Urban forest management: A primer to strategic planning for municipal governments.
Abstract
This Primer provides a framework for urban forest managers and planner to develop an effective and sustainable urban forest management program by addressing three major components of a municipality: social systems, governance systems, and the ecological systems. The social component provides the justification for the plan by demonstrating value to the people that live and utilize the forest. The governance component provides guidance to responsible entities on how, when and where management activities will occur. The ecological component addresses the dynamic nature of the system, which is the reason this process is different than simply managing other infrastructure such as transportation systems, sewer systems or electrical grids. As you might expect, the social and governance components add a level of complexity to the planning process not often encountered when developing an urban forest management program. Ideally these three components are integrated throughout the plan to inform government department procedures, policies, and other activities.