{"id":219473,"date":"2024-10-07T07:15:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T11:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=219473"},"modified":"2024-09-30T14:41:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T18:41:24","slug":"urban-forestry-enables-environmental-justice-in-ct-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/10\/urban-forestry-enables-environmental-justice-in-ct-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Forestry Enables Environmental Justice in CT Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through its research, extension, and educational activities, the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a> (CAHNR) has established itself as a leader in urban forestry in the state.<\/p>\n

The work of Cynnamon Dobbs, assistant professor of natural resources and the environment<\/a>, and Mayra Rodr\u00edguez Gonz\u00e1lez, assistant UConn Extension<\/a> educator in urban and community forestry, focuses on urban forestry and environmental justice, specifically working with Connecticut\u2019s Hispanic and Latino communities.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez and Dobbs are leaders of the urban and community forestry<\/a> research and extension initiative, a partnership between the University and state and community organizations.<\/p>\n

Urban forestry focuses on making cities more resilient to strains on their natural resources due to climate change, air pollution, water pollution, and other many other environmental issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cCities are not going anywhere,\u201d Dobbs says. \u201cWe need to find ways to make cities more livable and more resilient in the future, and urban forestry is one of the strategies we need to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trees provide a host of \u201cecosystem services,\u201d which include all the commercial and non-commercial benefits they provide. For example, plants absorb carbon through photosynthesis. Respiration in vegetation releases carbon to the atmosphere. The tree canopy also reflects light and provides shade. This is especially important in urban areas where \u201cheat islands\u201d are more common because concreate absorbs sunlight and retains heat.<\/p>\n

Vegetation can also benefit people\u2019s physical and mental health. Rodr\u00edguez is working with a UConn Health summer student intern to create an asset map of Hartford neighborhoods to highlight the various ways people can benefit from their proximity to plant life.<\/p>\n

\u201cUrban forestry can provide solutions that go beyond just the environmental,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to understand how all of those things work together because urban resilience includes all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key component of Rodr\u00edguez and Dobbs\u2019 work is empowering local communities to make their voices heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about getting people to realize that all of these players \u2013 from the decision-maker to the practitioner, the landowner, to a community member \u2013 are important and their perspectives matter when we are managing these spaces,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez says.<\/p>\n

Getting input from communities can make urban forestry initiatives more responsive to specific community needs.<\/p>\n

For example, immigrants may feel a connection to certain trees from their home country. Planting those trees in the areas in their new neighborhoods can provide a sense of home and community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese emotional elements are important for us to highlight. It\u2019s a way to improve the governance of natural resources in a very globalized world,\u201d Dobbs says.<\/p>\n

Much of the urban forestry work at CAHNR is having an impact at the state and local level.<\/p>\n

\"Woman
Mayra Rodriguez, an Extension educator in community and urban forestry, at the UConn Extension Hartford County office. Sept. 10, 2024. (Jason Sheldon\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rodr\u00edguez is involved with the Hartford Tree Advisory Commission. She presents her research to the Commission and helps facilitate community stakeholder engagement. She is also working on the Capital Stewardship Initiative, a recent $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the City of Hartford to plant trees in the city.<\/p>\n

Part of Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s efforts also include presentations to a family wellness center in Hartford through a partnership with the Hispanic Health Council on topics including how climate change impacts the community, food justice, and equitable tree distribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to tackle different dimensions of health and that includes environmental health,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez says.<\/p>\n

Teaching younger members of the community is also a vital element, Rodr\u00edguez says. That\u2019s why she delivers programming with the Hartford Public Library for children of all ages. For the youngest group, she teaches lessons about the \u201c3 Rs\u201d \u2013 reduce, reuse, recycle. Middle school participants perform hands-on data collection on air pollution, water quality, and heat islands. Rodr\u00edguez teaches the high school students about careers in conservation and how they can use emerging drone technology.<\/p>\n

The urban and community forestry<\/a> research and extension initiative also brought Latino Conservation Week \u2013 a Hispanic Access Foundation program \u2013 to the state. The event included free workshops and exhibits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was very cool because it brought in people from natural resources and the environment, extension, community partners, and beyond,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez says. They will hold this week-long series of events again this year from September 14 to September 22, 2024.<\/p>\n

Dobbs, Rodr\u00edguez, and Robert Fahey, George F. Cloutier Professor in Forestry and director of the UConn Forest, are all members of the Connecticut Urban Forest Council<\/a>. The Council\u2019s mission to provide advice, assistance, education, information, and support to urban and community forestry professionals, associated professionals, municipal, state and corporate leaders, and volunteers.<\/p>\n

This initiative relates to a grant Dobbs is leading that seeks to address barriers to accessing urban forestry programs. This work is funded by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). It will serve environmental justice communities in Hartford, New London, New Britain, Willimantic, Danbury, and Waterbury.<\/p>\n

Environmental justice communities are defined by national standards as those that suffer from disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards like air pollution, flooding, heat islands, noise pollution, or water pollution in conjunction with socioeconomic factors.<\/p>\n

These cities were chosen because they have not received urban forestry grants from DEEP in the past.<\/p>\n

The researchers will work with community organizations to identify barriers they face to accessing DEEP funding.<\/p>\n

The researchers will create neighborhood-specific information about ecosystem services, climate, tree diversity, and air and noise pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be able to get further by creating outreach material that is grounded within the community. It will be more impactful that general materials that are the norm,\u201d Dobbs says.<\/p>\n

The researchers will share this information with community organizations who can use them for their programming.<\/p>\n

An overarching goal of this work is to encourage people to think about their environments differently, understanding the myriad services trees provide beyond traditional forestry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think trees, vegetation, and nature still have a lot to say in cities, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re working on this,\u201d Dobbs says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This work relates to CAHNR\u2019s Strategic Vision area focused on<\/em>\u00a0Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice<\/em><\/a> and <\/u><\/em>Advancing Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0<\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on social media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bringing together the power of UConn research and extension, faculty are leveraging urban forestry and environmental justice to support Connecticut\u2019s Hispanic and Latino communities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":219475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,1715,2304,2193,2300,2194,2199,2387,2235,2306,2227,2195],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-219473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-community-impact","category-extension","category-hartford-county","category-natural-resources-environment","category-new-haven-county","category-new-london-county","category-sustainability","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-voices","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-windham-county"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-03 14:53:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219473"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219526,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219473\/revisions\/219526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/219475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219473"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=219473"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=219473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}