Open-Ended Question:
How do you think
municipal/urban forestry
issues will impact
your daily work? The
industry as a whole?
With regard to the municipal/urban forestry
issues that are most important to you (Figure
4), how do you think these issues will impact
your daily work? The industry as a whole?
These open-ended responses
ran along these four lines:
1.
So many challenges and yet still people
don't understand the value of our work.
2.
How to navigate the challenging envi-
ronment trees must thrive in (rising
sea levels, drought, wildfire, etc.)
3.
All of these negative issues will get us
a seat at the table where we belong.
4.
So many challenges, but not enough
people, money, time to do it!
Some standout comments under "How do
you think these issues will impact your daily
work? The industry as a whole?" follow:
"As an urban planner, I believe my profession needs
to learn more about urban forestry and work more
closely with urban foresters to improve cities."
"Trees are good in so many ways. As a result, they
can be leveraged for whatever the newest cause
or concern happens to be. It used to be habitat,
then canopy in general, followed by stormwater
and more recently urban heat mitigation. All of
these spool up to supporting human health and
wellbeing. The more we can connect the critical
role of urban forestry to wellness, the stronger the
coalition of support we will be able to generate."
"With drought in our area we are seeing things like
root systems down at over 10 feet deep. Tree mortality
is increasing changing risk assessment. Tree planting
should also be changing to be more adaptable."
"Would love to focus more on creating workable
internal structure for urban forestry in our city than
putting out fires that suck time and life out of you."
"They elevate our role in local policy and
governance, and get us in community meetings
on livability, sustainability, and safety where
we belong—rather than just operations."
"I see declining tree canopy due to increased heat
and drought being the central issue for my community
in the next ten years. If we're spending our entire
budget removing dead trees, how much replacing
can we afford? We're in a big moment with the IRA
funding, but municipalities will have to boost their
own budgets to meet the demand in my area." >>
urban-forestry.com 15
