Tag: Forest Management

Forest 101
Natural Climate Solutions
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Carbon + Climate Change, Forest Management, Forest Products, Urban Forests

Urban Tree Canopy. AKA the urban forest from above.

What is it, why do we measure it, and why does it matter for climate goals?

Author: Alec Sabatini

Alec is the content writer at PlanIT Geo™, a global urban forestry consulting and tree management software firm.

When people talk about urban forests or urban forestry, they mention urban tree canopy - and they mention it soon, and mention it often. I only lasted 12 words before typing it. Point proven? So, what exactly does it mean when we refer to urban tree canopy, and why are cities around the world so focused on tracking it?

For an individual tree, the canopy refers to the spread of leaves and branches. In the context of urban forestry, the term urban tree canopy refers to the collective canopies of all trees within a defined area, like the city limits. When viewing a city from above it essentially measures how much of that view is covered by green vs. gray assets, such as roads, buildings, or parking lots. There is a careful science to getting this measurement as accurate as possible, one that has been improving in leaps and bounds over the last 20 years.

Picking Plants Out Of Pixels

The process is called an urban tree canopy assessment. Imagery (either from satellites or plane flyovers) is run through a computer analysis to classify each pixel into certain categories. The categories can include tree canopy, non-canopy vegetation (grass, shrubs), open ground, impervious surfaces (buildings, roads), and water (ponds, rivers).

Then other geospatial datasets are blended in to further improve the accuracy. For the purpose of urban forest management, the final product is often simplified down into three types: where trees are, where trees could be, and where trees shouldn’t be (like impervious surfaces or sports fields). For example, an urban tree canopy for Washington, DC found the city was 37% tree canopy, 24% possible planting area, and 39% impervious surfaces

But wait! There’s still a couple layers left on this data onion. Thanks to the census and other surveys there is a ton of socioeconomic information tied to every block and neighborhood in the country. By overlaying tree canopy data on top of demographic data, urban foresters can identify significant trends, such as the disproportionate concentration of canopy in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods (a widespread pattern at the center of the tree equity movement) or the correlation between sparse trees and higher rates of asthma, heart disease, and skin cancer.

Why Measuring Tree Canopy Is So Helpful

There are three chief reasons tree canopy data is invaluable for cities.

  • Trees grow, and trees go, and we need to know.

Urban tree canopies are in perpetual motion. Tree growth and regeneration add canopy, while the destructive forces of development, disease, pests, and storms take it away. It’s hard to gauge from the ground, but taking a top-down view allows urban forest managers to track the change of canopy in every nook of the city, including both public and private lands. In fact, for most cities, the majority of their urban forests are on private residential land, so having this comprehensive perspective is vital.

 

  • Invest in the right trees in the right place, for max impact

Maps are a powerful storytelling tool. All of the data points from an urban tree canopy assessment can be combined into a clear, visual story on a map. Urban forest managers use software to map out tree canopy, and then mix in other metrics, such as available planting space and prevalence of urban heat, to develop a priority planting plan

Urban forest managers use software to visualize trees in cities
Close up of data used to visual urban forests

 

  • Data rules. Back it up for the boss and the budget.

Urban forestry departments need to make the most of a limited budget, so it’s crucial to invest their available resources for new trees in the best possible areas.
Frequently, trees and landscaping are treated as an afterthought instead of an essential piece of the urban fabric. “Leadership within community forestry programs will always struggle to get outside agencies to buy into the value of trees without having canopy assessment data,” said Rob Davis, City Forester of Grand Junction, Colorado. Tree canopy data helps urban forest departments build buy-in from government leadership so they can justify their budgets, increase investment in tree planting, and upgrade city policies. Having maps and data that document exactly how tree cover is changing and how it is distributed across a city moves conversations into a discussion of reality instead of hypotheticals.

What’s Your Community’s Canopy Cover?

Find yourself a high vantage point, a plane or hot air balloon, or hop on Google Maps and take a look at your town from above. Try to make a rough estimate of how much of the view is covered by greenery. It’s worth checking to see if your community has completed an urban tree canopy assessment with a quick web search.

There is no magic number all cities should be seeking for canopy coverage. Climate, development pressures, and available space has a huge impact on existing tree canopy. Cities in the Southwest are often in the 5-15% range, while East Coast cities tend towards 30-40%. What is consistent is urban forests and their canopy are a key piece of the puzzle for addressing many of the top challenges facing cities today.

 

Reimagining Our Cities
Urban Forests

RECLAIMED | The Urban Wood Project

The Urban Wood Project began as a quest to reclaim wood from abandoned city homes. It very quickly became about so much more.

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Natural Climate Solutions
Reimagining Our Cities
Rethinking Our Carbon Future
Carbon + Climate Change, Forest Management, Forest Products, Innovation

Climate Resilience: An urban case study

ft. the Boise City of Trees Challenge - an ongoing story of community, collaboration, and forest climate solutions

Facing a changing climate and a rapidly urbanizing population, cities across the world are searching for solutions to turn the cities of the future into carbon repositories, not carbon problems. Frequently, trees are treated as an afterthought instead of an essential piece of the urban fabric. Not in Boise, Idaho.

The City of Boise is leading a new movement for community recovery and climate resiliency. While there is no single silver bullet for solving climate change, forests offer powerful carbon benefits and climate solutions. Long known as concrete jungles, it’s on us to fundamentally reimagine our cities, growing them into climate solutions, not part of the problem. The City of Trees Challenge, launched in partnership with the The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Idaho, the Arbor Day Foundation, USDA Forest Service and Treasure Valley Canopy Network in 2020, has an ambitious goal: to plant 100,000 trees, one for every household in Boise, over the next 10 years.

