Background

The months of October and November marked the formal commencement of activities by the Northeast Center for Urban and Community Forestry, based at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. The Northeast Center is a cooperative partnership among the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, the University of Massachusetts, and the seven states of New England and New York. The role of the Northeast Center is to respond to urban and community forestry information needs, facilitate and support new and existing research, and coordinate the exchange of information among the Northeast states in order to contribute to healthy sustainable communities.
 

A Review of the Center's Initial Activities

The initial focus of the Center has been to establish dialog with the state urban foresters in each of the seven state region, visit each of the states in the region to develop an understanding of the urban and community forestry programs in each state, and to formulate a focus for Center's activities during its initial year of operation.

In early October Center Director Dr. H. Dennis Ryan and Project Coordinator Dr. David Bloniarz met with Gail Michaels, the NA S&PC Liaison to the Center, to discuss the commencement of activities by the Center. This meeting served to outline the preliminary focus of activities by the Center and to determine the initial goals for the Center over the first few months of operation. At that time it was decided that David Bloniarz would begin outreach to each of the states and introduce himself to each of the region's urban foresters.

During October and November, David Bloniarz visited the Urban Forester in each of the states serviced by the Center, and in several of the states was also able to meet with the Volunteer/Outreach Coordinator for the state's urban and community forestry program. These initial meetings provided the opportunity for David to outline the goals and vision of the Northeast Center, review the status of urban and community forestry programming in each of the states, and to provide an overview of potential projects that the Center may undertake in the upcoming months. Introduction to the programming in the region shows that each state has developed programming that best addresses the specific needs of their efforts to establish and sustain urban and community programs in the individual states. The value of the utilizing the Center to provide a clearinghouse for information, programming, research, and urban and community forestry initiatives on a regional scale was presented and was met with a positive response by all states.

November 13, 1996 provided an opportunity for a majority of the stakeholders in the Northeast Center to meet to discuss the operation of the Center, in New Britain, CT. The meeting, organized by CT Program Specialist Fred Borman and chaired by Sharon Ossenbruggen of the NA S&PF, was attended by Dennis Ryan and David Bloniarz of the Center, Gail Michaels of the NA S&PF, and the urban foresters from each of the New England States, as well as community outreach specialists from Maine and Massachusetts. New York was unable to send a representative to the meeting due to scheduling conflicts.

Discussion at the meeting focused primarily on the defining potential projects that the project might undertake in the upcoming year. It was agreed that although many of the efforts of the Center will be state specific, the overall goal of the Center is to provide service to the region. Additionally, it was determined that at least one project should focus on policy development and have broad regional or national implications.

Several initial projects were outlined and included the development of components that may eventually form an "urban forestry toolkit" for use in urban and community forestry programs in each of the states. Additionally, the development of a Northeast Center home page on the World Wide Web that would facilitate the transfer of information, research findings, project initiatives, and information among the Northeast states and beyond. Another project discussed was the development of a "Train the Trainer Community Tree Inventory," that would primarily include the development of a study and teacher manual for use with volunteer based urban forest resource inventories. Also discussed was the development of a public awareness program to educate the public and to raise people's awareness of the importance of "urban forests" in their community. There was also discussion of how "rural roads" may be inventoried, protected, and managed. Finally, the need to address "hazard" trees was outlined, and a slide series was suggested as a means to provide a useful component of the "urban forestry toolkit."
 

Other Visits and Assistance

Project Coordinator David Bloniarz also made follow up visits to several of the states to review specific projects that have requested assistance by the Center. The following outlines several of the places that were visited during October and November, and the scope of services that the Center has provided or may offer in upcoming months:

Stamford, CT - The Center will be involved in a pilot street tree inventory in two neighborhoods, utilizing community volunteers. Cooperative effort with CT DEP, City of Stamford and Stamford Tree Foundation. David Bloniarz has met with the project team and has outlined the scope of services that the Center can provide.

South Kingston, RI - It is anticipated that the Center will assist with a pilot street tree inventory to complete an inventory of aprox. 25 miles of roadway in the town. Project to utilize community volunteers for data acquisition. Cooperators to include RI DEM, University of Rhode Island, RI Community Forestry Council, and City of South Kingston. David Bloniarz has met with key cooperators and is developing a memo of understanding between project particpants.

Boston, MA - It has been requested that the Center assist the City of Boston's effort to develop a GIS based inventory of street trees. The Center will assist in the development of a pilot inventory to be completed in 1-2 neighborhoods of the city. Cooperators on the project will include the City of Boston, Arnold Arboretum, and Mass DEM. Dennis Ryan and David Bloniarz have met with key cooperators on project to discuss the specific scope of services that can be provided by the Center.

Springfield, MA - Assistance was requested by the City and provided by the Northeast Center in the completion of a Heritage Tree grant application, involving maintenance of trees in a historic district in the Springfield. Additionally, the Center is assisting the City and Northeast Utilities in developing a pilot program for the joint maintenance of public shade trees in the City.

Worcester, MA - The Center provided review of a proposed volunteer based street tree inventory program in Worcester at the request of the Mass. DEM. Recommendations were made to project organizers and David Bloniarz participated in a pilot test of the program in one neighborhood. Additional assistance was requested by the City of Worcester's Office of Planning and Community Development. The Center met with the City's representatives and is reviewing the use of a training curriculum and inventory methodology that is being developed for use in Stamford, CT.

Amesbury, MA - Provided volunteer training to participants in a community based street tree inventory program, at the request of the City of Amesbury and the MA DEM. Additionally, the Center has coordinated a cooperative effort between the City and the Univ. of Massachusetts Dept. of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning to utilize student interns to develop a GIS database for the inventory data. Additionally the Center will assist the town in developing a management model for the creation of a municipal shade tree management program in the City.
 

Other Activites

On October 9, Dennis Ryan and David Bloniarz attended "Storms Over the Urban Forest" conference in Sturbridge, MA. On October 21-22 Dennis Ryan and David Bloniarz attended the New England Chapter ISA meeting in Norwich, CT.

David Bloniarz prepared an exhibit and slide presentation titled "Urban Forestry: People, Process, and Partnership" for display in the gallery of the Boston Architectural Center, Newbury Street, Boston. On October 20th presented the slide exhibit and lecture as part of the Boston Society of Landscape Architect's Mark Young Memorial Lecture, at the Boston Architectural Center.
 

Summary

The initial months have provided the opportunity to establish dialog between the Center and the state urban foresters in the New England/New York region. Several projects have been proposed and discussed as appropriate to the mission of the Center. These include the following:

• "Train the Trainers" street tree inventories utilizing community volunteers;
• The development of a hazard tree training program for municipalities including workshops, informational materials, slides, and a workbook;
• Compile a regional speakers list;
• The development of a WWW page for the Center that will act as a clearinghouse for information, technology, and discussion
• Addressing the rural character of New England/New York;
• Assisting at the policy level and working at all levels of government;
• Keeping a regional approach to the work of the Center;
• Responding to changing regional demographic data;
• Working to improve the development and effectiveness of individual state councils.