Rules of Effective Community Engagement in Urban Forestry - Dr. Asia Dowtin

Urban forests are comprised of the woody vegetation found in the areas where we live, work, and play; that is, in the areas in which there are high concentrations of developed landscapes and human populations. While effective care and management of urban trees rely heavily on sound knowledge of the ecological and physiological factors that impact tree survival, they also rely heavily on a sound understanding of the communities in which these trees will be established and on meaningful engagement with the people who make up these communities. In this presentation, Dr. Asia Dowtin reviews the key tenets of effective community engagement in urban forestry, including an overview of the broader social contexts within which community engagement strategies should be developed. This presentation will provide an overview of the different engagement techniques that should be applied for varying intended outcomes (e.g., data collection, educational outreach programming, cocreation of management strategies), in addition to best practices to apply when attempting to stimulate and sustain collaboration with diverse stakeholder groups.