That's one tree for every household in the city; one seedling for every person in the city. Why? Hear from Lance Davisson, Director of the Treasure Valley Canopy Network in this case study on urban climate resilience.

In Boise, climate action isn’t just an environmental issue. It’s a public health and economic development necessity. Climate change is continuing to shift the Treasure Valley's seasons, rainfall, snowpack, air quality and water availability. These changes impact the health, quality of life, and yes, the livelihoods of everyone in the city. By harnessing the power of trees as a climate solution, and the passion of the city’s residents, Boise is positioned to grow its urban forests, and showcase the true treasure of Treasure Valley: its trees.

“We’ve got to act now if we’re really going to impact climate change. And trees are such an important part of that,” says Elaine Clegg, Boise City Council President, in this inspiring film by #forestproud friends + partners at the collaborative US Nature4Climate.

Urban forests put trees to work for our cities, connecting people with outdoor spaces, sheltering wildlife, lowering urban temperatures, and driving climate resilience by storing carbon and filtering our air and water. One tree is needed to offset emissions for every 2 gallons of gas.

Urban forests are a scalable solution to today’s most pressing urban challenges. It’s essential that our urban trees grow alongside our cities. Collectively, our urban forests are climate solutions. It’s up to us to plant, steward, and build a climate resilience urban forest.

 

New to the urban forestry conversation? Wondering why urban trees are so critical to helping us reimagine our cities and rethink our carbon future?

Check our blog posts ft. urban forests:

Want to hear more from Lance?

Check out his podcast episode "To Tree, or Not To Tree - Important Projects to Protect Our Canopy & Climate and learn more about the critical role that urban trees play, now + tomorrow.

Listen now
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Biomass + Renewable Energy, Carbon + Climate Change, Careers, Cities, Forest Management, Innovation, Mass Timber, People, Products, Urban Forests

FORESTS: Reimagining Our Cities

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Just add wood: a microscopic climate solution

To think big, we need to think small. Really small. Meet nanocellulose

Forests provide powerful climate solutions. As trees grow, they exchange oxygen for C02 and lock carbon away deep in their trunks, roots, and branches. But to fully understand the positive impact forests can have on our climate, we need to think smaller. Much smaller.

At a cellular level - one millionth the size of the head of a pin - are the microscopic building blocks of a tree. Cellulose is a basic building block of plant cells and is key to keeping plants and trees upright. (Think: those stringy bits in celery, but very, very small.) A single rod-like cellulose nanocrystal is the tiniest building block of wood. Each crystal is one hundred million times smaller than the head of a pin and can only be seen through a powerful scanning electron microscope. Nanocellulose – cellulose in its smallest microscopic form – has immense and untapped potential to create win-win solutions for people and planet. 

We envision a unique and sustainable future with this tiny yet mighty material revolutionizing fabrication technology and reducing our dependance on fossil fuels and non-renewable materials. These tiny fibers are as strong as steel, but only one-fifth the weight. Adding this next-generation material to products ranging from concrete, fiberglass and automobile tires to plastics, packing foams and electronic components, researchers are imagining and producing unique solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in things we rely on every day, all while developing new ways to support renewable, circular bio-economies.  

When incorporated into other materials, nanocellulose lends incredible strength, requires less emissions-intensive material, and drives innovations that help design waste out of an already-efficient sustainable forest management cycle. 

Because of their structures, nanocellulose materials also have a high rate of biocompatibility - meaning they can easily be added to, or combined with, other materials. In other words, we can take the climate powers of trees and add them to non-tree materials. They can be added to concrete and steel to make them stronger and lighter, and to plastics, clothing, and electronic components to make them infinitely more sustainable. As we collectively search for answers to climate change, nano-materials hold enormous potential in helping us make essential products stronger and more sustainable for people and planet.  

Thankfully it’s happening not a nanosecond too soon.

The USDA Forest Service, Oregon State University, Siskiyou County, California, and the US Endowment teamed up to test a nanocellulose additive to concrete aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Yreka Bridge shows how adding Cellulosic Nanocrystals to a concrete mix can reduce the amount of cement in a standard concrete mix. This reduction in cement saves a considerable amount of CO2 emissions, makes concrete lighter and more durable - and it also stores carbon in the concrete.  

By adding nanocellulose to concrete, it’s possible to improve its strength and help shift an essential building material like concrete from being a carbon problem to a being a carbon solution. More at https://woodisthenewconcrete.com/ 

Want more science? Get the data here and here and here and here. 

Film by Inland Film Co.

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Reimagining Our Cities
Biomass + Renewable Energy, Carbon + Climate Change, Careers, Cities, Forest Management, Innovation, Mass Timber, People, Products, Urban Forests

FORESTS: Reimagining Our Cities

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Climate Tech
Reimagining Our Cities
Rethinking Our Carbon Future
Carbon + Climate Change, Forest Management, Forest Products, Mass Timber

A climate solution hidden in plain sight

The story of the Hidden Creek Community Center

They say good things come to those who wait. And for Hillsboro, Oregon nothing could be closer to the truth. After years of planning and several intense months of construction, the town opened its doors to a brand new community center this month.

