Urban Silviculture
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Education
A number of education outreach efforts have been implemented to involve local residents and organizations since 2002, including:
Air Quality Monitoring and Education
The intended outcome of this Urban Silviculture outreach component was public education about air quality in New York City. It provided an opportunity for intern participants to become familiar with the topic of air quality, as well as to develop and conduct outreach to public audiences, including residents living in the project's target area of the South Bronx. The outreach employed air quality monitors to produce real-time data, helping to make air quality issues and information more understandable and familiar for the public.
Participants join Professor Whitlow in conducting air quality monitoring in St. Mary's Park, Mott Haven
CUCE-NYC Urban Environment staff and interns set up the air quality monitors on the sidewalk in front of P.S. 154 and at three busy intersections in the Mott Haven neighborhood. Signs were attached to the monitors to identify CUCE-NYC and to invite people to come learn about their air. Participants actively engaged the public, asking if they had an opinion or knowledge about their air quality, and telling them about the outreach effort, and how they could learn more. Real-time data was generated and displayed on the monitors for the particulate matter size-class of 2.5 microns. Participants also distributed the project website link to access information related to air quality in NYC, including links about air quality, regulations, efforts to improve air quality in New York City, and what people can do to reduce their exposure to air pollution. Approximately 150 residents were reached through this project component.
Greening Day
CUCE-NYC planned and conducted "Greening Day," a half-day event in June 2006 held in St. Mary's Park, Mott Haven, South Bronx. This educational outreach activity was an opportunity for hands-on learning focused on trees, plants, invasive species, and the health of the urban environment. Activities included tree identification, mulching on the research trees, and litter pickup. Representatives from environmental, health, and education organizations were on hand to share information and answer questions, including Green Apple Corps, CUCE-NYC, Council on the Environment of NYC, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Wavehill Environmental Center, and the Land Restoration Project of the NYC Parks Department. Participants included limited participation of youth from Bronx Regional High School/Satellite Academy as well as youth and adult residents in the park.
Community Mapping of Tree Cover
Participants involved in measuring and recording data in their neighborhood
The objective of this effort was to help raise awareness about the impact of trees on environmental quality via urban greening. Three strategies assisted in achieving this goal: 1) Data collection related to community environmental conditions; 2) Neighborhood map creation indicating tree locations; and 3) Skills development in the use and application of geographic information systems (GIS) and geoposition system (GPS) technologies. High school students were recruited from Mott Haven through partnership with The New School for Arts and Sciences. Local professional expertise from the Council on the Environment of NYC and local web-based resources such as the New York City Open and Accessible Space Information System Cooperative (OASIS), the NYC Community Garden Mapping Project of Council on the Environment of NYC, and the NYPIRG Community Mapping Assistance Project, were utilized to support activities of the participants.
Resources: Open Accessible Space Information System Cooperative (OASIS) at www.oasisnyc.net, the community mapping project of the Council on the Environment of New York City (CMAP) at www.cmap.nypirg.org, and the NYC Community Garden Mapping Project of Council on the Environment of NYC at www.cenyc.org/maps/index.html.
Please click here to see The New York Sun coverage of this event.
Environmental Education with High School Students
Participants involved in planting black locust trees in Drake Park, Hunts Point
In 2002 through 2006, approximately 180 Schomburg Academy/Bronx Regional High School students were engaged in science-based education related to trees and their linkages to environmental quality and human health, involving our collaborating partner, Council on the Environment of New York City. As part of their science coursework, participating students gained knowledge and understanding related to the benefits of trees and related issues in the South Bronx, such as the scarcity of green open space and high levels of air pollution. Additional education focused on tree care, composting, and the effects of pollution on asthma.
Among the activities the students completed included conducting a survey of newly-planted trees in front and back of their school, which involved tree identification, height, diameter and general condition. Additionally, the students planted bulbs and maintained the trees' planting pits.
Participants involved in planting black locust trees in Drake Park, Hunts Point
In Spring 2002, students participated the Urban Silviculture Research Demonstration Tree Planting activities at Drake Park, Hunts Point, and St. Mary's Park, Mott Haven, the South Bronx. For more information about the research demonstration plantings, please go to the website's Research section.
