Approaches within the 50 United States to meeting federal requirements for Urban and Community Forestry assistance programs

Abstract

Urban and Community Forestry (U&CF) program capacity within the 50 United States was derived through four indicator areas that included the state U&CF program coordinator, volunteer coordination, state U&CF council, and strategic plan. The agency and administrative unit where the program resides, year of program initiation, staffing levels and expertise area, additional non-U&CF responsibilities of staff, and coordination of U&CF within a state were further studied. Each state had an U&CF program coordinator (most were full-time), practiced varying volunteer coordination approaches, had a state U&CF council, and had a regularly updated strategic plan. Most states had additional regional U&CF staff with the majority of their time devoted to U&CF activities with a mean 4.2 (median, 3.2) full-time equivalents of total U&CF staff in a state. Occasionally, non-U&CF duties were conducted by U&CF staff with fire control, forest stewardship, special projects, and forest health most commonly given as other areas conducted by U&CF staff. Most state U&CF programs used a variety of approaches to support volunteer-based U&CF efforts in a state. All states now have a U&CF coordinator with 95% of their duties associated with U&CF activities. State U&CF councils vary in their membership and approaches for coordination of U&CF within a state. © 2008 International Society of Arboriculture.