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ArticleJournal articleRx for hot cities: Building climate resilience through urban greening and cooling in Los Angeles, California, USA
XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
2022Also available in:
No results found.Extreme heat and its health impacts are on the rise. Globally, the six warmest years on record all occurred since 2015, and in Los Angeles (LA) average temperatures are expected to increase up to 4.5°C in coming decades. Extreme heat causes more deaths in the United States than all other weather-related causes combined, with heat risk being most pronounced in urban areas due to the heat-island effect. Reducing urban heat exposure is an equity issue, as low-income communities and communities of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods with older buildings, low tree canopy cover, more heat-retaining surfaces, and limited access to coping strategies such as air conditioning. The Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative (LAUCC) is a multi-disciplinary partnership of researchers and expert practitioners working with communities and government to understand and mitigate heat in LA. LAUCC completed a modeling study of current and projected heat in LA County to: 1) identify geographic areas with highest vulnerability to heat-related death; 2) quantify how various urban forest cover (UFC) and built environment albedo scenarios would affect heat-related mortality, temperature, humidity, and oppressive air masses that lead to elevated mortality; and 3) quantify the number of years that climate change-induced warming could be delayed by implementing these interventions. We find that increasing shade, evaporative cooling, and albedo through increases in UFC and reflective surfaces could save one in four lives lost to heat waves in Los Angeles, mostly in low-income communities and communities of color. We also find that these measures could modify local meteorology sufficiently to delay local effects of global climate change-induced warming by 25 to 60 years under business-as-usual and moderate mitigation scenarios, respectively. These strategies can be adapted to combat extreme heat in other regions that are experiencing similar challenges. Keywords: Human health and well-being, Research, Sustainable forest management, Adaptive and integrated management, Climate change ID: 3479653 -
DocumentOther documentSFI education and job matching programs expand and deepen youth connection to forests and build future forest and conservation leaders
XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
2022Also available in:
No results found.The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) believes that building a next generation of leadership that will take responsibility for solving environmental challenges is one of the best investments a society can make. Promoting an appreciation for the natural world is a key component of SFI’s work because it helps ensure youth can be effective future leaders and have a strong understanding of the value of well managed forests.
Project Learning Tree, SFI’s environmental education program, advances environmental literacy, stewardship, and career pathways using trees and forests as windows on the world. Encouraging children to spend time outside improves creativity, imagination, academic achievement, and overall health and fitness.
PLT tools, resources and training are designed for educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool through college and university. PLT’s Nature Activities for Families offers fun and easy-to-do activities are perfect for parents and grandparents to help introduce children to nature. For educators, PLT has recently released Explore Your Environment, K-8 Activity Guide to support learning from grades K through 8. It includes online professional development to train educators and those that engage with youth in using the resource. Project Learning Tree Canada is Connecting Youth with Green Jobs and Forest Mentors
PLT Canada is committed to using the outdoors to engage youth in learning about the world around them—in rural, Indigenous and urban communities—and advancing environmental literacy, stewardship, and career pathways.
By 2022, in partnership with the Government of Canada, PLT Canada will have supported over 5,000 green jobs in the forest and parks sectors. Our expanding mentorship program connects youth directly to forest and conservation sector professionals. These SFI education programs provide opportunities for forest leaders to build bridges to future generations. Keywords: Youth and young generation, Education, Sustainable forest management, Decent employment ID: 3478920 -
ArticleJournal articleOverstory-regeneration relationships in mixed-conifer forests of the southwestern United States
XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
2022Also available in:
No results found.The ponderosa pine, dry- and wet-mixed conifers, and spruce-fir forests are major forest types in the southwestern United States. The ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer systems have historically relied on fire to maintain structure and composition. With the changes in fire regimes, there has been a long-term progression toward more shade-tolerant species such as Abies concolor. Using data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program, this study focused on the relative proportions of each species in the seedling, sapling, and overstory tree cohorts. The hypothesis is that regeneration and subsequent development by species were proportional to the species in the overstory, accounting for shade tolerance. Transitions to a different future forest combination, if that transition was occurring, was related to the time since the previous disturbance, usually fire, and the relative proportion of Abies in the overstory mix. This paper examines a subset of the relationship between overstory basal area, latitude, elevation, and seedling numbers in the understory by species. We found three species – Picea engelmannii, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Pinus ponderosa – displayed an interaction between overstory basal area and latitude upon seedling numbers in the understory. There was little separation at the more southerly locations, suggesting an external limiting factor, soil moisture availability, overcame species-specific silvical characteristics and competitive abilities. Future work will examine the presence of particular species in the overstory and their influence upon their own and other species' regeneration. Keywords: multiple species forests, regeneration trends, succession, microenvironment ID: 3486970
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