Jump to content

Matthew

CommuniTREE
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    202

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Matthew

  1. Matthew
    Education and community organizations can apply to receive a living piece of spaceflight history to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: a seedling grown from a tree seed that flew around the Moon on the NASA’s Artemis I mission in late 2022.
    NASA and the USDA Forest Service will distribute Artemis Moon Tree seedlings of five different species to create new ways for communities on Earth to connect with humanity’s exploration of space for the benefit of all. Nearly 2,000 seeds were flown to space.
    Organizations like schools, libraries, museums, and others engaging with students, or the public, are encouraged to apply for a Moon Tree seedling through NASA’s Artifact Module. The application period closes Friday, Oct. 6.
    Examples of eligible institutions include formal and informal K-12-serving organizations, universities, community organizations, museums and science centers, and government organizations.
    “NASA’s Artemis moon trees are bringing the science and ingenuity of space exploration back down to Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Last year, these seeds flew on the Artemis I mission 40,000 miles beyond the Moon. With the help of the USDA, this new generation of Moon trees will plant the spirit of exploration across our communities and inspire the next generation of explorers.”
    This is the second generation of Moon Trees for distribution on Earth. In 1971, Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, a former Forest Service smoke jumper, carried hundreds of tree seeds as a part of his personal kit. Following the successful return of Apollo 14, the Forest Service germinated the seeds. The Apollo Moon Tree seedlings were planted around the nation, many as part of the U.S. bicentennial celebration in 1976.
    Today, a new generation of Moon Trees will soon take root in American soil and carry on the legacy of inspiration launched more than 50 years ago. The seeds that journeyed 270,000 miles from Earth aboard the Orion spacecraft during Artemis I included sycamores, sweetgums, Douglas-firs, loblolly pines, and giant sequoias. Through the care of the Forest Service, the seeds were germinated and grown into seedlings in preparation for their new roles as Artemis Moon Trees.
    “The seeds that flew on the Artemis mission will soon be Moon Trees standing proudly on campuses and institutions across the country,” said Randy Moore, Forest Service chief. “These future Moon Trees, like those that came before them, serve as a potent symbol that when we put our mind to a task, there is nothing we can’t accomplish. They will inspire future generations of scientists, whose research underpins all that we do here at the Forest Service.”
     
     
    How to Apply
    Instructions for submitting a proposal, and information on Moon Tree seedling criteria, is available online. NASA and USDA Forest Service will review submitted applications to determine the viability to successfully host a seedling; the Forest Service will identify the seedling species for selected recipients based on geographical region in the contiguous United States. NASA is working with the Forest Service to identify timelines for seedling distribution in 2023 and 2024.
    This opportunity is made possible through a collaboration between NASA’s Next Gen STEM project and the Forest Service. Through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, Next Gen STEM provides resources and opportunities designed to bring STEM and space content to formal and informal K-12 educators and students. Through Forest Service Environmental Education programs, people develop the knowledge and critical thinking skills needed to understand complex environmental issues.
    For the latest NASA STEM events, activities, and news, visit:
    https://stem.nasa.gov
     
  2. Matthew
    Companion Blog To The Internet of Nature Podcast Season 5, Episode 10
    July 3, 2023 |  Alec Sabatini

    The season finale of the Internet of Nature Podcast’s exploration of the future of urban forestry is all about money. Jad Daley, President of American Forests, joined Dr. Nadina Galle to talk about the urban forestry funding paradigm shift in U.S. urban forestry. Their discussion covered the cause of the funding windfall and what it could and should look like to use these dollars to rebalance systemic inequities.
    Urban Forestry Funding, Why Now?
    The federal government is contributing 1.5 billion …with a B… to urban forests, and states, cities, and the private sector are heaping on additional contributions too. Not to look this gift horse in the mouth, but urban foresters have advocated for better urban forestry funding for years. What changed?
    The science on trees’ benefits to our societies and the climate has been around a while. That’s not new. As Ian Hanou pointed out in Episode 1, it’s social impacts of urban forests that have grabbed the spotlight and tipped the scales. A major contributor to this movement is American Forests’ Tree Equity Score (TES), which has conceptualized the impacts of unbalanced tree canopy better than ever before.
    As Jad explained, this was very much by design. TES was crafted to name and reframe the problem of unevenly distributed trees in our cities. This concept had long been studied, but reports were usually localized to the neighborhood or city being researched. The universal scale of the problem wasn’t shining through.
     
