clear environmental

The good folks at the Center for Watershed Protection and the US Forest Services have joined forces to bring us a new forestry resource.

THE WATERSHED FORESTRY RESOURCE GUIDE is a central clearinghouse for all things related to forests and watersheds.  Recent efforts towards managing urban forests for watershed health have resulted in a variety of highly useful tools and training materials. This site compiles these resources into a format that can be easily accessed and downloaded.

In case you’re wondering what the big deal is about forests…

Trees are the oldest and largest living things on the earth, and they are a good measure of the health and quality of our environment. Urban forests are located on public and private land right in our own back yard. They line our city streets and highways; make our towns, parks and recreation areas beautiful; and add life to the landscape of concrete. Urban trees help to clean the air of pollution and provide oxygen. They reduce stormwater runoff and when located properly they can even lower heating and cooling costs. As urbanization and sprawl expands into rural areas of our watersheds, forests become an increasingly important resource to all who live there.

The site is organized by four major categories.

1. Forest Planning and Assessment

• Do you need help setting an urban tree canopy goal for your community?
• Are you unsure how to prioritize planting locations and forest conservation tracts in your watershed?
• Do you need training materials to teach others how to estimate future impacts to forests from development?

2.  Reducing Stormwater Runoff

• Do you want to learn how trees can help reduce stormwater runoff?
• Are you interested in incorporating trees into your stormwater treatment practices?
• Are you looking for some examples of stormwater credit systems for trees?

3. Forest Friendly Development

• Do you want to make your community’s codes and ordinances more forest friendly?
• Do you need help preserving trees at a development site in your community?
• Are you looking for examples of forest friendly communities to convince your elected officials to change local regulations?

4. Planting and Maintaining Trees

• Do you want to know the correct way to plant a tree?
• Are you unsure what species to plant or where to plant it?
• Do you need some tools to teach others how to plant and maintain trees?

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