270 Dilley and Wolf: Homeowner Interactions with Residential Trees in Urban Areas prior studies have addressed perceptions and attitudes such as tree preference and satisfaction; few have addressed behavior history or intention. This study was designed to address both attitudinal and behavioral patterns of single-family homeown- ers concerning all trees that they may plant or manage. This study differs from past studies in that results are analyzed and presented in association with neighborhood units deemed to be important for later tree program development and deliv- ery. The research was guided by the following questions: 1. What are urban homeowners’ past and future tree planting and care behavior patterns? 2. Are there variations in perceptions, attitudes, and behavior patterns by geographic district? METHODS Fifty-six percent of the land in Seattle is composed of single- family parcels. Municipal officials were interested in the tree planting patterns, attitudes, and behaviors of owners of private property. To address the research questions, a web- based survey was developed and implemented for single- family homeowners across the city. Analysis addressed city- wide response as well as results at the neighborhood scale. The Residential Trees Survey The survey was constructed based on several sources. Earlier published tree surveys were reviewed, as was conceptual lit- erature on the importance of recognizing the benefits and bar- riers to target audiences when attempting to change behaviors that impact the environment (McKenzie-Mohr 2011). For- mative interviews were held with four homeowners and five local urban forestry professionals in the arboriculture, design, nonprofit, and policy fields. These resources were used to construct the Residential Trees Survey following commonly accepted survey methodology (Salant and Dillman 1994; Dillman et al. 2009). The final Residential Trees Survey con- sisted of three parts: 1) respondent agreement with various benefits and barriers to trees on a Likert scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); 2) ratings and reports of tree planting and retention behavior, such as pruning habits, num- ber of trees planted and removed in the past, and type of tree likely to plant in the future; and 3) respondent demographics. Respondent Sampling Survey recruitment letters were sent to single-family homeowners (renters excluded), with contact informa- tion taken from King County tax records. Starting with a sample frame of all homeowners, sampling was first strati- fied by neighborhood using the 53 Community Reporting Areas (CRAs) that are used by the City of Seattle for in- ternal reporting. Note that in this research, the terms CRA and neighborhood are used interchangeably. The final sample of participants was randomly selected from within the CRA stratification based on population distribution. Due to issues of self-locating by respondents versus ad- ministrative neighborhood designations, results were ag- gregated to the District level, judged to be a more accurate geographic representation. Each District (there are thirteen across the city) is composed of between three to five CRAs. ©2013 International Society of Arboriculture Respondent Recruitment and Response The Tailored Design Method (Dillman et al. 2009) guided the process of respondent contact and recruitment. A pre- notice postcard was sent four days prior to sending a letter inviting residents to participate in the online survey. Invita- tion letters were personalized with the homeowner’s name as it appears on tax records. All letters were hand-signed. One week after letter mailings, participants received a remind- er postcard, again including the link to the survey. All mail- ings were sent with first class stamps, rather than bulk mail. A response incentive was included in the invitation letter, a coupon for a free bowl of clam chowder at a local restaurant. Coincidentally, invitation letters with coupons were delivered at the same time that the restaurant was prominent in local news headlines due to a unique marketing campaign (Lacitis 2009). Increased public attention to the restaurant may have helped capture participants’ attention and increase return rates. Of the 2,485 participation invitations sent, 91 were returned by the post office as undeliverable, reducing the sample size to 2,394. From this adjusted total, 751 sur- veys were completed, resulting in a 31% response rate. Response rates varied by CRA and district. The highest district response rate (41%) was in District 6 (Central Seattle, including the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, First Hill, Madison Park, Miller Park, and North Capitol Hill). The lowest response rate (15%) was in District 3 (South- east Seattle, including the neighborhoods of Beacon Hill, Duwamish, Georgetown, North Beacon Hill/Jefferson Park, South Beacon Hill/New Holly, and South Park). Citywide Respondent Demographics Mean age of respondents was 51 (standard deviation [sd] 12.6). The average number of years respondents had lived in their current home was 14.6 (sd 11.9), and expected con- tinued occupancy was 16.3 (sd 15.9). Mean household occu- pancy was 2.6 persons (sd 1.1). Forty-two percent of respon- dents reported owning an average-sized parcel (464.5 m2 in Seattle), with 21% having smaller and 30% reporting larger parcels. Respondents were well-educated, with 38% having a college degree and 44% having a graduate or professional degree. Education levels were reflected in household income: 26% had income below $75,000, 50% spanned $75,000 up to $150,000, and 24% had household incomes greater than $150,000. Eighty-eight percent of respondents were white, while Asian (5%) and biracial or mixed race (3%) were the next highest cultural response categories. The overall demograph- ics of the Residential Trees Survey reflect the demographics of all Seattle homeowners, as reported in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (Table 1). This observed alignment does not rule out nonresponse bias (addressed in the discussion section), but did suggest that responses cor- relate to the intended human population. In addition, survey analysis did not include comparison of demographics be- tween neighborhoods. This is also addressed in the discussion. RESULTS ACROSS SINGLE-FAMILY HOMEOWNERS Survey responses were first analyzed to explore plant- ing and pruning behaviors of single-family homeowners across the city. Results revealed how homeowners inter-
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