At more than 51,000 square feet, with exposed wood beams that extend some ninety feet long, the Hidden Creek Community Center is among the first buildings of its kind, using mass timber technology -  massive engineered wood beams and structural panels - in place of traditional, nonrenewable, construction materials like concrete and steel.

You only have to look at its sleek design to know that the building offers state-of-the-art facilities and public space, but what really makes this building special - and arguably, what really makes every mass timber building special - is that in addition to working for the community by providing critical infrastructure, this building is also working for the planet as a powerful climate solution.

When we first heard this we had a million questions. So many in fact, that we actually called up Swinerton Mass Timber - the company who built the community center - and talked to William Silva, Director of Pre-Construction, and asked him to lay it all out for us.

When the City of Hillsboro called you, were they looking for a climate solution?

We were working on the First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Offices which was the first project to bring mass timber to the Portland suburbs. And when we finished it in 2018, it was the largest mass timber project in the United States.

During the construction, Hillsboro’s City Manager and staff visited the site and saw what mass timber could do, particularly when the right project team was assembled.  The City Manager directed his staff to explore mass timber as a potential option for the Hidden Creek Community Center.

Serving the community has always been a primary function of the City of Hillsboro and the use of mass timber for their new community center fit perfectly with that mission as it provides a connection to nature, a beautiful space for users, and a building that stores carbon rather than emits it.

So yes, I think that they were looking for the best option for their community.

Why did Hillsboro choose mass timber over concrete or steel?

There were many options on the table. A steel structure would have certainly met the physical requirement for the space, but mass timber provides so many additional benefits, that the community really saw value in.

From the design team to the engineers, the whole project team was really committed to creating a space that connected the community and upheld the goals of working towards a more sustainable future. One of the goals of the City of Hillsboro is: “...to envision a sustainable future, in which the City responsibly satisfies the needs of its residents, provides a healthy and satisfying work environment for its employees, and minimizes its impact on the physical environment of the community.”

So in that sense, choosing mass timber as the primary structural solution, was perfectly in line with their mission and sustainability plan.

What makes mass timber the perfect choice for a community center?

As you stand in the gymnasium looking at the 90 foot long glulam beams, it’s hard not to stare out the windows at the Douglas Fir trees on the other side of the glass and instantly make that connection to nature. Given the natural forests surrounding the area, mass timber was the perfect option to connect the community center with the landscape of the community.

Using mass timber is also a nod to the state’s rich timber history.  Oregon has been home to sustainable forestry for years and so this building pays homage to those roots, though with a slightly modern twist. A lot of the material was locally sourced for the glulam beams and columns, and so this project connects with the community in more ways than one. We hope it will stand as a testament to the future of the timber industry in Oregon.

How do the benefits or advantages of mass timber translate into solutions for societal challenges?

There are so many additional advantages to mass timber construction over other materials. In terms of timing, our team was able to deliver the building 4 months faster than traditional steel construction, including overcoming permit delays so that the Community Center could open for fall programs.

I’d also say that with everything going on in the world right now, health and wellbeing have increased prominence in society today.  The exposed mass timber structure provides a natural atmosphere for residents to enjoy as they utilize the space and studies have shown that working, living, and even recreating in spaces which connect you to the natural environment help reduce stress and lower blood pressure.

As a building material, mass timber has massive potential to spur a green building initiative that encourages sustainability and cost advantages. The use of mass timber in the Hidden Creek Community Center is just one example of the larger trend to utilize natural products - like mass timber - for a range of benefits.

It seems more and more companies, organizations, towns are setting sustainability goals. Where does mass timber fit in helping achieve these goals?

There are many advantages to mass timber helping to achieve the sustainability goals of companies and communities. The ability to use products grown, harvested, processed, and built in a region promotes a sustainable ecosystem which can have a net positive benefit for the carbon cycle. The future of buildings will include more sustainable solutions, and mass timber is a really, really powerful tool that can help us do that.

Let’s talk about carbon and sustainability. How can buildings be climate solutions?

The ability for a building to act as a climate solution is incredibly valuable.

Mass timber locks in and stores carbon in a way traditional building materials don’t. Owners and architects are increasingly focused on the carbon and sustainability story associated with the buildings we build.  Every time we build a mass timber building our clients lead with the sustainability facts for the building - how much carbon it stores, how many cars off the road, etc. It is exciting to know that the building doesn’t just work, and isn’t just beautiful, it has a real positive environmental impact and people are excited about that.

original article written for Smart Cities Dive

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Reimagining Our Cities
Biomass + Renewable Energy, Carbon + Climate Change, Careers, Cities, Forest Management, Innovation, Mass Timber, People, Products, Urban Forests

FORESTS: Reimagining Our Cities

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Forest 101
Natural Climate Solutions
Reimagining Our Cities
Carbon + Climate Change, Forest Management, Forest Products, Urban Forests

Urban Forestry: The Need for Green Among The Gray

Communities need to balance economic, environmental, and climate goals.

Author: Alec Sabatini + Rae Tamblyn

Alec is the content writer at PlanIT Geo™, a global urban forestry consulting and tree management software firm.

Photo Credit: NASF

The positive impact urban trees and forests have on our cities and communities are not only becoming better understood, they’re becoming an essential part of our strategy to achieve meaningful climate goals.

In our previous post, we talked about the origins of Urban Forestry and why urban forests are so important to the health of our cities, communities, and climate. Now we’re going to go one step further and explore what actually goes into managing urban trees and forests and how communities are balancing economic, environmental, and climate goals.

