Projects
Climate Adapted Trees
The U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program has awarded more than $1 billion in competitive grants to combat climate change and its effects on urban forests. These funds are covered by the Justice40 Initiative and made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). We will be working with these programs to address the challenges of preparing California’s urban forests for a hotter, drier climate—challenges that are most acute in the state’s disadvantaged communities (DACs).
Urban and community forestry in California faces many unique challenges compared to other regions in the United States. The state’s Mediterranean climate brings with it prolonged periods of drought every year, creating a significant hurdle for establishing and maintaining urban trees. California is the most urbanized state in the country, yet it also has the lowest per capita canopy cover. Many California communities are projected to become even hotter and drier, which will further impact human health and reduce the lifespan of the urban trees on which we depend. Currently, the average lifespan of a typical urban tree in California is less than ten years due to environmental stressors and the failure of trees to become established in harsh drought-prone conditions. The mortality rate of newly planted trees remains a pressing concern, highlighting the difficulties in ensuring their successful establishment and longevity. In addition, sourcing appropriate species from nurseries is a significant challenge for tree-planting projects and impedes efforts to plant climate-adapted trees. Climate-adapted species are not available in the large quantities necessary to develop climate resiliency through urban planting efforts. These combined challenges underscore the urgent need for comprehensive strategies and concerted efforts to overcome the obstacles facing urban forestry in California.
Considering these challenges, proper species selection in urban forestry in California is paramount. We need to plant only climate-adapted, drought-tolerant species that will thrive on the neglect and hardship that they encounter in our cities. This project will enact large-scale and long-term improvements to the resiliency in California’s urban forests, especially among DACs. Our project will provide the resources and training necessary to ensure climate resiliency in the urban forests of all DACs in California. Specifically, our project aims to (1) identify California’s most vulnerable urban forests and determine which climate-adapted species to plant for future resilience in every DAC, (2) leverage an existing and widely-used web-based tree selection guide, SelecTree, to provide this information to communities, (3) develop and provide resources and training to all IRA grantees, IRA pass-through organization grantees, and arborists about climate-adapted species selection and care at no-cost to them, and (4) to leverage existing relationships with large-scale nurseries to ensure supply of climate-adapted trees as well as connect grantees to these nurseries so they can effectively source appropriate species.
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and UFI are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Schoolyard Trees
In 2023, Cal Fire dedicated significant funds to schoolyard greening projects in California. This landmark initiative has the opportunity to greatly improve student health, equity, and overall quality of life for students in California schools.
Unfortunately, many tree plantings in California fail ten years after planting. If we are going to create long-term benefits for California’s children, we need to select the trees with the highest likelihood of survival. Species selection is further complicated by climate change - the trees that have worked well in the past might not be the best trees for the future. Species selection is the number one contributor to the long-term success of an urban tree. If the wrong species are planted, they will either not survive or come into conflict with human needs and desires and be removed.
In this project, we will develop the schoolyard tree data and augment an existing and widely-used web-based tree selection guide, SelecTree, to provide this information to schools, districts, and other stakeholders. In collaboration with CAL FIRE, Green Schoolyards America, and other partners, we will develop region-specific, climate-adapted species lists suitable for schoolyard applications. These lists will consider species attributes such as ease of care, invasiveness, and educational value, among other considerations. Regionally specific information about schoolyard trees will then be made available to the public via SelecTree. Users can query schoolyard trees appropriate to the area and overlay those results with any other species attributes their project requires, such as tree height, foliage type, etc. Or, they can view a list of all schoolyard trees for California. Additionally, users can make and share tree lists that they create. In this way, decision-makers have regionally specific science-based information upon which to make their tree selections, ensuring that California’s schoolchildren receive all the benefits of a green schoolyard.
