Benefits of Urban Trees — Southern Group of State Foresters:
"Cleaner, Cooler Air: In exchange for giving oxygen, trees absorb carbon dioxide produced from the combustion of various fuels. Trees remove or trap lung-damaging dust, ash, pollen and smoke from the air, in addition to providing shade for people and conserving energy.
Showing posts with label urban forests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban forests. Show all posts
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
University of Florida researchers issue report on Gainesville's urban forest, land cover; Gainsville, FL
FOR 215/FR277: Gainesville's Urban Forest Canopy Cover:
In 2006, 93 random sites were sampled and measured across Gainesville, Florida using the USDA Forest Service's Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) methods (http://www.ufore.org/). Crown measurements, tree species, land use conditions, shrub characteristics, and surface cover information were used to determine the urban forest cover and total leaf area in Gainesville. Leaf area, as estimated by the UFORE model, is the sum of all tree leaf surfaces. Urban forest canopy cover is the proportion of land surface area that lies directly beneath the crowns of all trees and tall shrubs. Urban forest includes all trees on private and public lands within the city limits of Gainesville.
Results indicate tree cover in Gainesville at 51 percent while shrub cover, often present under trees, was 16 percent. Pervious surface cover (bare soil, lawns, gardens, pastures) was 73 percent, impervious surface cover (concrete, roads, tar) was 15 percent, and buildings covered 9 percent of Gainesville. In addition to tree and shrub cover, information on surface covers can help planners and other professionals assess the potential for positive or negative environmental effects such as the ability of areas to infiltrate excess rainfall or identify areas that can be sources of excess stormwater runoff.
In 2006, 93 random sites were sampled and measured across Gainesville, Florida using the USDA Forest Service's Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) methods (http://www.ufore.org/). Crown measurements, tree species, land use conditions, shrub characteristics, and surface cover information were used to determine the urban forest cover and total leaf area in Gainesville. Leaf area, as estimated by the UFORE model, is the sum of all tree leaf surfaces. Urban forest canopy cover is the proportion of land surface area that lies directly beneath the crowns of all trees and tall shrubs. Urban forest includes all trees on private and public lands within the city limits of Gainesville.
Results indicate tree cover in Gainesville at 51 percent while shrub cover, often present under trees, was 16 percent. Pervious surface cover (bare soil, lawns, gardens, pastures) was 73 percent, impervious surface cover (concrete, roads, tar) was 15 percent, and buildings covered 9 percent of Gainesville. In addition to tree and shrub cover, information on surface covers can help planners and other professionals assess the potential for positive or negative environmental effects such as the ability of areas to infiltrate excess rainfall or identify areas that can be sources of excess stormwater runoff.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
MAPLE SYRUP IN THE CITY - Tapping Our Urban Bounty!; Maplewood, Toronto, Canada
MAPLE SYRUP IN THE CITY - Tapping Our Urban Bounty! Aviva Community Fund:
Imagine a community where residents are connected to the environment around them, to each other, and to their food system. Imagine a community that operates on a “one-mile diet,” going beyond the 100-mile diet. Now imagine this in winter, when the maple trees that dot the city streets are magically awakened to produce sweet syrup for all to enjoy!
Yes, you know you want it to happen: MAPLE SYRUP IN THE CITY! Many city-dwellers (children and adults alike) rarely get the oh-so-Canadian experience of going to a maple syrup bush, so we thought we'd bring the sugar bush to them!
Imagine a community where residents are connected to the environment around them, to each other, and to their food system. Imagine a community that operates on a “one-mile diet,” going beyond the 100-mile diet. Now imagine this in winter, when the maple trees that dot the city streets are magically awakened to produce sweet syrup for all to enjoy!
Yes, you know you want it to happen: MAPLE SYRUP IN THE CITY! Many city-dwellers (children and adults alike) rarely get the oh-so-Canadian experience of going to a maple syrup bush, so we thought we'd bring the sugar bush to them!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Climate change, urbanization, disease vectors and human health; Earth
The Spread of New Diseases and the Climate Connection by Sonia Shah: Yale Environment 360: As humans increasingly encroach on forested lands and as temperatures rise, the transmission of disease from animals and insects to people is growing. Now a new field, known as “conservation medicine,” is exploring how ecosystem disturbance and changing interactions between wildlife and humans can lead to the spread of new pathogens.
by sonia shah
Look up into the tree canopy of the urban tropics in South Asia, Australia, or equatorial Africa and as often as not you will find masses of Pteropos fruit bats, hanging from the branches like so many furry stalactites. Their forests cut down by bulldozers, torched by slash-and-burn farmers, or desiccated from a disrupted climate, fruit bats increasingly intrude upon human communities, adapting to the orchards and cultivated fruit trees of the cities, farms, and suburbs that have subsumed their forests.
With those bats come diseases that spread to humans, and a growing body of research suggests that their microbes — as well as other pathogens that jump from animals to people — are spreading more rapidly because of climate change and deforestation.
by sonia shah
Look up into the tree canopy of the urban tropics in South Asia, Australia, or equatorial Africa and as often as not you will find masses of Pteropos fruit bats, hanging from the branches like so many furry stalactites. Their forests cut down by bulldozers, torched by slash-and-burn farmers, or desiccated from a disrupted climate, fruit bats increasingly intrude upon human communities, adapting to the orchards and cultivated fruit trees of the cities, farms, and suburbs that have subsumed their forests.
With those bats come diseases that spread to humans, and a growing body of research suggests that their microbes — as well as other pathogens that jump from animals to people — are spreading more rapidly because of climate change and deforestation.
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