March 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 35

C O N S E R VAT I O N

Friends of Grand Rapids Parks in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, host a National Neighborwoods Month tree planting.

Healthy Trees are Key to Vibrant Communities
By Carrie Gallagher

G

o to any city park, and what will you see? If it's in a neighborhood with
young families, no doubt there will be lots of kids running around and playing. Across town, elderly residents may be taking a stroll or playing chess or
checkers. Others might be enjoying an oasis of calm in the middle of a busy day or
cooking out on a warm summer evening. Whether for recreation, relaxation or just
gathering with friends, parks meet different needs in different communities.
But one thing most parks have
in common - from a pocket park
tightly packed between row houses
to an Olmsted expanse in a central
city - is trees. Just as well-built and
well-tended parks are the key to any
great city, healthy and abundant trees
are the key to great parks.
Most people intuitively understand this, but thanks to the work of
a national task force, we now have
a better understanding of the full
value of trees, plus a communications and policy blueprint that helps
explain their value to communities

and transforms the way we think
about them.
The Vibrant Cities and Urban Forests Task Force was convened by New
York Restoration Project with support
from the USDA Forest Service. The
task force consisted of 25 national experts representing fields such as urban
forestry, urban planning, landscape architecture and community organizing,
and its diverse membership ranged from
government officials to business leaders.
These experts examined all the factors that make a community a vibrant
place to live and developed strategies

that a city of any size could adopt for
getting there. The final report, Vibrant
Cities & Urban Forests: A National Call to
Action, outlined 12 specific recommendations for growing better, healthier
communities through a renewed commitment to our urban forests.
For parks, along with the people
who love them and the professionals
who manage them, the report could
be summed up as a call to focus on the
fundamentals: Parks are first and foremost dynamic ecosystems, built predominantly around healthy trees. The
report makes clear that this approach is
not only right for parks, but prioritizing
the role of trees also has a positive ripple
effect throughout entire communities.
Trees can reduce energy consumption and promote conservation by
helping to cool homes and businesses
on hot days. According to joint studies

W W W. N R PA . O R G | M A R C H 2 0 1 4 |

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March 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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