Organizational Governance

An Ecosystem Approach Is Key When Designing Urban Forestry

Which trees you preserve and plant when you build a new building or expand your corporate footprint has an impact — not only on your property but also on the surrounding community.

Sponsored Content | / This article is sponsored by Sustainable Forestry Initiative | By Paul Johnson | Published 22 hours ago | About a 4 minute read

Image: Parker Gibbons

Most urban forest land is privately owned, but urban forestry is thought of as a public activity in our cities and towns. You may not even think about the landscaping and maintenance at your headquarters, office or home as urban forestry — but it is part of the urban forest and included in urban forestry. Which trees you preserve and plant when you build a new building or expand your corporate footprint has an impact — not only on your property but also on the surrounding community.

Many cities and towns have rules about what you can and can’t do when it comes to building, plumbing and electrical; but many don’t regulate much outside the footprint of a building. Do you need lots of parking but don’t have a lot of space? You may not plan for enough trees to help shade customers’ and employees’ cars and reduce stormwater runoff. Have a choice between saving that large oak tree or moving the driveway a hundred feet further west?

If you don’t know or don’t think about your property and your trees as part of a whole ecosystem, it’s easy to think it’s just one tree or it’s too late to make a change. Once you see your connection to your place, to your community, to the urban forest and all the people depending on it, each decision adds to or takes away from your community.

In our previous articles, we’ve introduced you to a new tool that can help you assess these issues and reach your sustainability goals. My team has done a great job of helping connect our trees and urban forests to such important topics as human health and climate change. This time, let’s explore another theme in certification to the SFI Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard: Environmental and Conservation Leadership. Each of those words has meaning, both positive and negative — but connect them together, and they offer an opportunity to show leadership in caring about and for our environment.

For many years, there have been opportunities for cities and towns to shine through programs such as Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA and Tree Cities of the World — both of which have expanded to include healthcare and higher education campuses, and utilities. In my previous role as the Urban and Community Forestry Program Leader at Texas A&M Forest Service, I was often asked why a similar program didn’t exist for corporate campuses. At SFI, we kept that in mind during the development process for our Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard, and decided that everyone who owns or manages a piece of the urban forest should be able to participate and get certified. So many of you are good stewards of your community, and we want to help you highlight that fact.

In addition to climate-related challenges to human health in urban areas including extreme heat and natural disasters such as wildfire and hurricanes, we also face natural resource degradation and threats to biodiversity and natural areas. Your choices of greenery on your corporate campus can help address these challenges. Relatively small changes — such as paying attention to where you plant, as well as where your trees and plants come from — can have a big impact. What you choose to plant and avoid makes a difference. Designing and maintaining your landscapes with native plants and trees supports birds, pollinators and other wildlife — all of which are critical to healthy urban ecosystems.

Protecting the soil during development not only helps you protect existing trees but also maximizes the potential of the new trees you plant. Selecting locally appropriate trees and plants can help you conserve water and reduce maintenance. Each of these steps not only helps support the local environment — they also help reduce costs and facilitate additional investments in caring for your community.

Certifying your urban forest for Environmental and Conservation Leadership demonstrates your commitment to your community and your employees. Alternatively, you could support your community’s efforts to earn certification to the SFI Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard — a great opportunity for private/public partnership.