Valuing Retention of Mature Trees

2023, JD Brown, University of Virginia, School of Architecture. Co-PI, Dr. Timothy Beatley, Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture, University of Virginia

Working with urban foresters in partner cities in the Biophilic Cities Network, the principal investigators, with backgrounds in law and urban planning, will research innovative policy and legal frameworks that value existing urban tree resources. Despite the recognized exponential ecosystem benefits of mature trees in urban landscapes, cities continue to experience tree canopy declines because local tree ordinances do not properly value tree preservation. This research project will explore innovative policy and legal valuation mechanisms through a review of multi-disciplinary theory in fields that include law, economics, ecology, public policy, and urban planning. From this baseline, the research project will then work in collaboration with urban foresters in Biophilic Cities Network partner cities to study the current implementation of innovative valuation approaches. Specifically, the research will focus on approaches that elevate the value of preserving trees and forests through financial and incentive-based mechanisms.

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Results:

In the urban context, mature trees contribute outsized benefits in the form of ecosystem services and biophilic benefits for health and well-being. Despite their benefits, the retention of mature urban trees is undervalued in current policy. Barriers to retaining existing trees on privately owned property includea lack of necessary financial and technical support, along with perceived conflicts with private property rights and the critical need for affordable housing. The result is a rapid loss of mature trees in urban and urbanizing landscapes.

With funding from the Bob Skiera Memorial Fund, Biophilic Cities has explored the disconnect between the high value of mature urban trees and the failure to retain them through a review of policy mechanisms that establish a regulatory baseline to preserve mature urban trees on private lands but also provide incentives, financial and technical support to help private parties achieve those baselines. The flexibility provided by incentive-based approaches that augment a regulatory baseline can support a new emphasis on retaining mature trees.

To communicate the results of the research, Biophilic Cities has prepared the Policy Advisory: Strategies to Value and Retain Mature Urban Trees on Private Lands that introduces strategies to value and retain mature urban trees, which are policy approaches underway in one form or another in cities across the US and internationally. A four-step policy roadmap provides the structure for the advisory along with key findings. The first three steps of the roadmap create a foundation for mature tree preservation and include assessing the state of existing mature trees, taking meaningful steps to engage stakeholders, and providing a regulatory baseline to ensure that mature trees are protected. There is a cost and burden related to these protections, and the underlying fourth step involves the creation of mechanisms to support private parties in achieving these protections through incentives, and financial and technical support.

The key findings that support the policy roadmap communicate that (1) mature trees are currently undervalued and unaccounted for in decision-making processes related to private land use, (2) there are multiple opportunities to engage a range of stakeholders regarding the ability to retain mature trees cost-effectively and in a manner that meets other city priorities such as affordable housing, (3) a regulatory baseline for protecting mature urban trees is a necessary starting point, but (4) cities can provide incentives and financial and technical support to aid private landowners in achieving baseline protection standards.

 

Year: 2023

Funding Duration: 2 years

Grant Program: Bob Skiera Memorial Building Bridges Initiative and John P. White Grant Program

Grant Title: Valuing Retention of Mature Trees

Researcher: Primary Investigator, JD Brown

Co-PI, Dr. Timothy Beatley, Teresa Heinz

Key words:

Publications:

Presentations:

June 11, 2024, presentation of initial findings to Biophilic Cities Network
October 23, 2024, presentation to the Biophilic Cities Planning and Design Program