Group: “Urban forestry is a specialized branch of forestry that has as its objective the cultivation and management of trees for their present and potential contribution to the physiological, sociological, and economic well-being of urban society.” Education of the public about tree values is implied. It broadly includes other aspects such as municipal watersheds, wildlife habitats, recreation, landscape design, recycling, and even wood fiber. Quality of life is the sum of all things that make life enjoyable, comfortable, and meaningful, including physical, mental, economic, psychological, aesthetic, and recreational benefits. It is much easier just to assume quality than to enumerate the many aspects of quality and how urban forestry contributes to them. There have been several surveys of city tree managers in the United States over the past 20 years. A 1986 survey of 2787 cities had a 38% return. We estimated that there were 61,654,000 street trees in the 7043 U.S. cities represented. The 1986 survey of urban forestry programs in the U.S. (Kielbaso et al., 1988), therefore, allows us to draw some conclusions about common factors in those cities with urban forestry programs that come close to the ideal model. Adjustments are obviously necessary for applying these findings to China. For example, is a city’s commitment to planting and maintaining trees a high priority in view of its total environmental, economic, and aesthetic assets? Also, is this commitment legal and codified? In other words, does the city have an ordinance, or other legal policy, that assigns responsibility for the planting and care of all the city’s trees? In almost all cities with good, effective tree management, the 1986 survey found a tree manager with the title of forester or arborist, who served in a subunit of government with the words forestry or tree as part of the department title. In short, a city’s trees must have an advocate. When a city’s tree policies are sufficiently clear, a good manager can ensure that tree spaces are vigorously defended, that tree removals are not permitted without good reason, and that new tree spaces are provided when any new projects are contemplated. So much responsibility rests on