How Communities Manage Urban Forests

The urban environment is a harsh place to thrive as a tree. Like us, the more stressed trees are, the more likely they are to get sick. Trees in urban spaces have a lot of stressors. They have to overcome limited root space, poor soil, heat, and pollution, flood and drought, and lost cat signs nailed to them at 2am.

Yet, there is perhaps an even greater threat to urban forests: development.

Space is always a hot commodity in cities. New housing projects or highway expansions are rarely possible without uprooting some trees, if not whole swaths of forest. (We call this the WUI  (woo-wee) or the “Wildland Urban Interface '' where wild lands meet urban.) Land conversion via development is one of the leading causes of deforestation - the permanent clearing of forested land for a new purpose.

In spite of these challenges, urban forests must be maintained, protected, and expanded if they are going to offer vital benefits to communities.

Pulling that off requires careful planning and a skilled workforce. Urban forestry is a multidisciplinary field with professionals in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The U.S. urban forestry industry employs over 500,000 people, including municipal and commercial arborists, municipal and utility foresters, environmental policymakers, city planners, consultants, educators, researchers, and community organizers.

Fundamentally, the work of urban forest managers is to monitor the urban forest and then evolve their plans and take action based on that feedback. There are two main methods of monitoring the urban forest, one from the bottom up, the other from the top down:

  • A tree inventory is completed on the ground by arborists who assess individual trees on a set of criteria and plot their location.
  • An urban tree canopy (UTC) assessment measures a community’s tree canopy cover through the analysis of aerial and/or satellite imagery and other geospatial data.
Urban forest managers use software to visualize trees in cities
Close up of data used to visual urban forests

Communities use this information to guide their actions through long-range plans, such as an urban forest management plan (see an example plan). These plans create a framework for asking what kind of urban forest a community wants to see and envisioning the actions, goals, policies, and metrics to get there. It’s also an opportunity to collect input from many diverse stakeholders (city staff, elected officials, and the community) to develop a shared vision for the future.

With a plan in hand, it’s time for action. Urban forest management is part proactive and part reactive. Urban forest managers can plan out tree plantings, removals, and schedule maintenance, but they will also have to contend with unexpected events, such as storms and pest outbreaks, that require emergency action. These are usually initiated by requests from the public, and an urban forestry program may receive hundreds to thousands of requests every year!

 

A Green Commitment Worth Keeping

It takes committed professionals, frequently updated data, and evolving plans to support a healthy urban forest. It can be a daunting task, but there are tremendous rewards when done successfully. Unfortunately, a nationwide analysis found 36 million urban trees are removed annually, equating to a loss of $96 million in ecosystem services.

We should not have to pick between living in an urban area or having access to green space. Climate change, and the increasing stress it puts on cities, is only raising the need for healthy, equitably distributed urban forests. Integrating trees, along with other green infrastructure, into our communities is a solution that supports both people and the planet.

How to get involved with your local urban forest

If you would like to support your local urban forest, there are often ample local volunteer opportunities. Try a quick Google search to see if your community has a tree board, forestry-focused nonprofit, or a tree planting event near you and join their next volunteer event. Take a selfie with your tree and tree friends + tag it #forestproud.

Reimagining Our Cities
Urban Forests

RECLAIMED | The Urban Wood Project

The Urban Wood Project began as a quest to reclaim wood from abandoned city homes. It very quickly became about so much more.

Watch this next
Forest 101
Natural Climate Solutions
Reimagining Our Cities
Carbon + Climate Change, Forest Management, Forest Products, Urban Forests

Urban Forestry: An Origin Story

Managing an urban forest is complicated! Why? Read on.

Author: Alec Sabatini

Alec is the content writer at PlanIT Geo™, a global urban forestry consulting and tree management software firm.

To answer the question “what is forestry?'' we need to go back - way back - to the 1800’s when forestry first emerged on the scene as a profession. The goal then - much like it is today - is to manage for the current and future health of forests, and strive to ensure that forest benefits will be available for future generations.

Urban forestry on the other hand would take another 150 years before it was recognized as a distinct practice within the larger forestry family. Believe it or not, there are a lot of differences in managing rural trees and wilderness forests vs those in bustling downtown parks or along crowded streets.

The growing cities and urban sprawl of the 1960’s and 70’s proved to be the tipping point and marks the birth of urban forestry. Its focus was on setting new objectives, identifying new personnel, and implementing new management strategies to steward forests in the built environment.

What Is An Urban Forest?

Every tree in this photo is part of the urban forest!

 

The urban forest encompasses any tree, on public and private land, that lives where we do, from a small town to a crowded metropolis. It includes the trees that line our streets, shade our parks, and fill our backyards. It also includes dense, more natural stands of trees near our communities, such as nature preserves, river corridors, wetlands, and greenways.

One-third of U.S. land is forested and 18% of that land, about 141 million acres, is considered urban forest. 80% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas so the actions of urban forest managers have a profound effect on where people live, work, and play. If you want to have a direct impact on the well-being of your community, working in urban forestry is one way to do it.

Why Are Urban Forests So Important?

Like storm drains, street lights, and sidewalks, the urban forest is an essential part of our city – and our climate - infrastructure. Trees create a host of meaningful, measurable benefits. Collectively known as “ecosystem services”, trees and urban forests are critical to making our cities livable and sustainable.

