Trees, communities, and equity: Nonprofit tree planting and the coproduction of urban forest

In my dissertation, I examine the role of communities and nonprofits in urban forest management from four angles. In my first chapter, I investigate the policy implications that stem from the positive externalities of urban forests. I argue that collaboration between municipalities, urban residents, civic associations, and nonprofits offers a promising strategy to both increase public and private canopy cover in neighborhoods and improve coordination of tree planting and maintenance activities. Grounded in the theory of my first chapter, I conduct a three-part empirical study of the collaborative tree-planting activities of urban greening nonprofits and urban neighborhoods. My second chapter describes data collection methods for a study of nonprofit tree planting programs in five cities. My third chapter builds an empirical model of the urban forest social ecological system and finds that variation in neighborhood characteristics and project features contribute to growth and survival of newly planted trees. In my fourth chapter, I ask whether neighborhood engagement in local tree planting improves community capacity. I find that participation can have positive impacts, but that they are not automatic. In my fifth chapter, I examine the spatial distribution of tree-planting projects and find that although projects are less likely to occur in a neighborhood as canopy cover and income increase, they are also less likely to occur as the percentage of racial and ethnic minorities increases. Collectively, the results suggest that neighborhood groups can play a strategic role in urban forest management. They also reveal that nonprofit planting programs that engage residents might yield positive outcomes by strengthening communities and planting in low canopy and low income neighborhoods, but barriers to participation of minority neighborhoods should be identified and addressed.