Urban and Community Forestry
Welcome to the Urban and Community Forestry Website
What is an Urban Forest?
![Bikers using the urban forest](images/index/urbanforest.jpg)
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Urban forests are trees for people! They are dynamic ecosystems that provide environmental services such as clean air and water. Trees cool cities and save energy; improve air quality; strengthen quality of place and local economies; reduce storm water runoff; improve social connections; complement smart growth; and create walkable communities. Learn more about this critical resource and what the Forest Service is doing to protect it. |
Spotlight |
Urban Forests in the News |
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Trees for People: Urban Forestry Speaker Series
Spring 2009
March 5, 10-11 AM: Urban Forestry Advocacy and Policy: What’s New? What’s Changing?
- Deborah Gangloff, Executive Director, American Forests
- Alice Ewen Walker, Executive Director, Alliance for Community Trees
March 18, 10-11 AM: Energy Use, Shade Trees, and Lawmaking: Lessons from Sacramento
Future events and more info! |
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Trees to mark life’s milestones
The Georgia Forestry Commission and Urban Forest Council hope others may commemorate life moments with their new website.
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Team takes stock of parks
Foresters are cruising Fayetteville's parks and figuring out how many trees the city can save after last month's ice storm. |
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Ridgeland earns Tree City title
For its commitment to trees, the city of Ridgeland has earned a Tree City USA designation. |
Browse by subject
The Forest Service supports projects and research related to a diverse
array of urban and community forestry issues. Follow the links below for
more information, or visit our full subject page
to learn about more endeavors.
![NCTC](images/index/greeninfra.jpg)
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Green
infrastructure: Conservation planning using a green infrastructure approach helps communities balance environmental and economic goals to achieve smarter, more sustainable land use patterns. |
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Planning the Urban Forest: This report addresses the need for planners to adopt a green infrastructure approach and presents the technical means to incorporate trees into planning. Find out how communities can develop urban forestry programs to capture the social and environmental benefits of trees. |
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Protecting and Developing the Urban Tree Canopy: The 135-city survey by the US Conference of Mayors found 84% of cities view their tree activities as part of their overall sustainability and/or climate protection efforts. |
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Urban Tree Utilization and Why it Matters: Utilization of urban trees for wood and paper products is a new idea but one that is drawing more attention from many fields. This report by Dovetail Partners, Inc. addresses big questions related to the amount of wood in urban areas, viable examples of urban tree utilization industries, and others. |
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