A full list of urban forest ecosystem services runs quite long, but here are some of the essential benefits:

  • Carbon Sequestration & Storage

A healthy tree canopy pulls carbon dioxide from the air (sequestration) and stores it in roots, trunks, leaves, and soil (storage). Just like products made from rural forests, products made from urban forests continue to store that carbon for the life of the product. Urban forests are just starting to catch up to their traditional forest counterparts in efforts to track and reward this function through carbon credit and offset programs.

  • Cooling Our Cities

Trees are on the front lines of the battle against extreme urban heat, which as of 2022 is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S. Trees can drastically lower surface and air and surface temperatures through shade and evapotranspiration (the exchange of water with air).

  • Better Air Quality

Trees are sometimes known as the lungs of a city, but they can act as the liver too. Urban forests can remove tons (not metaphorically, literally thousands of pounds) of air pollution every year by absorbing gasses through leaves and trapping particulates out of the air.

  • Water Quality and Stormwater Control

Trees improve water quality and support stormwater management through rainfall interception and infiltration (water absorbed by the soil). Stormwater infrastructure is not cheap. Cities, especially those with combined sewer systems, are turning to trees and urban forests as an effective, affordable answer to handle heavy rains as seen through the installation of rain gardens and bioswales.

  • Improved Mental and Physical Health

Trees support physical health via improved air, water, and urban temperatures, but they also offer well-evidenced mental health support. Having easy access to trees or even views of trees helps reduce stress and enhance our well-being. The COVID pandemic made this connection especially clear.

 

Which sidewalk would you prefer to walk down?

 

Simply put, our cities, communities, and climate are better with trees around. Thanks to decades of research, we’ve become quite skilled at quantifying the benefits created by a single tree or an entire urban forest.

You can try it right now and get a benefit estimate for a tree in front of your home using the free MyTree tool. Urban forest managers often use software to estimate and track this information because it's invaluable for helping government leaders and community members accurately value the services provided by their urban trees.

 

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Reimagining Our Cities
Biomass + Renewable Energy, Carbon + Climate Change, Careers, Cities, Forest Management, Innovation, Mass Timber, People, Products, Urban Forests

FORESTS: Reimagining Our Cities

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Seeing the Forest for the Tweets

Meet forest professionals who call social media home
Lacey Rose, professional forester + movie star
Alex Ashby #1 Tree Friend

Social media, including online platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more, has rapidly transformed how we interact. While forestry may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘social media’, our field is not exempt from this phenomenon, as many forestry professionals are now turning to social media as a tool for information, communication, and connection.

(Pro tip: join the conversation with #forestproud on a platform of your choice!)

Meet seven professionals who use social media in a forestry context. These professionals are several of many foresters, educators, and scientists across public and private sectors who are talking trees. Together they explore how social media is used by forestry professionals, the engagement and benefits that come with this content creation, and advice for anyone interested in joining the digital forestry conversation.

This article and all supporting interviews were done by Jenna Zukswert - a PhD Candidate in sustainable resources management at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - originally for the SAF June Forestry Source! 

Posting Professionals

A few of the many types of content that the interviewees have produced on social media include short videos on seed tree versus shelterwood harvests, how to identify invasive species, different types of plant parasites, photos of buds from different tree species, wildlife and fish in Maine, and the contents of a forester’s vest have all been welcome. Written posts explaining silvicultural prescriptions and outcomes, comparing two Gleditsia species’ bark and occurrence, and sharing methodology from a forest climate change study at Hubbard Brook have also been well received. The primary reason these professionals use social media is to share information and experiences.

While Emily Dolhansky (@emilydolhansky), a forester for the Bureau of Land Management, had a Twitter account in graduate school that she would occasionally use to share content from SAF meetings, she started gaining traction in social media sharing information about wildfires in 2020. As a GIS technician for the US Forest Service at the time, Dolhansky discovered that many people were getting updates about the California wildfires directly from Twitter because it was easy to use and understand. She then began to share more about her job as a forester; she finds it important to share success stories and “small victories.” This sentiment is echoed by Lacey Rose (@foresterlacey), a registered professional forester in Ontario, who joined Twitter in part because she was “seeing so many good things out there in the forest” and wondering “why aren’t more people sharing these good news stories?”

Dr. Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer), a forest scientist, educator, and writer, uses social media to share information about tree physiology and natural history in Kentucky. In addition to sharing information from his own work, he uses Twitter to talk to and learn from people in forestry and other related disciplines, such as physiology, biochemistry, and forest genetics. This exchange of information has been rewarding. “I get about two or three ideas a week from Twitter that are going to wind up in the next book”, he says, “so I think it’s very valuable.”

Also an educator, Dr. Neil Thompson (@forestryprof) shares short, viral videos on TikTok primarily about silviculture and dendrochronology, leveraging his skills and passion as an educator. Encouraged by his students at the University of Maine at Fort Kent to join TikTok, Thompson will often gain hundreds of followers from posting a new video on content he considers to be fairly basic, such as that knots and branches are connected, but is novel and interesting to many. “We have to remember that as much as we gain knowledge… it is brand new to so many people, and they can be fascinated by things that we take for granted as essential,” he says.

Chelsi Abbott (@hemlock__holmes), scientific advisor for Davey Tree and adjunct professor at College of DuPage in Illinois, was also encouraged to join TikTok from her students and, like Thompson, was surprised at how receptive others were to her niche interests related to tree health. Abbott was initially hesitant to join TikTok. “I was like, ‘Who would want to know about mushrooms? Nobody!’, but it turns out, it’s a lot of people!”

