Urban and community forestry
What are urban and community forests?
Trees growing in cities and towns, collectively, encompass “urban and community forests.” Urban and community trees are essential components of community infrastructure that provide a multitude of benefits to improve the local environment, economy and human health and well-being.
Management of healthy, sustainable, community forests involves careful planning, protection, selection, and proper planting and maintenance. Healthy urban forests maximize community benefits and improve quality of life in communities.
Urban forest cover in the United States is consistently declining at devastating rate of about 175,000 acres per year (36 million trees), as impervious surfaces, such as buildings, roads, sidewalks, parking lots and driveways, dramatically increase with the progression of urbanization.
To improve the health and sustainability of urban and community forests, communities must recognize the tremendous importance of urban trees and green infrastructure and improve the management of these assets through effective planning and more proactive approaches that focus on tree preservation during development, higher standards of care in maintenance and more aggressive canopy replacement planning to balance tree loss attributed to clearing for development, aging and insect and disease attack.
What we do
We provide technical and/or educational assistance regarding community forest inventories and management plans, community and county tree ordinances, grant project implementation, how to become a Tree City USA, proper tree selection, installation and care, educational information, training workshops and promotion of South Carolina’s Arbor Day, which is always the first Friday in December. The program’s goal is to help foster, support and enhance long-term, sustainable, urban and community forestry programs within communities. We provide technical, educational and financial assistance, primarily to cities, towns, non-profit organizations, and county governments.
Tree selection, planting and care
The SCFC Urban Forestry team offers a wealth of knowledge on tree selection, planting and care; tips for selecting a tree care professional (arborist); ways to protect and preserve trees on construction sites; storm recovery; and SC firesmart plants. Please visit our Urban Tree Care Resources page for more on each of these topics.
Benefits of urban trees
Did you know that trees in the urban landscape improve our quality of life in countless ways? In addition to adding sheer aesthetic beauty to the ‘concrete jungle,’ trees can improve our personal health, reduce air and noise pollution, save energy, conserve water, reduce soil erosion and create wildlife and plant diversity, among many others.
Read more about these myriad benefits that trees provide in our urban environments, in which more than 80 percent of the American population now lives.
Trees and People Need Each Other
Healthy Trees Healthy Lives for Kids (YouTube video)
Healthy Trees Healthy Lives for Adults (YouTube video)
Community recognition programs that SCFC administers
The Arbor Day Foundation operates several national recognition programs that are administered at the state level. In South Carolina, the Urban & Community Forestry program oversees the application and award process by providing information and assistance to applicants, reviewing and approving applications, submitting successful applications to ADF for final review, and distributing award materials from ADF.
Resources for communities
- Storm Mitigation Planning for South Carolina Communities
- Storm Debris Estimator Tool (excel) – The Storm Debris Estimator Tool allows a community to run scenarios on how much potential debris is generated from a specific category tropical storm and then to calculate how large of a debris management site is needed to process the vegetative debris. This tool can be used by either counties or cities to better prepare them for handling and processing debris from major storms. This calculator tool is based on the Army Corp of Engineers formula for debris estimation and FEMA’s guidelines for sizing debris management sites.
- South Carolina Forestry Commission Scholarship Program Information
Resources for Tree Ordinances
- Sample Tree Ordinance No. 1 (word)
- Sample Tree Ordinance No. 2 (word)
- Arbor Day Foundation’s “Tree Care Ordinance Assistance Tool”
Resources for Requests for Bids
- Sample requests for bids (Tree Inventory, Canopy Mapping or Management Plan) (word)
- Sample request for proposal: Tree Risk Assessment (word)
Examples of Urban Forestry Management Plans
Charlotte, NC (link)
Decatur, GA (link)
‘Green Infrastructure’ projects and resources
- A Guide to Urban Forest Plans
- SC Green Infrastructure Plan 2023
- (Urban) Planner’s Toolkit: A Guide for South Carolina’s Towns, Cities and Counties
- Evaluating and Conserving Green Infrastructure Across the Landscape: A Practitioners Guide
- Forests and the Comprehensive Plan: A Planner’s Guide
- Forest Connectivity in the Developing Landscape: A Design Guide for Conservation Developments
- Tree Planting Campaign Guide: A Guide for Reforesting Cities and Towns (pdf)
- Resilient Coastal Forests of South Carolina: Overcoming Challenges and Implementing Strategies for a Better Future (pdf)
‘Trees to Offset Stormwater’ projects and resources
- Trees to Offset Stormwater: Charleston, SC
- Trees to Offset Stormwater Summary: A Study of 12 Communities
- Protecting and Restoring Urban Tree Canopy for Stormwater Management in Southern Cities
- Trees to Offset Stormwater Calculator Blank Spreadsheet (excel)
- Technical Instructions for Trees to Offset Stormwater Spreadsheet (pdf)
- Trees to Offset Stormwater Codes and Ordinances (excel)
Community Forestry Webinars
Other Educational Opportunities
The links below are just a few of the websites that offer workshops/conferences and webinars that award ISA-certified arborist continuing education credits. The links provided may not include current opportunities, but should be checked periodically for new events. Applicants are encouraged to visit other websites and familiarize themselves with the guidance sheet to determine if an event qualifies for a scholarship.
- TreesSC
- International Society of Arboriculture
- Southern Chapter ISA
- Arbor Day Foundation PCF Conference
- NC Urban Forestry Council
- Georgia Urban Forestry Council
- Georgia Arborist Association
- Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI)
Contact us
Frances Waite, Statewide Urban Forestry Coordinator
fwaite@scfc.gov | (803) 896-8864
Cara Specht, Coastal Region Urban Forester
(serving Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton, Jasper and Orangeburg counties)
Contact: cspecht@scfc.gov | (839) 201-2722
Ann Huyler, Piedmont Region Urban Forestry Specialist
(serving Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Union, and York counties)
Contact: ahuyler@scfc.gov | (864) 910-0139
Brad Bailey, Pee Dee Region Urban Forester
(serving Chesterfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Sumter, and Williamsburg counties)
Contact: Christopher.Bailey@scfc.gov |