City Trees

It takes a village Managing the urban forest is a collaborative effort that involves a wide range of departments and competencies. Getting everyone to work towards the same goal is a universal challenge. During our exchange there were so many times we felt like we were talking to Swedish managers, as the challenges our hosts were describing were so similar to Swedish conditions. For example, the effort to convince road engineers to accept tree plantings along new roads, or when citizens complain about trees, or how to get messages across to politicians. It just shows how important these collaborative international exchanges are, so that we can inspire and support each other. In Sweden, New Public Management (NPM) has had a huge impact on how municipalities are run and on much of the day-to-day operations, including tree plantings that are now being con- ducted by contractors, often with little or no oversight from the municipalities. This of course causes a lot of issues when trees, planting pits, and/or maintenance aren't up to specifications. It was therefore interesting and eye-opening to learn how NYC and Washington DC are reducing the dependence on contractors and instead, to a higher degree, using their own staff. There was also a lot of focus on cities having their own arborists on site during tree plantings, which almost never happens in Swedish municipalities. This approach is definitely something that we will make Swedish managers aware of! If implemented, we´re certain that this operational change could increase the survival rate of newly planted trees, increase awareness amongst contractors, and raise the overall level of knowl- edge across the Swedish urban forestry industry. An influx of money requires thoughtful consideration During the 2nd World Forum on Urban Forests, a lot of focus was directed at the record funding of urban forestry in the U.S. via the Inflation Reduction Act. Even though the EU, including Sweden, are focusing much more on urban forestry, we are not even close to the U.S. level. However, the chal- lenges and opportunities are still very much the same, with many tree planting campaigns focusing on the numbers of tree planted—and not nec- essarily on survival rates or clear impact goals. During the exchange we talked with managers about these challenges and how they are dealing with them. One of the projects we visited was Stillmeadow Peace Park in Baltimore, where the U.S. Forest Service and partners are working with a local church to plant trees and help par- ticipants gain entry into careers in urban and community forestry. The project is an excel- lent example of how a big boost in urban forest funding can be used for a project that has clear goals and multiple layers of impact. The UCFS Arborist Exchange was a fantastic opportunity to not only gain knowledge, but also to understand how many similar challenges we are facing. Even though this might some- times feel discouraging, it also gives us strength since we are so many brilliant minds around the world that are working collaboratively to solve these challenges. During our exchange we gained many new friends and contacts that we will work together with during the rest of our careers. That´s really the most important part of the UCFS exchange, to make connections across geographical and cultural distances. 36 CityTREES

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