NE_TEMP1502: Urban Landscape Assessment of Ecological, Biological, Economic, Sociological, and Psychological Services
(Multistate Research Project)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
NE_TEMP1502: Urban Landscape Assessment of Ecological, Biological, Economic, Sociological, and Psychological Services
Duration: 10/01/2009 to 09/30/2014
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
Urban Landscape Assessment
Of Ecological, Biological, Economic, Sociological, and Psychological Services
Issues, Need, and Research Justification
Ecosystem services are the benefits that people obtain from nature and they provide value to our quality of life and our environment. In 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, sponsored by the United Nations, reported that 15 of the worlds 24 ecosystems were declining. This report served as a disturbing warning about the vulnerability of the worlds ecosystems along with the services that they provide. In 2007, as a response to growing concerns about the global environment, the CSREES Ecosystem Services Working Group (ESWG) issued a discussion paper "Consequences of Ecosystem Change for Human Well-being" that recommended actions that CSREES could take to address the urgent and critical need to improve scientific understanding of how society and nature interact in a way that will integrate the Earth system, social development, and be sustainable .
ESWG recommended that CSREES give high priority to funding programs that are related to ecosystem services and link research, education, and extension activities. ESWG also recommended that CSREES support current and emerging multi-state projects on ecosystem services topics and programs that are managed by a multi-disciplinary program leader team incorporating biological, economic, social, research, educational, and extension expertise.
Thus, we are proposing a multistate project a project to form a working group of scientists with expertise that span the natural and social sciences to work collaboratively to create a comprehensive and multidimensional science knowledge base to be used as a resource for planning, developing, managing, regulating, and enhancing urban landscapes to optimize ecosystems services in urban landscapes.
Importance of Work
The role and impact of urban ecosystems to the future of our global environment is rapidly increasing. For World Environment Day-2005, Crane and Kinzig wrote, Whatever the future of our environmental ethic, one thing is clear: what remains of habitats and biodiversity within the city is of disproportionate importance. And we must remember that nature in the metropolis needs to be nurtured, not only for its value now, but even more for its importance in the future .
Currently, 85% of the US population lives within the urban landscape and it is expected that population growth will increase as will the proportion of the population living in urban communities. Within urban ecosystems, urban forests (the trees and related vegetation within communities) function to provide services that are essential to sustain both local and global populations.
The assessment of ecosystem services is a new and emerging concept that has been identified as a critical need for sustainable community planning and smart growth. It is only in the last decade that assessment procedures, methods, and tools have been developed to assess urban forests in order to estimate values of the ecosystem services provided by urban forests. Urban ecosystems have many functions and the value of their services depends on the direct and indirect targets of the services. The science related to ecosystems services and assessment is in its infancy and there is a critical need to expand the scope and detail of assessments to improve their utility and application by integrating assessment information bases into new groupings that can serve the research, education and Extension communities.
The proposed work is vital and necessary to close a serious knowledge gap and improve our scientific understanding of the interrelationships of ecological, biological, economic, sociological and psychological ecosystem services provided to cities by urban forests. This project will form a new and novel consortium of scientists from different science disciplines to assess the diversity, quality, and extent of ecosystem services that benefit urban landscapes. It will be the first working group that will work collaboratively to identify and assess multiple and variable contributions of urban forests to provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services, and supporting services.
The stakeholders that will participate and benefit from this project include: University teaching, research, and Extension faculty and staff; graduate students; USDA (FS, CSREES); State and Private Forestry; non-profit partnerships; NUCFAC; local municipalities and state governments; and green industries.
For this phase of the project, the primary activities will center on annual planning workshops to be attended by the core working group and interested stakeholders. During these 2-3 day meetings, the focus will be on assessing the ecological, biological, economic, sociologic, psychological functions of urban landscapes in selected cities/regions in context of developmental pressure.
Technical Feasibility
The urban forest is very complex and is distinguished from other forests because of the influence and significance of dynamic interactions and intimate associations between humans and nature. However, traditional urban forest management often focuses on the trees and the physical environment but does not consider the relationship between the urban forest and the social and psychological well being of the inhabitants (both people and wildlife). Key elements of sustainable urban forest management include recognizing diversity and complexity, recognizing unique characters of urban forests in particular settings, focusing on human dimensions, encouraging coordination across land and users, connecting diverse human activities with natural forces, developing comprehensive planning and management, and implementing adaptive management for dynamic systems.
This project would provide a significant step to identify and assess these key components by creating a framework and a mechanism for exchange of information, experience, and data among scientists studying the urban forest at different scales and from different perspectives. This short term goal is technically feasible with the support and assistance of CSREES through the commitment by the collaborating partners of formula, competitive and special grant funds.
The long term goal for outcomes that improve the scientific knowledge base necessary for sustaining urban landscapes and their ecosystem services will only be possible if a strong infrastructure is developed that will facilitate groups that are multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and geographically and culturally diverse that can interact to share, discuss, and debate new and significant findings from different perspectives. This proposal has very broad and far-reaching outcomes. If it develops as envisioned, it will also represent a new ecosystem based paradigm as an approach to problem solving. It is undoubtedly technically feasible. Whether it will be successful will depend on the commitments and inputs from the participants and the stakeholders.
Advantages as a Multi-State Project
The success of this project is dependent upon broad representation across geographic regions. Urban ecosystems are dominant features of many states and must coexist with agricultural and wild ecosystems. However, the utilization of this integrated effort will vary depending on the unique characteristics and culture of each city. Thus, this project can only be conducted as a multistate project.
Likely Outcomes
The outcomes of this project include: an assessment database, graduate student education and training, scientific and lay Extension publications, a shared platform for analysis integrating spatial, biological, social, and psychological data for policy making, and Extension training workshops.
Related, Current and Previous Work
Objectives