[CANUFNET] CANUFNET Digest, Vol 51(7) - The Economics of Urban Forestry

Sat Feb 14 16:53:03 EST 2009

Dear Shelley,
Because you seem to prepare a talk to your city council, let me share with you really good papers about the economics of urban forestry.  I think the question should not be “How should we spend?”, but “How much can we invest?”
As you may know, urban trees are a worth investment, and here some of my favorite references when it comes have quantitative arguments to persuade people to invest in their urban forest.

Urban Forest Values : Economics Benefits of Trees in Cities  (Wolf, 1998)
The environmental psychology of shopping (Wolf, 2007)
Trees are worth downtown’s investment (Wolf, 2006)
Business District Streetscapes, Trees And Consumer Response (Wolf, 2005)
Economics and Public Value of Urban Forests (Wolf, 2004)
City Trees and Property Values (Wolf, 2007)
Getting more than we pay for (McPherson, 2006)
Treeconomics (McIntyre, 2008)
How cities use parks for…. Economic development (American Planning Association, 2002)

And those articles are easily findable through Google. The main researchers that are working at quantifying the benefits of urban trees are Kathleen Wolf (http://www.naturewithin.info/) and Greg McPherson (http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/) and navigating their website is such an interesting…hum…enticing experience!
Cheers!

Bruno

________________________________
From: "canufnet-request at list.web.net" <canufnet-request at list.web.net>
To: canufnet at list.web.net
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 12:00:27 PM
Subject: CANUFNET Digest, Vol 51, Issue 7

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Today's Topics:

  1. Safety Testing of Fruits & Nuts/heavy metals + other
      contaminant testing. (Andrea Dawber)
  2. Per Capita Spending (SVescio at thunderbay.ca)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:53:34 -0500
From: Andrea Dawber <adawber at sympatico.ca>
Subject: [CANUFNET] Safety Testing of Fruits & Nuts/heavy metals +
    other    contaminant testing.
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network <canufnet at list.web.net>
Cc: a.kenney at utoronto.ca
Message-ID: <BLU0-SMTP685843ACB4B011D03D7A62D7B80 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Dear Canufnet folks,

GreenHere has been using Andy Kenney's tree inventory in its taget  
area for the past 2 years, and there are almost 500 fruit trees - 
pears, plums, apricots, apples, serviceberries, peaches, cherries,  
walnuts, hackberry, butternut, etc.

Food security/hunger and nutrition issues for the local communities  
could be partially addressed through the creation of a community fruit  
& nut harvesting program. (25% of families live on incomes of less  
than $20k.)

However, the area is mixed industrial/residential with 3 railway  
corridors running through it.  Air and soil contamination is a concern  
with regards to the safety of fruit to be harvested from the area.

Does anyone have any experience with testing for industrial  
contaminants in fresh fruit and/or what are the threshhold limits for  
certain contaminants i.e. heavy metals like lead and mercury?

Any guidance or expert referrals that you may have with regards to  
ensuring the safety of food harvested and/or suggested tests to do  
would be most appreciated.

Yours truly,

Andrea Dawber
GreenHere Director
Tel. 416-656-8025 ext. 371; 403
www.greenhere.ca

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:38:43 -0500
From: SVescio at thunderbay.ca
Subject: [CANUFNET] Per Capita Spending
To: canufnet at list.web.net
Message-ID:
    <OF525C1F70.277C20D0-ON8525755C.005B1549-8525755C.005B6FFA at thunderbay.ca>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hello,
Our City Council would like to know how Thunder Bay compares to other 
cities in per capita spending on urban forestry.  Would anyone be willing 
to share their numbers with me?  If you do, would you also tell me the 
population of your city?  Thanks.

Shelley 

Shelley Vescio MScF  RPF
City Forester
City of Thunder Bay Parks Division
Victoriaville Civic Centre
111 Syndicate Avenue South
Thunder Bay, Ontario
P7E 6S4
phone (807) 625-2473
fax (807) 625-3258

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