Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 47(1): January 2021 conflict management, effective listening, participa- tory planning, leadership, and facilitation (Andersen et al. 2002; Bullard 2015; Sample et al. 2015). In order to address this gap, clinical training programs that inte- grate the development of technical, social, and broad professional competencies are needed to prepare the next generation of urban forestry professionals. Past research has explored the content and evolu- tion of urban forestry curricula over time (Williams 1975; Deneke 1978; Andresen and Johnson 1982; Hildebrandt et al. 1993; Miller 1994; Andersen et al. 2002; Elmendorf et al. 2005; Vogt et al. 2016). How- ever, few studies have described clinical training models for urban forestry education, particularly ones that involve working with actual urban communities. In order to address this gap, we share best practices from a program housed in the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES) that trains urban foresters in both technical and social skill sets. The Urban Resources Initiative (URI), a university- nonprofit partnership program, has been providing field experience and learning opportunities for gradu- ate students of natural resource management since 1989. URI’s community forestry programs draw heavily from the principles of social forestry, first employed in rural areas of developing countries to help promote agroforestry systems designed to alleviate poverty and food scarcity within marginalized communities (Burch et al. 2017). This approach enables students to develop technical skill sets and hone social compe- tencies, all while working with local residents and the local governmental agencies to promote community- based land stewardship, restore open spaces and nat- ural ecosystems, and build local capacity (Urban Resources Initiative 2017). Our study evaluates the student internship and engagement programs of the Urban Resources Initiative and their effectiveness to serve as unique models for clinical training in urban forestry at the university level. Program History URI began as a collaborative community forestry endeavor between the Baltimore Department of Parks and Recreation and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES) (Burch and Grove 1993). Under the supervision of Yale F&ES professor emeritus Dr. William Burch, student interns from Yale F&ES worked with staff at Baltimore Parks and Recreation and local community members to support 35 small-scale urban forestry efforts in vacant lots, streetscapes, and parks situated in neighborhoods experiencing a systemic lack of investment in Balti- more, MD, USA. Interns developed skills as organiz- ers and facilitators of participatory green space care, tree planting, and urban forestry practices, emphasiz- ing community participation and two-way learning between natural resource “experts” and residents (Burch and Grove 1993). For his students, Burch emphasized that a system approach to thinking about cities would allow them to better understand the com- plexity of interacting factors shaping the environment and well-being of its residents. In Baltimore, interns used the city’s 276 unique neighborhoods and their associated watersheds as organizing units while “[exploring] the connections between greening and community revitalization and the larger context of these activities” (Burch et al. 2017). In addition to facilitating community forestry and greening projects across the city, interns also engaged in urban ecology research projects, contributed to the development of the first-ever master plan for the Baltimore Depart- ment of Parks and Recreation, taught environmental education units to Baltimore youth, and developed a training program for Parks and Recreation staff on ecological approaches to green-space management (Burch et al. 2017). In 1991, URI shifted its focus from direct involve- ment in Baltimore to an urban community forestry program based in Yale’s host city—New Haven, CT, USA (Figure 1). In a city where low-income neighbor- hoods are generally correlated with high numbers of vacant lots, fewer public parks, and low tree canopy cover (Chuang et al. 2017), New Haven, like Balti- more, requires an environmental restoration approach that ties greening to community revitalization and empowers local residents to participate in natural resource decision-making. While the URI partner- ships in New Haven have grown and evolved over the years, the program has consistently trained gradu- ate students to work as professionals in urban natural resource management. Today, while URI engages stu- dents and the surrounding community in a variety of ways, URI’s model for training urban and community forestry students consists of two primary programs (see Table 1 for distinct program features and outputs): 1. Community Greenspace, a 13-week commu- nity forestry and neighborhood revitalization ©2021 International Society of Arboriculture
January 2021
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