During several semesters, students were provided with the opportunity to conduct peer education with younger youth at the local branch of the public library, focusing on the importance of trees in the urban environment and proper tree care. Since the beginning of this outreach effort, the high school students reached out to more than 600 younger youth in their community and classmates through school fairs, outreach events and hands-on activities, such as the student-created "Tree IQ Test."
Demonstration Tree Plantings and Maintenance
Summer 2003, St. Mary's Park, Mott Haven, Bronx
50 Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) trees were planted at two sites during May, 2002:
- Joseph Rodman Drake Park in Hunts Point
- St. Mary's Park in Mott Haven
Robinia pseudoacacia is often planted in large cities because it is pollution-tolerant.
More than 100 youth and adult residents were involved in the planting process.
During summers in 2002 through 2005, local high school and college students were hired as interns to maintain the newly-planted black locust trees in St. Mary's and Drake Parks, in collaboration with our subcontracted organization, the Council on the Environment of NYC. In addition to watering the trees, the interns removed litter and weeds from the area.
October 2003, Drake Park, Hunts Point, Bronx
With guidance of educators, the interns made weekly notes about the condition of each tree and indicated the presence of insect pests, leaf discoloration and broken branches. A significant number of the trees were damaged from severe weather, but those that remain have flourished and become integrated into the two parks partly due to the efforts of the interns. The interns and park staff observed local residents' use of the trees groves, and the shade the trees provide, for resting and passive recreation (e.g., picnics).
Researchers-In-Training
"Researchers-In-Training," a program component of the education and outreach efforts of the Urban Silviculture project, began during the summer of 2003. This program provided opportunities to young adults to gain an understanding of the importance of research and familiarity with the research process. Youth also acquired research skills and had opportunities to work along side scientists and science educators.
Young program participants learning research techniques with the use of field microscopes
During the summers of 2003-05, youth were involved in a six-week learning experience whereby they conducted various research activities to gather data and information about trees relevant to the project. These activities were conducted at the tree demonstration sites in St. Mary's Park (Mott Haven) and Drake Park (Hunts Point), the Bronx. Some of the activities included air sampling and monitoring, tree condition assessment, and tree maintenance.
The youth learned how to use some of the scientific equipment affiliated with the project including a Dustpro Analyzer, which records particulate emissions and transport in real time; PM monitors for air sampling; and field rotometers for the pre- and post-calibration of the monitors. The youth learned to make observations and recorded the conditions and overall health of trees planted at the park study site, including tree vigor, height, and signs of physiological stress, disease, and/or insect pests.
Participants use a Dustpro Analyzer and fluorescent particles to record emission levels
In addition to the research-based activities, the youth assisted in tree maintenance activities, which included: pruning of branches, weeding and mulching of tree pits, and removal of tree collars. From these experiences, the youth observed that between the two varieties of Robinia pseudoacacia tree species planted, the Globe variety appeared to be more vigorous and full, while the Idahoensis variety tended to have a thinner and more spreading crown, with less total leaf area. In the project's last two years, youth participants traveled to the Cornell University campus where they conducted hands-on experimentation, met with researchers and faculty, and learned first-hand about the college experience.
In the three years of conducting the Researchers-in-Training program component, approximately 27 youth participated in activities, recruited from Abraham House and other Mott Haven and Hunts Point community-based organizations.
Cornell University Students Conduct Outreach
Youth conducted PM monitoring using personal monitoring units to determine non-point source exposure of vegetation for dust particulates within the 2.5 micron (or smaller) range.
Undergraduate students from Cornell University Public Service Center's Alternative Spring Break Program reached out to more than 300 elementary and junior high school students enrolled in 13 classes at four inner city public and private schools within the Mott Haven and Hunts Point sections of the Bronx. The presentations, hands-on activities and student-led discussions focused upon the importance in promoting and protecting urban trees as a means to improving air quality conditions in the South Bronx, reducing negative impacts on human health, and sustaining the local natural environment.