30 Grado et al.: Status, Needs, and Knowledge About Urban Forestry forestry. It may be that their attention to this topic was minimized or diverted due to a lack of resources and/or having to deal with higher-priority issues. Some Mississippi communities did want to establish urban and community forestry programs, but they lacked the funding resources. Community officials indicated overwhelmingly that funding was the most important issue for initiating and sustaining urban and community forestry projects and/or programs. Mississippi’s results were consis- tent with similar studies in eastern and western Washington state. Studer (2003) found that 64% of urban forest managers cited greater funding as their most important need. Treiman and Gartner (2004) identified as a major problem the lack of financial resources in northeastern Pennsylvania to support urban and community forestry. Poor financial support for these programs was a trend common to several regions across the United States. Also, greater efforts in disseminating information on funding opportunities was necessary, given that most Mississippi communities were aware of only a few national funding programs. Participation in statewide or local programs was minimal. Communities facing funding obstacles for imple- menting urban and community forestry programs could potentially pool their limited resources and sponsor active participation by local community groups. Numerous communities engaged in tree planting activities through organizations such as the Boy Scouts, garden clubs, school groups, and volunteers. Urban and community forestry outreach has helped communities become more familiar with recreational, wildlife, soil, and air-quality benefits of urban and commu- nity forestry, but less so for its other benefits such as fire protection, water quality, social issues, and carbon seques- tration. Many of these are vitally important issues for communities, and the lack of association with urban and community forestry presents an opportunity to initiate and direct outreach activities. Although some Mississippi communities may be aware of the benefits of implementing urban and community forestry programs, future communication efforts need to focus on contacting more communities and employing different venues for transferring urban and community forestry technologies and information. The overall lack of awareness and number of survey questions that went unanswered indicated that there exists an enormous challenge and, yet, an exciting opportunity to promote urban forestry in Mississippi. Suggested venues for technology and informa- tion transfer by community leaders include workshops, pamphlets/brochures, newsletters, educational kits, newslet- ters, county forestry agents, and videos. Products can then be disseminated through various organizations (e.g., MFC, MUFC, and Mississippi State University) as well as journals, newspapers, Web links, and other media. ©2006 International Society of Arboriculture CONCLUSIONS This study was a first attempt at evaluating the knowledge levels and information needs of Mississippi’s large and small municipalities. In general, there was interest in urban and community forestry programs in Mississippi on the part of large and small communities alike. A major obstacle to adopting and implementing these programs was the lack of adequate funding. Budgetary constraints have limited urban forestry programs throughout the state, especially for smaller communities. In addition, many communities failed to adopt urban and community forestry programs because they lack the necessary expertise on their staff to address existing situations and problems with program administra- tion. Despite these obstacles to program adoption, commu- nities have expressed a desire for information on technical issues and fundraising opportunities to be provided in a variety of venues, such as pamphlets, books, videos, e-mail, and newsletters. Future research endeavors should focus on evaluating the impacts of the preferred communication media outlined in this study. Such research could serve as the basis for develop- ing an efficient system for transferring information technol- ogy to different-sized communities. In addition, case studies should be conducted in relevant Mississippi communities to document lessons learned from various programs as a guide for communities interested in establishing urban and commu- nity forestry programs. Finally, acquiring the type of informa- tion gleaned from this study should encourage any state desiring to promote urban and community forestry to undertake a similar assessment of their communities. LITERATURE CITED Dillman, D.A. 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (2nd ed.)Wiley, New York, NY. 464 pp. Dwyer, J.F., E.G. McPherson, R.A. Rowntree, and H.W. Schroeder. 1992. Assessing the benefits and costs of the urban forest. Journal of Arboriculture 18(5):227–234. Elmendorf, W.F., V.J. Cotrone, and J.T. Mullen. 2003. Trends in urban forestry practices, programs, and sustainability: Contrasting a Pennsylvania, U.S., study. Journal of Arboriculture 29(4):237–248. Grey, G.W. 1978. What should be the role of state government in municipal arboriculture-–urban forestry? Journal of Arboriculture 4(3):71–72. Groninger, J.W., D.D. Close, and C.M. Basman. 2002. Can small, rural communities practice urban forestry? Journal of Forestry 100(1):23–28. Johnson, C. 1982. Political & administrative factors in urban-forestry programs. Journal of Arboriculture 8(6):160–163. Maco, S.E., and E.G. McPherson. 2002. Assessing canopy cover over streets and sidewalks in street tree populations. Journal of Arboriculture 28(6):270–276.
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