TikTok is also used by Alex Ashby (@number1treefriend), a forester for the Albany Water Department in New York. Ashby started making instructional videos and filming day-to-day depictions of their forester job during the pandemic. Their videos include before and after shots of silvicultural prescriptions with explanations, water management advice for logging roads, and plant identification. As Ashby says of their involvement in social media, “I just really like talking about trees–constantly and always–so it works out great.”

Nearly all interviewees mentioned using their social media accounts to depict a “Day in the Life.” They use the social media channels to show others, particularly young people, what it is like to be a forester or scientist. While Dr. Lindsey Rustad (@LindseyRustad), Research Ecologist for the USDA Forest Service has a professional Twitter account she uses to share “news on people, places, things, and events”, she has a personal Instagram account that depicts a day in the life of her job. On Rustad’s Instagram account, she refrains from posting news and employs more storytelling. “In both accounts”, reflects Rustad, “I also try to always share something… that may be of interest to the audience, like a fun fact, a reflection, an overall message, or conversation.”

From 60 Minutes to 60 Seconds

Social media is known for its restrictions on content length, and nearly all interviewees talked about this. Lacey Rose found Twitter’s character limit to be a challenge where she had also to refrain from using technical jargon and “speak in ‘real people’ language about forestry.” Tom Kimmerer indicated that communicating without jargon is “a skill we have to develop over time,” adding “I think it’s critically important…we’re using social media as a way of broadening the audience for forestry-related subjects, and the only way of doing this is to speak in relatively simple terms.”

Abbott and Thompson, who engage with their students in both traditional lectures and now on social media, find the short time limit of TikTok to be a rewarding challenge – as Thompson puts it, trying to “summarize a 60-minute lecture into just 60 seconds.” In Abbott’s words, “If making a two-minute video on something you could talk about for hours isn’t good practice on how to really be concise with information, I don’t know what is.” Both claim that this challenge has made them better educators, helping them consolidate their thoughts and condense their content to convey what is most important.

Despite the need to be concise, Dolhansky encourages forestry professionals to refrain from oversimplifying, or using just the “nice talking points”, and instead dive into complex issues. “You can be an ambassador and still talk about things with nuance and explain complexities, without just [saying] ‘Everything’s great!’ or ‘Everything’s awful!’… I think being able to speak openly and engage in meaningful ways… people really connect with that.”

Online Watercooler

Interviewees described a range of communities with which they engage online. One community is their colleagues; as Rose put it, “preaching to the choir.” Kimmerer started using Twitter in part to connect with participants from his outreach programs. Rustad also enjoys learning more about what her colleagues are up to. “I think of [social media] a little bit is that it’s the watercooler or coffee room: you can choose not to talk to people there, but you might miss some things that are happening on a professional and also personal [level].”

Rose and Dolhansky also spoke to the value of connecting with others in forestry from other states or locations. Rose appreciates that she can “get to know other people in forestry that I would never have the opportunity to meet in real life” and Dolhansky likes learning about activities and projects that “people several states over from me are doing.” Kimmerer extends this, reflecting on benefits of international connections. “Forestry always has been a very international discipline, even though we work in our own local forests and social media really enhances that ability to speak with people from different backgrounds.” Twitter can help connect researchers and practitioners within forestry, as it is popular among academics; Dolhansky has conversations on Twitter with academics about their research and what is happening on the ground.

They also engage with people outside of forestry. Other followers of Ashby, Abbott, and Thompson include students, people generally interested in nature, and as Abbott puts it, “Fun Fact-ers” such as the comment Ashby received, “’I didn’t know that porcupines could climb.”

On the other end of the spectrum, interviewees mentioned engaging with those who think poorly of forestry. Many of our interviewees tend to not engage with negative comments. Dolhansky tends to get a lot of interaction from people who are critical of forestry, particularly the timber industry, and challenge or disagree with what she is saying. “A lot of times I can have constructive conversations with these people,” but she notes that there are others whose minds she cannot change, “so I’ve just kind of learned where to expend my energy and where not to.”

A Tool for Good

Many benefits of using social media came to light. Perhaps the most basic: social media provides a way to educate and communicate with others, which was important to all of the participants.

“The more people we have educating, the more people we have engaging, the better. What’s the worst if more people know about trees and all the fun stuff about forests?” asks Abbott. Exchange of information with students and colleagues, between researchers and foresters, across disciplines, and with those new to forestry are positive benefits of social media use. Rustad cites social media as “another way to communicate about what I do so I can spread the word about publications, about events, about what we’re doing in the world of forest science”, and she benefits from “learning so much about what other people are doing out there.” This connection can sometimes result in unanticipated opportunities offline, such as invitations to speak at events, awareness of professional programs, and in Ashby’s case, an informal Zoom book club with woodworkers.

Another benefit of social media use is representation. Ashby aims “to get people who might not otherwise be interested in forestry or realize that forest ecology or field work or any of this is an option in life… to see that this is something you can do, and this is something that you can start really small doing” and they note comments from queer forestry students who feel less alone after seeing their content. Awareness of forestry as a career option was also important for Thompson. “The benefit, I hope, is [that] people realize that forestry is a profession that’s available to them…. I’m not saying you must do this… I would like people to make a considered, informed decision… but I think what the whole forestry network on TikTok is doing is showing pretty well the range of things that you can do.”

