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Urban forestry Planning

Impact of Climate Change on Urban Forestry

Cities and urban areas are more vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change due to high amounts of paved surfaces, increased pollution, denser human population, and concentration of built structures. This leads to the urban heat island phenomena, in which urban areas with large amounts of impermeable, heat absorbing surfaces are measurably warmer than the surrounding areas, particularly those with more natural cover. As climate change impacts Earth, it will continue to disproportionately affect urban areas, and the warming will continue. This poses challenges for urban foresters as tree species will be pushed out of their species distribution as conditions change and become unfavorable. Trees and the urban canopy are vital in mitigating these heat effects and other challenges. They serve as an asset to the communities which is why planning and implementation of strategies to adapt are coming to the forefront.

Trees strategically planted for flood mitigation

Since cities are heavily impacted by climate change, urban forestry professionals need to adopt strategies that will lessen the effect of climate change on cities. Many cities have created management plans to address this issue. The city of Chicago, Illinois created a forest vulnerability assessment and synthesis in 2017 that looks at their current forest assessment and what the future could look like. They found that the species distribution will change for the native tree species and that stressors like drought, heat, and flooding will make the trees more vulnerable to pests and disease. A report published by the United States Department of Agriculture addresses the different ways that an urban forestry program can work to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Some strategies include maintaining natural order (restore riparian buffers and use prescribed fires), promote an integrated pest management program, sustain native animal habitat, and reduce landscape fragmentation among others. Another recent study points out that public action is also a large part of combating climate change. Those researchers note that an urban forestry program is only as strong as its community support, and if the public does not see the urgency of climate change and understand the science behind the program's actions, then progress will be slow.

Strategically planting trees is a proven method of climate change adaptation and mitigation. The city of Houston has developed a simple yet effective framework for tree planting to fight the increasingly noticeable effects of climate change. Native ”super”  tree species have been identified by a ranking system examining the highest combination of absorption of carbon dioxide, absorption other air pollutants, flood mitigation, and their ability to thrive under projected future climate conditions. Regions of the municipality experiencing disproportionately poor air quality, flooding, elevated heat, and high rates of health concerns are then mapped to plan for large-scale planting of ideal tree species. This framework can be altered and applied to any municipality to improve negative conditions worsened by climate change. The US Forest Service has also identified potential strategies for creating more resilient urban forests to be prepared for more unpredictable conditions. Important to this is the enhancement of taxonomic, structural, and functional diversity of trees in the urban forest. One way to accomplish diversity is through implementation of the 30-20-10 rule, which states that no more than 30% of the trees should belong to a single taxonomic family, no more than 20% of a single taxonomic genera, and no more than 10% a single taxonomic species.