Good afternoon. My name is Paige Anglin and my partner is Rhett Evans.
And together we have been working on the project Peoria Community Forestry
Program for the completion of our so 593 applied project course.
In this presentation, we will briefly discuss the problem definition and
provide a quick recap of the project as well as the guiding theory of
change. Next, we will go into our two main interventions, the matrices and
benchmarking as well as the survey. Then we discuss the challenges results
and recommendations.
After a quick synopsis of what we learned, we will open it up for
questions.
The city of Peoria has identified unmitigated rising temperatures as a
risk to its urban environment, the development of the urban heat island
effect or uh I can have devastating impacts on infrastructure, the natural
environment, human health, social equity and economic durability. This
issue is wicked in nature as it cannot be easily undone with one solution.
It also fits weeks problem identification steps. Urban heat in Peoria is
significantly harmful over the long term because it negatively affects
ecosystem viability, human health, livelihood, equity and interregional
and intergenerational justice. It is urgent as it has already claimed
lives in the Phoenix metro region. It has dispersed effects including
higher costs of maintaining comfortable lifestyles, reliance on automobile
transport, biodiversity loss, and heat related illnesses. Its causes are
complex and include destruction of natural desert landscapes, car centric
urban design, urban sprawl and Phoenix's climate in general. Finally, it
is contested as people who can easily afford to maintain their quality of
life. Despite rising temperatures will not feel the effects on the same
level as individuals that cannot afford higher air conditioning, bills,
car maintenance and gas and so on.
In the fall 2020 semester, the city of Peoria Arizona approached project
cities in the 2021. MS S cohort for research on the feasibility,
desirability and challenges of adopting a community forestry program or
CFP. This team was asked to evaluate Peoria's potential for canopy growth
and plant adoption by researching forestry or shade programs in cities
with similar climates as well as reaching out to Peoria's citizens to
determine the community desire for a CFP. This process includes
identifying the specific barriers and opportunities regarding
implementation to gain some information on how other cities are tackling
urban forestry. Our team created a matrix analyzing the strengths and
weaknesses of forestry programs or initiatives in municipalities
throughout Arizona and then municipalities throughout the United States
with exemplary plans. In addition, our team sent out a survey to residents
in Peoria with questions pertaining to their knowledge of community
forestry sustainability, ecological services and what success could be
defined as in a future CFP for Peoria. This work was all done to assist
Peoria in determining whether or not a CFP can and should be developed.
We used weeks problem identification steps to determine whether or not
urban heat and the need for a CFP was a true sustainability problem in
need of sustainability problem solving weak solution strategy is a part of
the larger sustainability problem solving framework and it was used to
conduct research and find best practices for a CFP. Our theory of change
was Peoria currently desires a community forestry program to reduce
inequalities between its districts, reduce the urban heat island effect
and promote safety and sustainability within the city. However, barrier to
ending this program have not been fully explored by doing research and
communicating with community members. We can identify unknowns that can
help shape a future community forestry program. This will improve the
equitable of the program if it is created and maximize the city's impact,
identifying best practices will allow the city to make educated and
sustainable decisions. Transition management governance approach is more
of a tool than a framework, but we did use it primarily in the resident
information gathering component of this project. This approach has three
main parts, visioning, learning and experimenting transition management
involves bringing multiple viewpoints and approaches to a problem into an
arena where participants such as those surveyed are invited to explore
potential CFP components and give their opinion on how each may benefit or
harm their livelihoods. And if doing something to remedy the urban heat
problem is truly better than doing nothing to solve it. It encompasses
societal values and beliefs, identifies issues that may impact a range of
people and takes a long term perspective with short term objectives.
In our team's first matrix. We analyzed the cities of Peoria Chandler,
Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Glendale, Gilbert, Avondale, Mesa
Yuma, and Goodyear. All cities in the general Phoenix metro area. Tempe
and Phoenix were considered some of the most advanced cities in Arizona
due to their visible investment in and commitment to community forestry.
Both of these cities related urban forestry back to their sustainability
plans had clear achievable yet aggressive goals for canopy growth and
shade coverage because Peoria's sustainability 3.0 survey was just
collected. We think now would be a great time to incorporate forestry
action plans into the city's sustainability plan outside of the Phoenix
metro area. We studied Tucson, San Antonio, Austin, San Diego, Portland
and Albuquerque. The majority of these cities are similar to the Phoenix
metro cities in terms of climate or population density. Tucson's million
trees plan, Austin's 2034 urban Forest vision and San Diego's push for 35%
shade coverage by 2035 are ambitious but dedicated goals and are supported
by a variety of edu educational programs and workshops, funding and
citizen support. The main questions asked when analyzing each program were
, is there a designated forestry or shade plan in this city? What are some
tree education strategies the city or interest city organizations use?
