42 to the content of tree ordinances in 151 Illinois communities. They found that greater community wealth and education were associated with more professional management and care of trees. Less wealth and education focused on contracted services and the use of volunteers. They also found that the more highly educated, wealthier communities were more likely to stress maintenance and protection of trees, whereas poorer, less edu- cated communities focused on aesthetics and safety. The com- munities in their study were both small and large, ranging from 313 to 2.7 million people (median 15,319). Some have questioned the extent to which smaller, rural com- munities are able to practice urban forestry (Groninger et al. 2002). In these communities, the trees are older and often in poor health. Many trees are the same age. Unhealthy tree topping is practiced. Too often the tree population lacks diversity, and often there are too few trees. Reasons cited for poor UCF practices include lack of knowledge, cost, lack of tree inventories, poor utilization of state and federal programs, and unclear rights and responsibilities among power companies, homeowners, and mu- nicipalities. Strategies for improvement include linking UCF to the interests of business, increasing education for city leaders and homeowners, encouraging “smart” volunteerism, and provid- ing education about better tree care practices. The urban forester is seen as a good facilitator for many of these strategies (Straka et al. 2005). Many larger cities use urban foresters, but smaller cities frequently cannot fund such posi- tions. Schroeder et al. (2003) found statistically significant rela- tionships between city size and the likelihood that the city would have a tree board or commission, a street or shade tree ordinance, a tree inventory, a department or employee responsible for public trees, tree ordinance provisions, trained employees working with public trees, comprehensive tree service provision, and active tree programs. Articles are abundant in the literature on the importance of urban forestry programs and what components are important from the perspective of good forestry practices (Groninger et al. 2002; Elmendorf et al. 2003). There are also empirical studies that describe levels of urban forestry activity and support in different communities (Dickerson et al. 2001 for IL and Elmen- dorf et al. 2003 for PA and the U.S.). Missing are analyses that determine the relative effects of various factors contributing to sustainable practices. METHODOLOGY In this article, we present basic descriptive findings on current UCF practices among small southern towns. These data are drawn from a mail survey of small-town mayors in 13 states in the United States. Various questions were used to gauge percep- tions and practices pertaining to urban tree maintenance. This is followed by linear regression findings that assess which factors are most important in predicting levels of basic tree maintenance used by those towns. Relying on available literature, six con- trasting models are formulated and tested. Subsequently is a brief description on survey design, sample quality, and measurement of variables. Survey Design We identified 1,426 small southern towns and cities with popu- lations between 5,000 and 25,000 in the 13 states (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, and VA). As a result ©2008 International Society of Arboriculture Lewis and Boulahanis: Keeping Up the Urban Forest of limited contact information, only 931 surveys were mailed. The “Keeping Up the Urban Forest Survey” was sent to the mayors of these towns. Of these, 504 usable surveys were re- turned for a response rate of 54%. The Dillman Design Method (Dillman 2000) was used to conduct the survey relies on a series of five mailings or contacts to the targeted sample. For our purposes, only four contacts were necessary to achieve an ap- propriate sample size. Sample Description We compared population size, median household income, and state location with 2000 U.S. Census data (Tables 1 and 2). As these tables show, our sample population is similar to the census parameters. Measurement of Variables The literature identifies six factors related to successful tree maintenance (see Table 3). These six factors were analyzed in this study for their relative effects on tree maintenance. After Table 3, we provide greater detail on each factor and the ratio- nale for why it is included in the model. Structural/demographic factors include community size, me- dian income, and percent with a high school education or higher. At issue is whether these broader structural factors have greater importance than factors that can more easily be manipulated. Availability of state resources addresses mayors’ knowledge of state forestry agencies that provide consulting expertise and resources for small towns with regard to UCF. The state forestry agencies are usually quite active in promoting UCF and distrib- ute funds promoting UCF through Tree City USA grants that they believe will result in sustainability. Establishing a municipal organizational structure is recom- mended by urban forestry best management practices for com- munities. Rather than including individual indicators of the or- ganizational structure, we created an index by combining three questions: 1) whether there is a tree ordinance; 2) a specific department and person responsible for urban forest maintenance; and 3) a budget specifically for tree maintenance. The advantage of using indices is greater statistical variability. Cronbach’s al- pha is typically used to assess whether a set of items seems to measure some single construct, in this case, organizational struc- ture. It is based on the intercorrelations among the items (Bohrnsted and Knoke 1994). Cronbach’s alpha for municipal organizational structure was 0.66 and indicated that the use of this index was appropriate. Characteristics of the mayor is the next factor included in the model. The mayor in most cases is less fixed than the organiza- tional structure but still instrumental in instituting policy. A fre- quently cited requirement for successful UCF programs is hav- ing an individual who values and promotes trees and tree care. If the mayor, a pivotal person in town politics, values tree main- Table 1. Comparison of towns in population (N = 1426) to sample (n = 504). Variable Population size Median household income Percent with at least a high school degree 2000 census mean 11,018 $38,765 77% Sample mean 11,133 $35,080 75%
January 2008
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