As a member of initiatives to increase representation of women in science, Rustad says she tries to “post images of, not always myself, but other women, women in forestry, women in the outdoors… so that girls, particularly middle-school girls, can see that women can be out there, they can be scientists, they can be ‘fisher people,’ they can be engaging in the outdoors.” Rose considers social media to be “the best outreach we can do to recruit for future foresters,” enthusing “imagine if every forester was putting out one message every three months, even. Inevitably, some people are going to see that and be like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was a career option.’” She adds, “If other people can see people that look like them doing these jobs, then they might consider it for themselves.”

Representation is important not only for recruitment, but for public perception of forestry. Dolhansky says, “We need more people with boots on the ground and field perspectives to add to this chorus of people promoting good forestry practices and being an ambassador of the field.” In her experience, “it’s a lot more appealing for someone to interact with another person than a brand or company…actual people seem to get more engagement.” Rose echoes this sentiment, stating “I would like to try to change the public’s perception about forestry whenever I have the opportunity to do that… I think it’s critical for us to tell the real story… There will always be some folks out that there still don’t think it’s OK to cut down trees, but the benefit is we can make sure they know all the steps that have to happen before a tree can be harvested.” She adds, “When people can put a friendly face to someone that is caring for their forest, I think it has the potential to change perceptions.”

“It’s not just a little extracurricular activity that doesn’t mean something,” says Dolhansky. “I think it can be really used as a tool for good.”

Advice for Aspiring Social Media Users

Choose the Platform

Many social media platforms exist, and they differ in types of content, character length, and user demographics. Younger generations may be more active on TikTok, while older may be more active on Twitter and Facebook. Consider the content you want to produce and consume, and the communities with which you would like to engage. “I do think deciding what platform you want to be on and focusing on that is an important choice that you have to make as a professional. Where can you have the most impact; not necessarily where you have the largest audience?” advises Kimmerer.

Stay in Your Lane

Several interviewees spoke of considering what subjects you want to post on and recommend sticking to what you know. Thompson prefers to focus on “something I’ve done, something that’s in progress, something that I can see, touch, feel, show,” and directs anyone who asks about topics he doesn’t cover to others who specialize in that area, which further builds community. “I’m sure that there are pressures for creating a certain type of content or swaying with what other people might expect, but where I come at it is if I think it’s interesting and I think it’s fun, that’s probably what I’m going to post about, and hopefully people enjoy it,” says Abbott. “And if they don’t, they don’t; there are plenty of other areas in the world that they can get their information from.”

Act Like You’re in Public, Because You Are

While social media accounts can be private, and this can be ideal for more personal accounts, the accounts discussed in this article are public. “Assume the highest-ranking person in your organization will watch your videos,” cautions Thompson. “Always, always, always think before you post. You can go back and delete a post, but once someone has seen it, you can never make it unseen,” warns Rustad.

Start Small

“It doesn’t have to be overwhelming,” says Rustad. “Choose a platform, start following a few people you admire, think about what you want to share, and engage when you have the time. It doesn’t have to be all the time.” In Ashby’s words, “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just because you are starting a new account doesn’t mean there isn’t help.” They mention several groups and movements such as Women in Wood and Forest Proud that you can join to connect with others. “Just dip a toe in and see what other people are doing” recommends Rose, “…and then you will just probably start thinking of ideas when you’re doing your job.”

Share Comfortably

You get to decide what and how much, or little, you would like to share – whatever feels comfortable for you. “Social media isn’t always about gaining a following,” Abbott reminds us. Many of the interviewees recommend being aware and intentional about how personal you would like to be. “It’s important to figure out for yourself where that happy medium is before you start making [posting] things,” notes Ashby. Recommending moderation, they describe a happy medium “between being yourself and being outgoing with that and honest about it….and also not telling people exactly where you live and how to find you.”

Be Accessible

Thompson recommends closed captioning for videos. For TikTok, this is now an automatic feature; in the past, it was a manual addition. For image-based social media, you may explore the addition of “alt text” to your captions to describe your photographs and images.

Have Fun!

Above all, our interviewees recommend staying positive and having fun with social media. “Enjoy it and have fun with it,” advises Rustad. “It is meant as another way to engage and communicate with our colleagues.”

Original article written by Jenna Zukswert - a PhD Candidate in sustainable resources management at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - for the SAF June Forestry Source

 

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The 5 Flavors of Climate Denial

" it's not real, it's not us, it's not bad, it can't be fixed, and it's too late.”

Climate change denial is not new. In fact, for the better part of the last 20 years, there has been a growing body of misinformation that has shaped - and successfully slowed - the climate change debate.

Professor Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, has long talked about this misinformation as the “5 Flavors of Climate Denial: it's not real, it's not us, it's not bad, it can't be fixed, and it's too late.”

(Click To See Full Taxonomy)

Turns out, she was mostly right.

New research, published in the Scientific Reports Journal last November, used computational modeling to analyze and map contrarian claims about climate change over the last two decades. The result was a first of its kind comprehensive taxonomy of climate contrarianism (try saying that 5x fast!).

It found that there are indeed 5 major categories for climate denial that track very closely to Professor Hayhoe's initial assessment, though "fear of it being too late" was replaced by a belief around climate science being unreliable:

  1. It’s not happening
  2. It’s not us
  3. It’s not bad
  4. Solutions won’t work
  5. Climate science is unreliable

Why This Matters.

The spread of misinformation has lead to a number of negative outcomes including reduced climate literacy, public polarization, reinforcing climate silence, etc.

