Lesser celandine ( Ficaria verna ) is an aggressive ephemeral perennial native to Europe and western Asia that invades floodplains and mesic forests. It has been recorded to escape from cultivation throughout the eastern deciduous forest and has become abundant in many

Urban development and wetland loss have negatively impacted water quality. Natural areas and systems can help mitigate those impacts. With over two centuries of utilizing the Schuylkill River as a source of drinking water, Philadelphia has adapted from land preservation

Effective management requires rapid, repeatable assessment of forest composition, structure, and condition at the scale of local decision-making. We present and apply a protocol for characterizing urban woodlands that generates new insight into the status of urban woodlands and

Baltimore’s urban forest is vulnerable to development and infrastructure projects. This is particularly true for development projects small enough to avoid triggering any review or mitigation requirements, and for large scale projects where—even with the required mitigation—the

The Rapid Site Assessment (RSA) is a forest assessment methodology that was developed as part of the Forest Management Framework (FMF) for New York City; its central focus is characterization of ecosystem threat levels at a site to inform management

The Unified Stewardship Plan is a collective effort to foster a mutually beneficial relationship with the Parks and Recreation Department of Austin, Texas and community members and stakeholders to create a holistic practice to manage and preserve this natural area

Prescribed burning is a centuries-old land management tool in which fire is applied to predetermined areas of land to prevent wildfires, control plant diseases, restore ecosystems, and clear downed trees. In the United States, 21 states allow prescribed burning

This is a case study of the Trail Improvement Techniques Training developed by the New York City Citywide Trail Program. This annual training is provided to partners across the city and includes in-field technical skills, identification of trail concerns

This book is an accessible and comprehensive review of forest restoration in New York’s parks from conception through execution to long-term management. A generous selection of carefully selected color photographs, drawings, charts, and timelines complement the text. Maps

Public interactions with urban forests can be a contentious issue and, in many cases, the protection of resources takes a backseat to stakeholders’ desire to use areas in ways that diminish the capability to manage resources and causes unintended consequences

Forest assessments and carbon accounting are common approaches used to quantify the value of trees and their contribution to mitigating these negative effects across different landscapes. In cities, assessments of forests, and the ecological benefits that they can provide have

The City of Houston has a total of 380 parks totaling 35,742 acres. Approximately 16,000 of those acres are forested habitat, each totaling over an acre in size. A method for prioritizing and assessing these areas was first

This guide provides a starting point for citizens to identify and safely remove invasive plants from their local forest patches. In a nutshell, this resource offers: Pictures, descriptions, and guidelines for removal of some of the most common non-native

NYC’s forested natural areas provide important benefits to the city including high-quality recreation, enhanced biodiversity, and improved air and water quality. The Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC) and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks

A Framework for Core Collaborative Community Science We propose the core collaborative community science framework, an original conceptual framework that integrates and modifies best practices from community science and collective impact groups to support investigations of environmental health and justice

Natural areas account for 84% of urban parkland. Despite representing the largest concentration
of nature in cities, natural areas often go unnoticed, underused, under resourced and unprotected.
 Organizations across the United States have been pioneering approaches to enhance and conserve

This document provides a standardized field protocol for sampling urban forested natural areas using a fixed-area plot design. The method emphasizes data collection on plant species composition and abundance across all forest layers, as well as downed woody material

In 2001, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks) Natural Resources Group created the Forever Wild Program to protect nearly 9,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and  meadows citywide. Although these areas were set aside over a