Richard J. Hauer

Urban forestry and arboriculture as interdisciplinary environmental science: importance and incorporation of other disciplines

Urban forests - trees and vegetation in cities - produce numerous benefits for urban residents. The study and practice of urban forestry aims to understand how trees and their benefits are produced and maintained over time. Urban forestry (tree population management) and the related field of arboriculture (single-tree management) are less known outside of the forestry and horticulture disciplines in which these fields developed. Because urban forests are best understood as social-ecological systems, urban forestry research using interdisciplinary methods and theory is beginning to become more common. In this paper, we surveyed educators and leaders of urban forestry and/or arboriculture programs across the world to examine the interdisciplinary basis of these programs. We summarize here the responses of 116 institutions of higher education (85 within the United States) with urban forestry and/or arboriculture coursework. Seventy-four percent of institutions considered urban forestry/arboriculture to be interdisciplinary. Some disciplines (e.g., biology/ecology, forestry) are already very incorporated into their programs current curriculum, and the importance of several other disciplines is recognized even while incorporation is not yet fully realized (e.g., urban planning, natural resource management, environmental science/studies). However, many major disciplines that have relevance to urban forestry/arboriculture are not rated as particularly important to the field, much less incorporated into curriculum (e.g., anthropology/sociology, economics, engineering, public policy/public affairs). Our study serves as a foundation on which to begin strengthening the interdisciplinary ties of urban forestry and arboriculture.

Municipal tree risk assessment in the United States: Findings from a comprehensive survey of urban forest management

Awareness of tree risk assessment and management has risen in the United States in recent years. This has been prompted by publications such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for tree risk assessment (ANSI A300 Part 9 – Tree Risk Assessment) and the accompanying International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Tree Risk Assessment Best Management Practices, as well as the subsequent development of the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. How this increase in awareness has broadly translated into common practice in communities, is not well understood. This paper reports findings from a recent survey of urban forest operations as they directly pertain to tree risk assessment. The survey consisted of a 109-question long-form questionnaire that was sent to 1727 communities, followed up by a truncated version to non-responding communities. Six hundred and sixty-seven (38.6%) communities responded to the survey – 513 to the full survey and 154 to the truncated version. Communities that reported having a certified arborist on staff (p-value = .010), a strategic plan (p-value = .002), an updated inventory (p-value < .001), collecting risk data (p-value = .004), and having a past claim for damage or injury (p-value < .001) were more likely to regularly conduct tree risk management activities.

Urban forest assessment in Bangkok, Thailand

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to conduct an urban forest assessment for Bangkok and pilot the appropriateness of adapting the i-Tree Eco International software in Thailand. Urban forest structure, function, and value were estimated from 184 stratified random sample plots. A total 48 tree species were encountered and the three most common that contributed 34.1% of total tree population were Polyalthia longifolia Sonn. (15.7%), Mangifera indica L. (13.0%), and Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. (5.4%). The majority of trees (approximately 70%) were <23 cm in diameter. An estimated 2.5 (0.4 SEM) million trees with a canopy cover of 8.6% (1.3 SEM) exist in the Bangkok study area. These trees store an approximate total of 309,700 (73,726 SEM) metric tons of carbon and sequester 16,271 (2965 SEM) metric tons of CO2 annually. Additional research is needed to develop functional relationships for urban trees in Thailand to overcome a current limitation for using i-Tree Eco in Thailand to estimate structural and functional value of urban forests. Study results also provide land-use planners information on the current urban forest resource and the potential for future urban greening.

Water planning tools for fixed military installations

The Installation Water Resources Analysis and Planning System (IWRAPS©), developed initially for the Army, provides installation water engineers and planners with a tool that defensibly provides water requirement forecasts and conservation analysis. IWRAPS© models have also been developed for the Air Force (IWRAPS©-AF) and the Navy and Marine Corps (IWRAPS©-NAV). The models are automated for use within PC-based software systems and forecast seasonally disaggregated water requirements into 21 water-use sectors. Water conservation analysis algorithms in IWRAPS© facilitate the analysis of water conservation efforts associated with various end uses to estimate overall program efficiency. Mobilization water requirements planning can also be accomplished with IWRAPS©. The models developed for the military service branches improve estimating water requirements from conventional per capita extrapolation to a statistical water use method for predicting past and future water needs.