Leveraging Community Support to De-Vine New Haven's Natural Areas

This case study discusses the Urban Resources Initiative’s efforts to remove invasive vines from natural areas in New Haven, CT. The Urban Resources Initiative (URI) is the primary urban forestry organization in New Haven, and community engagement is a key feature of their programming. Working with a combination of local stewardship groups (“Community Greenspace”) and a workforce program (“GreenSkills”) for previously incarcerated individuals and teens, URI began hosting vine removal workdays in New Haven’s parks as a way to both protect critical components of the city’s forest canopy and build interest and investment in the city’s natural areas.

In a nutshell, this resource offers:

• A case study for how to engage more people in urban stewardship and create employment opportunities.
• An example of focusing stewardship efforts based on need and ecological importance. 
• A program to prevent tree mortality caused by invasive vines. 

How to use this resource:

• Details the creation of a citywide de-vining program. 
• How to address stewardship challenges in parks without stewardship groups.
• How to engage groups who do not typically volunteer.

Author: Danica Doroski, State of Connecticut, Christopher Ozyck, Yale Urban Resources Initiative, Colleen Murphy-Dunning Yale School of the Environment

Date published: May 2023

Point of contact: Danica Doroski, State of Connecticut, Danica.Doroski@ct.gov

Citation: Doroski, Danica; Ozyck, Christopher; and Murphy-Dunning, Colleen (2023) "Leveraging Community Support to De-vine New Haven’s Natural Areas," Cities and the Environment (CATE): Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 32. DOI: 10.15365/cate.2023.130132 

Resource is available online here.