302 The involvement of residents and volunteers in watering and otherwise stewarding street trees is beneficial for a number of reasons. First, com- munity involvement may address the lack of gov- ernment resources for tree watering. Surveys of public officials involved in municipal urban for- est management have noted a lack of funding as a significant challenge (Grado et al. 2006; Driscoll et al. 2015). Thus, relying on the community to help water street trees may be many cities’ most feasible economic and logistical option for ensuring trees are adequately watered. Second, community par- ticipation in urban forest management may result in the empowerment of residents. Individual-level empowerment is defined as the belief that one can make a positive difference, an understanding of the socio-political context, and taking action to address issues of concern to them (Zimmerman 2006). Empowerment has oſten been mentioned as a possible outcome of residents and volunteers’ par- ticipation in community tree planting events (Sklar and Ames 1985; Sommer et al. 1994; Summit and Sommer 1998; Austin 2002; Elmendorf 2008). For example, tree-planting projects may enhance resi- dents’ sense of pride in their community and their feeling of self-efficacy related to improving their neighborhood (Dwyer et al. 1992; Bloniarz and Ryan 1996). Involving residents in the stewardship of street trees may also produce similar feelings of community pride and efficacy toward neigh- borhood improvement (Mincey and Vogt 2014). Lastly, community involvement in urban forest management may enhance the sustainability of urban forests (Clark et al. 1997; Kenney et al. 2011). Recent studies suggest that residents’ involve- ment in stewarding street trees may enhance tree growth and survival. A study in New York City, New York, U.S., found that signs of stewardship in the built environment surrounding street trees (e.g., planted flowers or mulch in the planting bed, evidence of weeding, and stewardship-related sig- nage close to the tree) were significantly associated with higher survival rates (Lu et al. 2010). Another New York City study found that street trees that were stewarded by local volunteers trained in tree watering, tree pit care, and tree health assess- ment had a significantly higher survival rate over five years than did trees that were not monitored by volunteers (Boyce 2010). Examining the rela- ©2016 International Society of Arboriculture Moskell et al.: Engaging Residents in Street Tree Ownership tionship between community tree planting groups and tree survival in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., Jack-Scott et al. (2013) found that tree sur- vival was significantly associated with increased years of group experience and with an align- ment of tree plantings with group mission (e.g., park trees planted by “friends of parks” groups). More recently, Mincey and Vogt (2014) inves- tigated the relationship between tree survival and the street tree watering strategies employed by groups of neighbors in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. Using self-reported measures of watering behavior, Mincey and Vogt (2014) conducted semi-structured interviews to examine the pres- ence or absence of collective watering strate- gies in each neighborhood. Collective watering strategies included signed agreements between neighbors, neighbors monitoring each other, and giving verbal reminders to encourage each other to water newly planted street trees. Street trees watered through collective watering strategies had higher survival rates than street trees watered by individual residents in the absence of agree- ments or reminders between neighbors. Collec- tive watering strategies may have increased the sense of accountability between neighbors, which may have motivated residents to water their street trees more consistently, thereby enhancing the health of the trees (Mincey and Vogt 2014). The recent studies on the impact of volunteer involvement in street tree stewardship on tree health and survival are limited. With the excep- tion of Lu et al. (2010), these studies examined programs coordinated by a local non-profit orga- nization rather than with residents who were not participants in such programs. While non-profit organizations play an important role in coordi- nating street tree stewardship efforts in the com- munity (see Leff 2013), these organizations may not be present or active in every community where cities plant street trees, and those that are present may not have the capacity to coordinate residents’ street tree watering on a regular basis across an entire city. Furthermore, many cities require residents and private property owners to maintain street trees planted in public rights-of- way adjacent to their property (Loukaitou-Sideris and Ehrenfeucht 2009). However, many residents’ may not recognize themselves as responsible
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