Over the last several years, the forest sector has actively embraced and elevated the carbon and climate benefits of forests and forest products to a core tenet of what it does and why it does it. (#forestproud itself focuses exclusively on forest climate solutions as provided collectively by forests, forest management, and forest markets and products.)

Understanding this landscape and where climate deniers fit into it is critical to ensuring communication efforts resonate with the majority of Americans who believe climate change is happening (see our note from January 2022), and also effectively break down - or anticipate - obstacles that are designed to slow or stop that work.

Skeptical Science - a non-profit science organization focused on raising the public's understanding of climate change - has a dynamic list of 200+ climate change myths with talking points linked to the latest scientific data that disproves them.

It tracks closely to the climate contrarianism taxonomy model and is a fantastic resource we use regularly in our work engaging 18-34 year olds, beyond the sector, who care about climate change and want to understand the crucial link between forests and climate solutions.

These tools alone are not going to win over climate deniers. But understanding what the playing field looks like as we continue to champion forests and forest products as the key to rethinking our climate future is an increasingly important part of that puzzle.

- The #forestproud team

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FORESTS: Reimagining Our Cities

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Are Net Zero Commitments Failing?

Climate solution or no? It's complicated

Since we first started talking about net zero and forest-climate solutions, we've seen an explosion in the number of commitments being made for net zero commitments.

To date, more than 70 countries and 5,000 companies - accounting for over 80% of global emissions and 90% of GDP - have committed to net zero by 2050. (United Nations Race to Zero)

There has never been a time in our history where people and organizations have been more aligned in protecting the future of our climate.

So why isn't it working?

A report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) released earlier this month shows energy-related emissions rose 6% in 2021. The 36.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide added to our atmosphere is not only an all time high, but far exceeds the offsets achieved from the dip in emissions we saw in 2020.

Grading Companies Net Zero Plans

A new report from 'As You Sow' - a shareholder advocacy nonprofit - helps shed light on this disconnect. Looking at data from the 55 largest U.S. companies (with climate commitments), they graded their net zero strategy against global climate goals.

Read the Full Report: Road to Zero Emissions.

The results? Not great.

"...the overwhelming majority of companies have neither established comprehensive GHG reduction goals nor demonstrated progress in reducing their emissions in alignment with net zero goals."

The report goes on to identify that two major factors contributing to these poor results include "skimming over emissions buried in supply chains" and "over-relying on carbon offsets, instead of transforming operations."

In fact, digging deeper, not a single company received an "A" grade for their emissions reduction targets, as every company is relying on carbon offsets to meet more than 10% of their goal. For some companies, that number is significantly higher.

In addition to an over-reliance on carbon offsets, only two companies - less than 5% of companies analyzed - have goals to reduce Scope 3, or supply chain emissions, which typically account for the vast majority of an organization's GHG profile.

While there is certainly nothing funny about this report, you can't help but appreciate the irony in the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, ranking dead last.

Yikes. 

So where do we go from here? As we've explored in other notes on net zero and carbon offsets, the devil is always in the details. As we continue to inch closer to a climate tipping point - despite these commitments - our hope is that reports like these continue to hold organizations accountable.

It is also a sobering reminder that - much like carbon offsets - we can't always rely on someone else to do the work. Forests provide powerful climate solutions. Forest management is how we deliver those solutions. And forest products and markets are how we sustain those solutions.

Like three legs of a stool, all three of these things must work in tandem, which means each of us has an important role to play in shaping the future of our climate.

- The #forestproud team

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For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Welcome to the Age of Decarbonization

Climate solution or marketing buzz?

There are A LOT of buzzwords used to talk about sustainability and climate change. Despite some being more meaningful than others, as climate conversations continue to increase, it is becoming easier to lump them all together and dismiss them as marketing buzz.

Like all trends, climate terms come in and out of fashion. One term whose star seems to be rising is: Decarbonizing / Decarbonization

What Does it Mean?

This is one of those rare occasions where the term actually means exactly what you think it means: removing carbon emissions from a system, product, or process. We have seen it used across industries and applications, from power grids and energy, to product manufacturing, supply chains, construction, and agriculture.

Perhaps it is this flexibility that makes the term so appealing to so many applications. Or maybe it is the simplicity of the concept that succinctly captures and conveys intent. Either way, we are starting to see it used more and more.

How Much More?

For a second, we wondered if this was one of those Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon situations, where you learn a new word and then you begin to see it everywhere. But the data suggests otherwise.

In looking back through our social listening data, the term 'decarbonizing' was used roughly 500 times by the forest sector (about 46x / month, or 1.5x / a day) in 2020. In 2021 (just one year later!), use spiked 120% with the term being used more than 1,200 times (a little more than 100x / month, or 3.5x / day).

Perhaps most interesting is over that period we saw the sentiment attached to the term increase from 70% to 90%+ positive, meaning more and more people are responding favorably to the concept.

Why Do We Care?

This is something we fight every day. As we work to build awareness and support for forest climate solutions, we continue to run into challenges. At best, this includes an innocent lack of awareness or understanding. At worst, it's peeling back misunderstandings around the system dynamics that underpins the sustainability of the sector.

As we continue to engage our target audience (18-34 year olds, beyond the sector, engaged on climate, looking for meaningful climate solutions), we are continually looking for actionable insights on how best to reach them and bring forest solutions to the climate conversation forefront. Understanding the latest trends in how to talk about an issue that consistently ranks as a top priority for them, is a critical piece of that puzzle.

TL;DR Decarbonizing is shaping up to be a powerful on-ramp for what we do.

- The #forestproud team

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