QUESTION: What is a resilient urban forest?
ANSWER: A resilient urban forest is one in which the built-in defense mechanisms are not repeatedly overwhelmed by outside stress or shocks. A resilient urban forest can get hit, yet recover, remain stable, and be beneficial. Resilient urban forests have the ability to resist, prevent, absorb, recover from, and adapt to chronic stresses and acute shocks such as hurricanes and high-intensity storms; flooding; aging canopy; extreme heat; wildfires; disease; pests; incompatible land use, rapid urbanization; and other detrimental occurrences.
In our attempt to establish resilient urban forests, seasonal storms, changing climate, regulatory, and political trends make for a hard road to easy street.
Florida’s wealth of abundant wetlands; riparian zones; flood plains; waterways; coastal shorelines; and low-lying, flat topography, increases our vulnerability to long-range threats of sea level rise and rising temperatures. Adverse impacts are compounded by the increase of human populations; rapid development; loss of natural habitats; canopy loss; hard-scaped storm water projects; limited, ill-fated projects; incomplete sustainable designs; competitive funding; and a challenged green industry workforce.
Trees are not defenseless. Trees and forests do have resilient attributes to combat environmental stresses and shocks. Anchoring root systems, stored energy, load-bearing strength, branch elasticity, tension and compression wood, protective bark, and compartmentalization processes provide protection against adversity. Urban forests also have external defenses, such as stand dynamics and harmonious natural ecosystems. Even so, a resilient urban forest relies on more than a tree’s own self-defense mechanisms.
Rocky Balboa’s quote from an iconic film series says something about resilience. “The world is not all sunshine and rainbows…You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life, but it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; it’s about how much you can take and keep moving forward.” Now that’s resilience, or at least an expression of it.
But resilience is more than simply being tough and relying on one’s own strength. The fighter doesn’t enter the ring blindly. There were prior preparations and training. Experienced fighters know the ropes when they enter the ring. There are people in his corner. There were previous fights. There are fans, sponsors, and a strategy. Now that’s resilience.
Resiliency is more than an ability to get hit and bounce back. Resiliency is looking at long-term forecast models and preparing action plans and preparations based on sound projections.
Resiliency is about having an array of tree-care professionals and industry experts in your corner. It’s about best management practices; ongoing research; tree protective ordinances and policies; and tree advocacy efforts in place before the bell rings and the fight takes place.
The urban forest community must adopt a proactive approach to resilient planning and implementation. Management objectives must include the protection of urban forest assets – to include risk and vulnerability assessments; preparations to accommodate inevitable impacts; and perhaps a managed retreat from vulnerable locations, conditions, and policies.
A resilient urban forest is one where management strategies provide a holistic approach to achieve the fullest benefit. Protecting one single property at a time doesn’t get the job done – and can make things worse for adjoining properties and habitats. An integrated approach will require creative funding strategies to enhance and diversify revenues and investments. Resiliency plans are good for business. Resiliency plans and preparations can impact the financial, credit, and insurance liabilities levied against cities and municipalities.
Urban forests are often an overlooked solution for the challenges associated with extreme weather and other environmental threats. Resiliency will require a green-living infrastructure as part of a nature-based design. Nature-based solutions are not the sole source, silver bullets, but they have a big role to play in a layered resiliency plan.
It’s a hard road to easy street, but if we are facing the right direction, we must stay in the fight and keep walking forward.
Answer provided by Joe Anderson – JEA Veg Mgt Spp; ISA-Arborist; FUFC Board member