What are some known? Next steps for community forestry is the city in
Arbor Day, Foundation tree city USA. And is there any other relevant
information that supports the city's forestry actions? The survey was
developed to provide the city with a better understanding of residents
preferences and concerns regarding the development of a community forestry
program, as well as observations about the existing canopy, it will remain
open for all of April and continue collecting responses that can be used
by the city. The responses that have been recorded are very promising and
provided insight into how residents would like to see the program managed
and for what and the threats and concerns they have seen regarding the
existing canopy.
Additionally, these responses have indicated strong support for the
development of the community forestry program with all responses
indicating yes, they would like to see it developed over the course of the
project. We faced a few challenges that were not insurmountable but did
delay our timeline. Initially, there were more approval processes that the
survey needed to go through than initially expected which has contributed
to the limited responses that we have at this time. However, responses
will continue to be recorded and will still prove useful to the city
together. These have made much more evident. The brief timeline of an
academic project reverse a public project put on by the city.
The initial survey responses have indicated a few general trends regarding
management goals that residents would like to see as well as threat that
they have indicated.
The management goals that received the most responses were sustainability
, increase shade reduction in heat and improved sense of community and
more trees together does provide a pretty solid base for the community
forestry program.
Additionally, the threats that were indicated where changes in climate
increased city population, lack of funds dedicated to tree management and
the threat of habitat loss presumably regarding urban sprawl
as a result of creating our matrices, our team has created a list of
recommendations that we think could help CFP creation to be the most
successful in Peoria. First of all, we recommend that the Peoria 311 app
be made available in app stores like Apple, Android and Google and have
options available for citizens to report beyond down trees. One possible
feature could be the ability for app users to place a pin on a satellite
map of the city where they would like additional shade concentrations of
pins could help guide maintenance crews on the areas where tree plantings
are our biggest priority. Additionally, Peoria does not have a citizen
tree planting or forestry board. Creating a board to advise tree
maintenance, individuals and policy decision makers on forestry topics
would be a fantastic way of ensuring community involvement and input in
CFP development. If creation of an entire board is not feasible at this
time, then a sub-committee or designated forestry board member could be
added to the existing parks and rec board to advise on urban trails in the
intersection of shade and walk ability. Adding public fruit bearing trees
to the urban landscape would provide benefits beyond shade provision to
Peoria, advertising a citrus lined walkway or corridor as a food forest
could promote tourism and inspire discussions about sustainable and local
food production. Additionally, whatever produce from the trees that is not
picked and consumed by passerby could be donated to local low income
housing centers or shelters
as hinted towards in the sustainability 3.0 survey. There is a lack of
public understanding of what tree maintenance staff actually do actions
such as removing trees can be confusing to local homeowners or pedestrians
if there is no explanation given as to why that tree was removed. For
instance, if it was diseased or otherwise compromised, if Peoria Tree main
and staff were to do social media takeovers on a blog or have another
method of creating transparency, the community would would have a resource
with which to become familiar with com common city forestry practices.
Although it may not be feasible at this time, Peoria could hire an urban
forester to work for or consult for the city similar to Richard atkins'
role in Tempe. While Peoria does have arborists that are working on the
forestry plan, a dedicated individual whose primary focus is the
development of an urban canopy would likely shorten creation and
implementation time of the CFP as well as serve as a figurehead for tree
related educational campaigns.
Due to difficulties associated with COVID-19. As well as our short
timeline, we have learned that flexibility is crucial for applied projects.
The gant chart is more of a guide than a set in stone document and being
able to accelerate the pace of output for deliverables is sometimes
necessary. We also found that municipal projects are very different from
other projects we have both completed before as zero bureaucratic
limitations to what cities can accomplish in a given amount of time. This
could be detrimental to achieving change on a strict timeline. But we now
know to expect these barriers in the future when working on city projects.
Because of delays in our survey, multiple deliverables had to be
completed simultaneously in a short period of time. This was stressful,
but we were able to overcome the difficulties we encountered. Finally, we
learned how to communicate effectively with project stakeholders when face
to face communication wasn't an option. If we were to redo this project,
we would definitely change the timing on our gant chart to allow for more
delays in communication, make deliverables not reliant on each other for
completion and anticipate further scope creep.
Thank you to the city of Peoria project cities and the School of
sustainability at a su for sponsoring this project. We appreciate the work
that you've put into making this project a success.