Urban Forest Management Practices on U.S. Military Installations

Abstract

Greenspaces throughout the world provide society with a better place to live and a plethora of benefits to sustain communities that people live within. Military installations function like a community that supports the mission, goals and objectives of both the military and the interests of the United States as a whole. Understanding how green spaces and urban forest support installations is thus important. Developing a baseline understanding of urban tree and greenspace management on properties owned and operated by the United States Department of Defense is critical to support the mission of the military and the people who live, work, and visit these places. The data gathered from the mailed survey utilized in this study shows generally how military base’s urban forestry programs are organized and how funding is allocated to carry out natural resource management across a broad range of environmental conditions. This study details findings from 35 responding installations out of 155 uniquely identified medium and large sized installations that described their current programs to the best of their ability. Some highlights from the data gathered are a general lack of understanding and/or education on the benefits of a well-managed urban forest. Budget allocation is also a concern, where military installations allocate a mean 0.10% of their total budget to tree activities compared to 0.50% at the municipal level. Additionally, installations that were found to have effective programs were proud to showcase the positive results of their efforts. This included areas of pride such as arbor day celebrations and maintenance of historic trees.