    Tree Equity Score standardized the way we identify the lack of trees in cities, and then applied that standard all over the country. The results were clear, and it didn’t take a technical background to see it. Users could zoom in on any city and find alarming orange census blocks denoting nature-deprived neighborhoods. The systemic, nationwide challenge of tree equity started sinking in.
    Thanks to TES, other data tools, and tireless work from urban forest advocates, the perception of urban trees is shifting from nice-to-have scenery to a life-and-death issue. The public and elected officials are embracing trees as fundamental infrastructure, and that has helped unlock unprecedented investment.
    Creating the Right Change
    A saying around the American Forests office is, “the right thing done the wrong way is the wrong thing.” There is now massive potential for real change in the greening of American cities, but making it happen requires an inclusive, thoughtful approach.
    It starts with getting funding into the hands of organizations that need it. The Forest Service encouraged grant applications from entities who could sub-award funding to smaller organizations. The intent is to alleviate the administrative burden on small, capacity-constrained applicants and get these funds out faster to communities in greatest need. At least 80 organizations applied to be sub-granters and we will update our own grants resource page with any re-granting opportunities that open up.
    Creating the right change also means inviting everyone to the table. The benefits of trees span many silos. There are a lot of potential tree allies, but they have to be at the table first, and then shown how trees further their own goals. For an example of what that looks like, American Forests and the City of Phoenix gathered 50 organizations for their Phoenix Metro Urban Forestry Roundtable.
    A Look Back On Season 5
    That’s a wrap. Season 5 of the Internet of Nature Podcast is complete. Ian Hanou, the guest on Episode 1, linked back up with Nadina to highlight of few of the lessons learned and I’ve included a couple of those below:
    It’s all about people. From the first episode to the last, this sentiment coursed through every discussion. When organizations stay centered on improving people’s lives, good things happen for urban trees too. Every guest shared some type of impactful childhood nature experience when explaining how they ended up in their current profession. It’s a reminder of the significance of nature access. Equitable greenspace is needed not just for public health and climate resilience, it’s going to inspire the next generation of green professionals. Technology is helping us better quantify the ROI of trees. With all this investment coming in, the impetus now is to be ready to show all the good being accomplished. Now is the time to build the business case for continued funding through data and powerful personal stories. Thank you so much for tuning into this companion blog series. You can visit our season five page to look back through all of the podcast episodes and associated blogs. For those already hungry for more nature/tech talk, there are four previous seasons of the IoN podcast to devour. Bon appétit!
     
     
     
  3. Matthew
    Help Wanted
    You see this message in various forms plastered everywhere these days. Many industries are feeling the strain of a skilled labor shortage and urban forestry is no exception.
    With government funding spiking and an abundance of tree planting goals (some 9 digits long!), we need more hands on deck to keep up with the demand for greener cities. In episode six of the Internet of Nature Podcast, Dr. Nadina Galle spoke with Leslie Berckes, Executive Director of the Society of Municipal Arborists, on practical tips for inspiring a sustainable, diverse urban forestry workforce.
    On The Urban Forestry Labor Shortage
    Leslie felt it first hand at Trees Forever, the Iowa and Illinois nonprofit she worked at for 11 years. Since COVID, they were receiving fewer applicants for open positions. Additionally, recent hires tended not to stay as long. Turnover, especially in younger employees, was high. These two trends are being felt all over.
    While the pandemic, an impending recession, a battle with inflation, and mass layoffs are all clear contributors to America’s labor market struggles, there is an underlying current at play: demographics. The workforce is going through a generational shift, and ideas and expectations on work are shifting too.
    Younger workers are focusing more on how much time they spend working as opposed to living, and often have a strong desire to work towards something that feels meaningful. This ideology shift has pros and cons in urban forestry. It means younger employees may move on from positions if it doesn’t feel appropriately engaging. The good news is urban forestry provides extremely meaningful work.
    It’s an opportunity to support both people and the planet. In this era of eco-anxiety, many folks feel at a loss for what to do. Younger generations see their future in jeopardy, have ideas of what needs to be changed, and are motivated to make a difference. Urban forestry offers a chance to work towards something society needs, and to do something you love.
    It is a chance to shape what our future human habitat looks like. It’s an industry with true potential to land someone in the middle of an ikigai diagram. The challenge is then how to get these job opportunities seen and appreciated.
     
