Urban & Community Forestry Educational Resources

NEW! Need a Forestry Fast Break? Click on these links:

What is an urban forest?

An urban forest is any tree(s) where people work, live or play. It may include:

Individual trees along a street or in a parking lot
Trees within a yard or on a campus.
Scattered trees within a park or other developed property (read more about trees in the Community)

Why is the urban forest important?

Trees and urban forests matter because they impact the environment we live in by moderating temperature extremes, reducing wind speed, reducing water erosion, filtering pollutants from air, water and soil, providing visual and sound screens, softening the harsh concrete, glass and steel cityscapes and increasing property values. (Read more about Benefits of Trees)

Want to learn more about the urban forest and how to manage it?

Visit these links.

VA Dept of Forestry's Urban and Community Forestry Program
Virginia Cooperative Extension
Virginia Street Tree Assessment Project: An application of i-Tree Streets
Virginia Tech Urban Forestry Technical Resources
National Arbor Day Foundation
Virginia Master Naturalist Urban and Developed Systems
Davey Natural Resource Stewardship for HOAs
Community Forestry Planning
Developing a Street and Park Tree Management Plan
Sustainable SITES Initiative
Tree Board University - an online training course for citizens serving on tree advisory bodies for local governments
Urban Natural Resources Institute - an E-Learning based initiative of the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station
eLearn Urban Forestry - An interactive online introduction to urban forest management

Did You Know:

Trees are some of the oldest living organisms on earth: some bristle-cone pines are thought to be more than 5000 years old.
Most tree roots are in the top 12 inches of soil.
Most trees do not have a tap root.
Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and save 20-50 percent in heating energy.
Trees are the largest living organisms on earth: some coastal redwoods are more than 360 feet tall.
Every state has an official State Tree. Virginia adopted the flowering dogwood Cornaceae Cornus floridaas the State Tree on February 24, 1956. The dogwood is well distributed throughout the...
Well-maintained trees and shrubs can increase property value by up to 14%.
A birdhouse hung on a young tree branch, does not move up the tree as the tree grows.
One large tree can provide a supply of oxygen for two people.
In one day, one large tree can lift up to 100 gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air.
A mature tree removes almost 70 times more pollution than a newly planted tree.