My dad was my basketball coach for
several seasons when I was a teenager. He was really
big on practicing The Fundamentals, which my team-
mates and I found tedious. We just wanted to play!
Now, as I watch my grandkids play in sometimes
chaotic baseball games, I understand my dad better.
As we become more knowledgeable in urban for-
estry, the basics seem more self-evident to us
than to other folks. I wrote a series called "Urban
Forestry Fundamentals" for the New York State
Urban Forestry Council (NYSUFC). This series could
be helpful if you are new to the field or if you are
a seasoned professional who wants material at
the ready to share with the people you serve.
I invite you to take the parts you wish and edit the text
to suit you and your part of the world. If you do, please
link to and/or credit the original NYSUFC post and state
"reprinted from" or "adapted from" as appropriate.
Here are excerpts from the four installments
of "Urban Forestry Fundamentals" on the
NYSUFC website: Urban Forestry Concepts and
Terms, Selecting Trees like an Urban Forester,
Taking Care of Roots, and Tips on Watering.
Back to
Urban Forestry
BASICS
Story and photos by Michelle Sutton, City Trees Editor
Excerpt from Part 1:
Concepts and Terms
Forestry is managing woodlands for enjoy-
ment, ecosystem health, and wood products.
Urban forestry is getting trees to grow in
inhospitable environments, like along city
streets, so that humans and wildlife can
benefit from trees in their daily lives.
In this context, urban means significantly
altered by human activity. So college campuses,
parks, and even your yard are urban settings,
and they are all stressful for trees. Cornell
Urban Horticulture Institute Director Nina
Bassuk, an expert on street trees, explains why.
"In the landscapes in which we live," she says,
"the soil has been disrupted and probably sig-
nificantly compacted, which reduces oxygen,
nutrient, and water availability to tree roots.
Heat is reflected off of buildings, paved sur-
faces, and cars, putting more water stress on
plants. Deicing salts used on paved surfaces
can reduce water uptake by plant roots and
cause toxic symptoms. Tree roots that are
in the vicinity of pavement and structures
often have limited soil volume to explore."
32 CityTREES