    The four elements of the Ikigai Venn diagram
     
    Youth Employment Programs
    A major part of the new workforce solution is reaching young people with urban forestry projects and ideas. Leslie shared her experience creating a youth employment program, Growing Futures, that provided a win-win for Trees Forever and teen employees.
    Trees Forever was only able to get so many trees in the ground with volunteers. They would also forgo certain planting locations because they had to rely on property owners to maintain trees. By employing teens they have been able to complete more tree planting and maintenance, while providing these young employees with a competitive wage and valuable job skills.
    Leslie was inspired after seeing a similar program succeed in Indianapolis, and stressed it takes time to get such programs off the ground. Slowly but surely she convinced key players, the city forester, the public works director, the city manager, and gathered sufficient funding. Now over 80 young adults have gained valuable work experience while helping Trees Forever meet its goals. Some of these kids have gone on to get forestry degrees and work in the industry, but even if that’s not the case this program can still have a lasting influence.
     
     
    Different Angles of Appeal
    Urban forestry offers a lot of different ways to play. Leslie broke down how the industry can be approached from a few angles, depending on what resonates with people.
    There’s the outdoor angle. Arborists get to work outside doing hands-on work in and around trees. That has serious appeal to some. Leslie saw first-hand in their youth employment program teens who struggled to engage in typical classroom settings came alive while working outdoors.
    There is the planning angle. For those more comfortable at a desk, plotting out big picture goals, working at a landscape scale, and crafting plans on how to shape the urban forest with maps and data.
    There is the political angle. Political savviness is a must for urban foresters. A city arborist is often asked last or near to last to weigh in on decisions. It’s incumbent on city arborists to be strong advocates and influence decision-makers to get trees the support they need.
    Of course, roles can contain all three of these angles, and that variety can be a draw too. That’s what pulled Leslie in. A chance to be physically active outdoors planting trees, while making plans for where they should go, and convincing others why it needed to happen.
    What the Society for Municipal Arborists Is Working On
    The Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA) is a membership organization for anyone working with trees in urban areas, whether with a city, nonprofit, or private company. Leslie explained SMA’s work as a series of goals built on one another. They want to get more trees in the ground, and that means getting more urban forest managers.
    Doing that starts with supporting educational programs and the students in those programs. To that end, student membership is the fastest-growing sector of SMA. Another strategy is focusing advocacy on high-level groups, such as national parks and recreation organizations and city manager associations, to increase urban forestry positions and funding. The hope is if SMA can get ideas into the minds of government decision-makers, it will be easier for individuals in each city to make their own arguments for additional staff and new projects.
    SMA is still working on how to leverage the federal IRA funds. One possibility is to become a pass-through funder, by applying for a large sum and then re-granting money to other organizations. IRA applications are due June 1st. We will update our own grants resource page with any re-granting opportunities that open up.
     
    Thanks for plugging into the Internet of Nature today. Speaking a job opportunities, we currently have several open positions at PlanIT Geo. Tune in May 17th for Episode 7: How Can We Align Urban Forestry and Municipal Climate Change Policy with Brett KenCairn, the City of Boulder’s Senior Policy Advisor for Climate Action and Director of the Center for Regenerative Solutions.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  4. Matthew

    Acing Volunteer Tree Maintenance

    By Matthew,


    PlanIt Geo
    Urban trees face a gauntlet of threats. Soil compaction, pests, heat, pollution, and vandalism are all part of the reason the half-life of urban trees is estimated at 13-20 years.
    Making sure new trees are well maintained through their formative first 3-5 years is essential for setting them up for a long, healthy life. In this episode of the Internet of Nature Podcast Dr. Nadina Galle spoke with Tom Ebeling, of the nonprofit Openlands, on how their TreePlanters Grant Program helps volunteer tree plantings thrive.
    Openlands Volunteer Tree Maintenance Model
    Openlands’ TreePlanters Grants Program launched in 2013 and has taken off around the Chicago area. The program awards trees to a person, group, or organization that has identified at least 10 tree sites in their neighborhood and residents willing to take responsibility for them. The grantees provide the people and the places to plant, while Openlands provides all other essentials (supplies, expertise, and quality control). Openlands also handles things like liability coverage, permits, and other red tape so residents can focus on planting and caring for trees.
    Before a tree goes in the ground, one of the local residents must agree to take responsibility for its maintenance for three years. They provide their name, phone number, and sign an agreement outlining the maintenance the tree will need during its establishment. It’s not a legally binding contract but it helps lock in personal commitments. The contact information also helps Openlands keep an open line of communication with volunteers so they can troubleshoot as needed.
    The program has planted 8,500 trees to date and boasts an 80% survival rate at year three. Tom distilled some of the lessons he’s learned in running this successful program.
     
    Clearing Up the Confusion of Ownership
    Ambiguous responsibility has killed many urban trees. Volunteer planted trees can sometimes land in gray areas of ownership between residents, nonprofits and their volunteers, and the local government. Openlands’ signed volunteer tree maintenance agreement dispels any ambiguity. Their volunteers know exactly what is expected of them. Openlands also uses the volunteer contact information to send seasonal maintenance emails, such as reminders to water or re-mulch.
     
     
    The Power of Presence
    A sign, flier, or QR code doesn’t have the same impact as a real, live human showing up onsite. Openlands personnel get out on a weekly basis to check on new tree plantings. Tom has seen firsthand how repeated exposure inevitably builds a connection with a community. That relationship yields valuable information, like concerns about the trees or evolving needs of the park.
     
    Not Every Treeless Space Is Lacking
    Tree sites must be picked with care. The onus is on the planter to make sure they are not disregarding some other important use of the space. This is where having a community relationship comes in. This is something Tom deeply admires in the work of Dr. Christine Carmicheal, who conducted research on why roughly 25% of Detroit residents declined the offer for new trees planted in front of their homes.
    Through interviews with residents, she found many felt the decision to cut down trees or plant new ones would be made by others, yet they would have to deal with the consequences. There were also heritage narratives of residents’ past experiences with trees. Sometimes the city took forever to remove dying trees and other times street trees were abruptly removed en masse. Having applications for TreePlanters Grants come directly from residents protects against putting trees where they are not wanted.
     
    Speaking the Same Language
    Openlands has used periodic tree canopy assessments from the Chicago Regional Trees Initiative to help identify where to focus tree planting efforts. The southwest area of Chicago jumped out as an area with disproportionately low canopy. In checking their records, Openlands also found this area had not applied for many TreePlanters Grants. The reason why quickly became clear.
    The southwest area of Chicago is the largest Spanish-speaking community in the United States, and no one in the organization was asking if residents wanted trees in Spanish. So Openlands made that area their new priority. Now, they’ve developed bilingual resources, and are connecting with community members that can go around and talk to their neighbors about trees. Additionally, the TreePlanters Grant program has a staff member fluent in Spanish to continue to strengthen their relationships and start to get trees in a part of the city that could really use them.
    People Are Why We Do It
    One of the early instructors of the TreePlanters Grant program would say, “Trees are what we do, but people are why we do it.” That phrase is at the heart of all of the suggestions Tom shared. Keeping the focus on improving people’s lives, and on bringing folks together around a common goal has led to solid and communicative relationships. Those relationships are what has made Openlands’ volunteer tree maintenance so consistently effective.
    Thanks for plugging into the Internet of Nature today. The next IoN topic of discussion: If Money Grows on Trees, Where is Urban Forestry Funding? To break it down Nadina was joined by Jad Daley of American Forests.
     
     
     
     
     
  5. Matthew
    Some Encouragement For Any Organization That Hasn’t Yet Applied
    May 15, 2023 |  Alec Sabatini
     
    The June 1st deadline for the Urban & Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grants is speeding toward us. We are in the territory of now or never. Has your government or organization thought about applying for an IRA urban forestry grant? Go for it!
    While the application process is a thorough one, we want to encourage you to give it a shot. We know you are wildly busy, but this is an unprecedented opportunity to get potentially transformative funds for your community greening work. We wanted to provide a few tips to help during the application process.
    IRA Urban Forestry Grant Essentials
    Let’s start with the essential details for the $1 billion USD the Forest Service is making available through Urban and Community Forestry competitive grants.
    Grants are for a minimum of $100,000 and a maximum of $50 million. All funding agreements are for five years All federal grant funds are to be matched at least equally (dollar for dollar) with a non-federal match. Match waivers are available for proposals that deliver 100% of the funding/program benefits to disadvantaged communities. The application deadline is 11:59 pm Eastern Time on June 1st Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity for in-depth instruction and head over to the Online Grant Portal when you are ready to begin.
    SAM.GOV Registration ASAP
    The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is the government-wide web-based system supporting all contracts, grants, and the electronic payment system. An active SAM.gov registration is required for IRA urban forestry grant applications. It’s free to register and renew, which must be done every year.
    This Entity Registration Checklist walks you through every step and needed piece of information. It’s a hefty process (the checklist is 18 pages), but hang in there. It takes 7-10 days for your registration to become active, so start your application today.
    Nail The Project Narrative
    We know it’s easier said than done. Lean on online resources for ideas and tips, such as this one or this one. Following the instructions down to the letter, from the font size to the margin width, helps too.
    Pay particular attention to Section 5: Project Scope Alignment. Applications are evaluated on a 100-point scale and the largest category of points (30) is for judging alignment with grant priorities. These include congressional, Justice40, State Forest Action Plan, and Ten-Year National Urban and Community Forestry Plan priorities.
     
    Help Disadvantaged Communities, Waive The Match
    The dollar-for-dollar match requirement can be waived for proposals delivering 100% of the funding/program benefits to disadvantaged communities. Your application must clearly describe the scope of work to be performed in applicable disadvantaged communities, and provide maps showing the tools used to identify these communities.
    They offered several vulnerability and environmental justice equity tools that can be used:
    White House Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) EPA Environmental Justice and Screening Mapping Tool (EJScreen) EPA EnviroAtlas Interactive Map HUD’s Opportunity Zones All work must be tracked at the level that designates the disadvantaged communities, such as census block groups. To that end, this is where including GIS-based software in your project can be a big help. Our TreePlotter™ INVENTORY and CANOPY software associate project locations and tree information with disadvantaged areas to streamline reporting. Tracking, projecting, and reporting through TreePlotter can show both physical and social outcomes (i.e. increased canopy, reduced heat, health impacts, etc.), and facilitate telling the story of your work with the community.
     
    Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool for Grand Junction, CO
     
    2021 Urban Tree Canopy in Grand Junction from TreePlotter CANOPY
    Get Some Backup
    One of the allowable expenses is capacity building/workforce development. Your organization is probably at or over capacity, so use the funds to get some help to bring your grant projects to fruition.
    You can also hire a contractor or an intern to help. PlanIT Geo often operates as a technical capacity booster. We’re here to help expand your options with the expertise and software to complete tree inventories, canopy assessments, and strategic plan development.
    You can use IRA urban forestry grants for people power, but not mechanical power. Equipment purchases are rarely approved. Equipment rental is suggested as a more acceptable alternative.
    More To Come
    While this opportunity is not one to be missed, there will be additional chances to win grants from the IRA windfall. Every state has been allocated funds to redistribute through sub-grants. See how your state fared here. Those state-level grant opportunities are forthcoming.
    Another upcoming option will be from pass-through funders. The Forest Service is encouraging applications from eligible entities with demonstrated ability to competitively pass through (sub-award) funding to community-based organizations and other partners. We expect a few organizations will exercise this option, apply for the $50 million maximum, and then sub-award money to nonprofit organizations.
    A minimum of 80% of all funding to a pass-through entity must be competitively sub-awarded to community-based organizations serving disadvantaged communities. The intent of this option is to alleviate the administrative burden on small, capacity-constrained applicants and get these funds out faster to communities in greatest need. We will update our own grants resource page with any re-granting opportunities that open up.
     
