Urban Forestry Initiative with KY Communities

Our goal is to develop guidelines to facilitate efforts of Central Kentucky communities to enhance their urban tree canopy. The urban tree canopy is critically important for the health of Kentucky’s communities, contributing substantially to ecological, economic, and social sustainability. Increasing the quantity and quality of urban canopy cover will enhance its contribution to ecosystem services, increase its aesthetic value, and promote human health and a sense of community. Unfortunately, many smaller communities in Central Kentucky lack the resources, or perhaps more importantly, the political or community impetus for enhancing their urban tree canopy. We propose two main objectives to address this. The first is to identify regional partners (municipalities, universities, colleges) that are currently involved with, or interested in, developing and enhancing their urban and community forestry efforts. Secondly, we plan to work with these entities to assess and understand the benefits of and barriers to enhancing community engagement with their urban tree canopy; this includes gaining an understanding of community awareness of the urban canopy, and also evaluating the barriers to community understanding of the benefits of a vital and vibrant canopy, and its need for sustained maintenance and improvement.