City Trees

We have some really exciting research ongoing in our Urban Forestry Research in Action (UFORIA) lab. PhD student Sophie Nitoslawski, for example, is studying ways of promoting "smart" urban forestry by making better use of information and technology to guide our decisions about urban forests. Postdoctoral fellow Tahia Devisscher is studying an urban forest tran- sect in the Greater Vancouver area to identify urban forest structure, benefits, but also public opinions and preferences—and see how these change over time. PhD student Hyeone Park is studying the role of urban food forestry and community gardening in Vancouver, while another doctoral student, Cindy Cheng, is particularly interested in the role of urban forests in adapting cities to climate change. Cindy will study Vancouver as well as cities in Europe and China. We do a lot of work in China and cur- rently have seven visiting PhD students and scholars from China working on a range of urban forestry projects, from ecosystem service mapping to storm- water regulation benefits of urban forests. MSc student Alice Miao is surveying all munici- palities in the province of British Columbia to see whether cities have urban forest inventories in place. Her initial findings indicate that only about half of the cities have, and that cities use their inventories for different purposes. PhD student Corey Basset, who recently came to us from Hawaii, is looking for ways of improving tree planting success: What can we do to ensure that trees reach maturity and provide the benefits we want them to provide? Recently graduated MSc student Jehane Samaha was also interested in tree planting, especially in differences in species preferences among different professions involved in urban forestry. Jehane's work showed that professionals in different arenas have a very different preferred palette of tree species. The different perspectives held by the professional fields engaged in the planning, design, and man- agement of urban green spaces is also the focus of Leila Todd's doctoral work. She is especially inter- ested in the (sometimes missing) links between urban park design and urban forestry targets. We are also very interested in the governance of urban forests, and together with colleague Lorien Nesbitt and former MSc student Zach Wirtz, I am studying how Canadian cities have adapted their deci- sion making and management in order to deal with calamities such as pest outbreaks and forest fires. We are very excited about our one-year Master of Urban Forestry Leadership (MUFL) program. This will be the first professional Master's level degree of its kind, combining the best of urban for- estry knowledge and skills with crucial leadership, entrepreneurship, and policy skills. We developed a series of new courses for this program in collab- oration with UBC's Sauder School of Business. The MUFL program will enroll up to 28 students per year, and we hope to see a very international study body, with people coming from a wide range of back- grounds and professions. A large part of the student population should be comprised of colleagues with work experience in (urban) forestry, urban planning, green infrastructure development, arboriculture, public health, or other fields. Although the launch of the program has been delayed, we hope to enroll the first students in early 2021 for a summer 2021 start. Graduates of the program should be well positioned for urban forestry and other green leadership positions in municipalities, companies, and not-for-profits. Vancouver nestled in its urban forest. Photo by Cecil Konijnendijk Cecil Konijnendijk: 26 CityTREES

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