Urban Ecology Collaborative

Cultivating healthy, safe and vibrant cities through collective

learning and united action

Partners in Community Forestry ConferencePhil Rodbell USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area

Michael Leff USFS / The Davey Institute

Colleen Murphy-Dunning Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

The UEC provides a concrete and shared agenda for the unique network of institutions committed to the future of our cities and environment, including:

Baltimore: Parks and People Foundation

Boston: Urban Ecology Institute/Boston College, Natural Cities Program partners

New Haven: Urban Resources Initiative/Yale University, New Haven Ecology Project

New York City: Parks and Recreation Programs and Citywide Non-Profits

Pittsburgh: Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, 3 Rivers 2nd Nature (Carnegie-Melon University), Pennsylvania Environmental Council - Western Region

Washington, DC: Casey Trees, Urban Forestry Administration

Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Providence: City Parks Dept

Strategic Partners: USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station and Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry

The UEC began as a partnership of:

Develop an integrated “toolkit” for standardizing, evaluating, and sharing these tools

Launch a national clearinghouse of urban ecosystem data

Early goals of the UEC:

Multi-city network for urban ecosystem research and restoration

Complete “tools” for effectively addressing common urban ecosystem problems

WORKING COMMITTEES Leadership for community

development and stewardship: education

Leadership for community development and stewardship: job training

Restoration tools Multi-city research agenda

and database development

Initial UEC Committee StructureExecutive Committee consisting of 1 representative from each city, plus working committees:

UEC Project History Collaborative model development MERGE:

Methods for Engaging Residents and Grassroots in the Environment

Model replication involves the adoption of one city’s successful program by another. URI Community Greenspace program replicated in Boston (CityRoots, 2003) and Pittsburgh (GreenLinks, 2003)

Model Sharing included inventories, monitoring/evaluation and UTC

Parcel Census Neighborhood City Watershed

Model sharing – Urban tree canopy

Collaborative model development MERGE: Develop and administer a survey to assess local

priority concerns Host six forums in the UEC cities to create

dialogue about outreach techniques Implement pilot projects to apply outreach

methods Share our findings to other cities and partners in

the region

Survey to understand the quality of life priority concerns of local constituencies

Survey Question: Where do you get information about local activities and issues?

Overall, the participants were motivated:◦ by the social aspects of getting involved◦ the idea that it was the right thing to do and a good thing

to do for the community◦ usually not motivated by just one reason and address

many different desires when participating in these community projects

Forum Outcomes

1) Organizations that work with citizen groups look toward the citizens for input on outreach strategies

2) Investing in outreach is as important as investing in planting and maintenance

3) Tailor outreach message and method

MERGE Conclusions

A Tale of Eight Cities

Annual gatherings

Monthly calls

Restoration Tools ⇒ Urban Forestry Municipal and nonprofit reps, plus USFS “Coalition of the Willing” Staggered rotating co-chairs Workhorse website fell off, LinkedIn launched Dues structure in question Peer-to-peer learning, tech transfer, and support Wide-open opportunities for collaboration

UEC through the years

CATE http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/

CATE http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/

Cross-sector initiativewww.itreetools.org

Cross-sector initiativewww.itreetools.org

Future possibilities?

Urban Ecology Collaborative

Cultivating healthy, safe and vibrant cities through collective

learning and united action

Partners in Community Forestry ConferencePhil Rodbell USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area

Michael Leff USFS / The Davey Institute

Colleen Murphy-Dunning Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies