Svendsen

1. CULTIVATING RESILIENCE:
URBAN STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES AS INDICATORS OF
SOCIAL RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY
Erika S. Svendsen, Lindsay K. Campbell, Heather L. McMillen & Renae Reynolds
US Forest Service
Northern Research Station
New York City Field Station
Partners in Community Forestry Conference
Arbor Day Foundation
November 16-17, 2016

2. “To improve quality of life in urban
areas by conducting and
supporting research about social-
ecological systems and natural
resource management”
New York City Field Station

3. Co-creators of the urban forest

4. Urban environmental stewards conserve, manage, monitor, advocate or educate
the public about the local environment
Svendsen and Campbell 2008; Fisher et al 2012

5. Social resilience:
The ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and
disturbances as a result of social, political & environmental change (Adger 2000).

6. Urban environmental stewardship as resilience

7. The TREES: Growing a Forest at Ground Zero. A film by Scott Elliott.
The Trees premiered on PBS on the 15th Anniversary of 9/11.

8. Stewards planting trees together in Sterling Forest. Tuxedo, New York
Photo provided by US Forest Service, 2002

9. September 11th Living Memorials
Svendsen and Campbell, 2006

10. Greening in the Red Zone
Disaster, Resilience and Community Greening
Tidball and Kransy, eds. (2014)
Bomb crater in 1942 London is transformed into a garden
(Photo by Harry Shepherd, provided courtesy of Keith Tidball)

11. Hurricane Sandy, 2012

12. The pergola became a focal point for socializing and knowledge exchange at the B41st Garden
Photo by Mary Wyatt, TKF Foundation, 2016 Photo by Giles Ashford, 2016

13. Four garden signs created by resident gardeners during a design workshop at B41st Garden.
Photos by Renae Reynolds, 2016

14. Residents and volunteers prepare a new bioswale together at B41st Gardens
Photos by Giles Ashford, 2016

15. Social networking is taking place beyond the B41st site

16. Front page news on Oct. 30, 1975, after President Gerald Ford said that he would not approve federal help for NYC.
Disinvestment

17. Photo by Steffi Graham, 1999
Dimas Cepeda of El Batey Boricano Community Garden, Bronx, New York

18. Community garden coalition members protesting outside the steps of City Hall
Photo courtesy of GreenThumb, New York City 1999

19. (McMillen, Campbell, Svendsen and Reynolds 2016)

20. What we derive from nature (e.g. ecosystem benefits) is different from what is
produced through the co-creation (e.g. stewardship) of the urban forest

21. MillionTreesNYC Volunteer Planting
Fisher, Svendsen and Connolly (2015): Planting Trees Strengthens the Roots of Democracy
Civic Engagement

22. The Millionth Tree, Bronx, NY 2016
Campbell, Lindsay K. City of Trees, City of Farms, forthcoming
Governance and Innovation

23. New York City Street Tree Map, screen shot

24. The Baltimore Tree Tribe, 1995
Social Trust
Photo from US Forest Service, Revitalizing Baltimore archive

25. In Wilderness is the preservation of the world
Henry David Thoreau

26. We should ask about the ways in which wilderness functions to preserve and
expand the life of democracy. We know intuitively, and, on many dimensions
empirically, that in preserving wilderness we are preserving our own humanity.
William R. Burch, Jr. (1974) Democracy and Wilderness