    Finally, if $100,000 is just too large for your project needs the US Forest Service created a form to stay in the loop on other opportunities. Enter your contact information, a short summary of the project, and other interests to learn more about other Urban and Community Forestry funding opportunities and activities within their partner network.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  6. Matthew
    A Companion Blog To The Internet of Nature Podcast Season 5, Episode 7
    May 30, 2023 |  Alec Sabatini
     
    The phrase natural climate solutions (and its relative, nature-based solutions) has been sprouting up all over my digital landscape this year. These concepts have been building political and financial momentum lately and that has helpful ramifications for urban forestry.
    In episode seven, Dr. Nadina Galle was joined by Brett KenCairn, the City of Boulder’s Senior Policy Advisor for Climate Action and Director of the Center for Regenerative Solutions. Nadina and Brett explored what climate change policy has gotten wrong so far and how the rapidly growing interest in natural climate solutions can bolster urban forestry initiatives.
    The Rise of Natural Climate Solutions
    Climate action planning used to be laser-focused on energy and emissions reduction but in the 2010s that scope started to expand. Research papers and IPCC reports made it clear emissions reduction would never be enough to limit global warming on its own. Carbon would need to be removed from the atmosphere too and the best way we know how to do that cost-effectively at scale is with natural systems.
    This kickstarted greater support for the concept of natural climate solutions (NCS), which are actions to protect, better manage and restore nature to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and store carbon. Nature-based solutions (NbS), which is an umbrella concept for addressing challenges with natural systems, is also ascending in recognition and support. NbS now has an official definition from the UN, garners media attention, and got a big stamp of approval from the Biden administration last November. Momentum is building for NCS and as Brett explained, it’s a long overdue correction on the framing of climate action.
    One of the priorities of this new era of climate action is to relate it with the direct experience of the people being engaged. Cooler communities are one such angle. An uncomfortably hot neighborhood is visceral, and so is the relief offered by greenspace. In Episode 5, guest Vivek Shandas shared several stories of how the urban heat lens altered the way residents look at their surroundings and inspired advocacy.
     
    Urban Forestry and Natural Climate Solutions
    Last year, the City of Boulder launched a natural climate solutions campaign called Cool Boulder. It’s a multidisciplinary approach that combines the efforts of multiple city departments, community organizations, and volunteers. Part of Brett’s work is helping other departments see themselves as climate actors. It’s not just about emission reductions anymore, and groups like the parks and open space departments have big roles to play.
    The urban forest is one of the campaign’s three action areas. The city is making major investments to maintain the health of the existing tree canopy and plant thousands of additional trees, most of which will need to be located on private land. One of the city’s priorities is to plant trees that won’t be islands of nature, but instead include a supportive ecosystem around them.
    Aligning urban forestry with city climate initiatives is a well established best practice, but we see extra encouragement in the rise of natural climate solutions. The NCS model has trees as a star of the climate action show, not just a supporting player. As NCS initiatives become more common they will be another funding lever for urban forestry professionals to pull on. For example, New Jersey just launched a $24 million NCS grant program this year, with establishing and maintaining trees as an eligible project.
    Change is Coming
    Brett sees real change on the horizon, particularly because climate change’s impacts are starting to be felt vividly. We are entering a time of both intense struggles and remarkable breakthroughs in climate action.
    “We’ve been propagating this idea that we can make things sustainable,” said Brett. “That was mostly from developed nations that had offshored their worse impacts to developing nations. Now, it’s coming home to roost.”
    Climate motivated change is coming. The challenge now is to create pathways towards constructive change, and have them ready to scale up quickly. Can we encourage the economy to better value the restoration of degraded land? Can we more frequently measure and vehemently protect greenspace in our built environments? Climate initiatives are going to dominate the governmental funding landscape for decades, and urban forestry is poised to be a major beneficiary.
     
    Protecting, managing, and restoring nature could provide over a third of the climate mitigation needed to stabilize below 2 °C warming per a study from The Nature Conservancy.
     
     
     
     
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use

  I accept