Community Forestry

The goal of CCE Onondaga's Urban & Community Forestry Education Program is to promote the sustainable management of community forests in Onondaga County through:

CommuniTree Stewards: CommuniTree Stewards are volunteers trained in the planting and care of trees on parks and in neighborhood

Municipal Forest Management: CCE assists municipalities to proactively plant and manage their street tree populations through Urban Horticulture Institute's Student Weekend Arborist Team (SWAT)

Community Tree Buying Program: The CTB program provides a cost-effective means to purchase and plant bare-root trees and engage citizens in urban and community forestry restoration

Youth and Natural Resources: CCE has worked with numerous youth organizations to expose urban youth to the environmental sciences and to give youth an opportunity to contribute to their community through urban forestry.

Urban & community forests are a critical infrastructure of all communities. Their benefits are so numerous, research estimates that every dollar spent on planting and managing urban forests, yields over $2 in benefits. Click on the following links to see a summary of research on the importance and value of urban forests: The Case for Investing in Our Green Infrastructure.

The loss of over 8,000 trees during the Labor Day Storm of 1998 brought a lot of attention to our community forests. In the aftermath of the storm, the phone lines at CCE rang off the hook with calls on how to remove and replace trees lost from the storm. In response to this need, CCE established its' Urban & Community Forestry Education Program. The UC& F Educatoin Program depends on support from individuals, businesses and grants from government agencies and foundations. Through this support, all of us can help build healthier communities through urban forest restoration.

CCE has found that many municipalities possess an aging street and park tree population that is 50-80% sugar, Norway and silver maple. Mature trees, and forests dominated by a few species, are very susceptible to failure during storm events, diseases and pest outbreaks. In this state, community forests pose a potential hazards to homeowners and add to the cost of management.

To maintain the existing tree cover in our city, towns, villages and parks, aggressive and systematic management and planting program is warranted. CCE Onondaga believes our community is still losing trees fasting then we are planting them.

In the city of Syracuse, street tree populations have declined from had 39,000 to 34,000 since 1978. Based on U.S. Forest Service estimates, 600 trees die every year in the city. Overall, the average tree cover within the city of Syracuse is below the recommended 30%. A declining urban forest costs millions of dollars in lost energy savings, reduced storm water runoff and air pollution control. However, there is also a link between low tree cover and increased fear and violence. Clearly, trees do much for our communities and their health cannot be overlooked. Syracuse is not alone in these challenges regarding our urban forests. This situation is similar for towns and villages throughout Onondaga County and New York State.