- Reasons for practicing urban reforestation include urban beautification; increasing shade; modifying the urban climate; improving air quality, such as by sequestering carbon dioxide; and restoration of urban forests after a natural disaster.
- The project was launched with initial funding from the Economic Recovery stimulus, and received funding from the Forest Service Hazardous Fuels program and the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnerships program to back the project through 2016. Located in the dry forests of southern Oregon, the threat of wildfire is a reality for land managers and property owners alike. The boundaries of the city of Ashland intersect with the surrounding forest in what is referred to as the wildlandurban interface (WUI).
From urban centers to wildland, the Restoration and Conservation of Rural and Urban Forests research unit pursues science related to restoration of forests affected by disease, insect attacks, introduction of new species, fragmentation, or changing environmental conditions.
As we can see from the illustration, Forest Urban Forest Restoration has many fascinating aspects to explore.
- Although numerous studies have demonstrated that natural environments offer multiple benefits (Soga et al., 2021; Twohig-Bennett and Jones, 2018), and can generally provide better restorative effects than the urban settings (Menardo et al., 2021), we should consider nature and the urban environment as existing on overlaid spectrums (Hartig et al., 1997), rather than as two extremes. Urban forest greenways, typically integrated into the built environment, offer accessible contact with nature, and can provide restorative effects for those who visit them (Chang et al., 2020; Tyrvinen et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2023; Xie et al., 2022).
When dealing with urban forests, the higher functional level the forest landscape is much more in focus in order to develop the intended recreational and ecological functions. From a forest restoration viewpoint, forest management strategies are required in order to develop forests with a high potential for biodiversity protection.
Here we review two decades of urban forest restoration research in Hamilton, New Zealand and summarise key findings across seven major ecological topics: i. species traits, filters and thresholds, ii. species richness and target ecosystems, iii. tree regeneration, iv.
