A new University of Alberta study helps get at the root of why residents — particularly in a small city — plant and maintain trees on their property.
One of the first studies to explore what influences small-city residents in Canada to plant or remove trees on their property, the research could help municipalities effectively encourage their citizens to help grow community tree cover.
The survey of 548 residents from Camrose, an Alberta city of about 20,000 people, looked at their attitudes, knowledge and personal backgrounds to understand how these factors affected Camrose's tree canopy.
Essential for benefits such as carbon storage and providing shade to keep cities cool, about 50 to 60 per cent of urban trees in North America are located on private property, "making it important to understand the reasons and what contributes to decisions people make about planting, not planting or removing trees," says environmental scientist Greg King, an associate professor at Augustana Campus and a co-author of the study.
Understanding those motivating factors can help efforts to spur the growth and protection of urban forests in smaller cities, he adds, noting that residents play a vital part in ensuring their communities have ample tree cover.
"To achieve tree cover goals, we need to plant on both public and private lands — residents' decisions impact overall benefits to their neighbourhood and city."
"An urban island surrounded by rural land use"
Nuances between large and small urban centres, such as Camrose and its nearest major neighbour, Edmonton, are also important to consider, says co-author Luke Beattie, who was involved with the study as an undergraduate researcher and now holds a bachelor of arts in sustainability studies.
For example, cultural differences can exist between large and smaller, rural-based cities, he says.
"Camrose is surrounded by agricultural land, and that plays into how residents think about the city, because it's like an urban island surrounded by rural land use. This rurality might affect people's tree planting and removal differently than in larger cities that don't have that influence."
The survey revealed that, on average, Camrose residents felt good about having trees on their property. Most respondents liked having a wide variety of trees, larger trees and a greater number of trees.
Most did not see their trees as a nuisance, likely viewing them as an asset rather than a liability. These feelings and preferences are shaped by respondents' experiences with trees and can shape their decisions about keeping or planting more, King notes.
"If, for example, every fall you had to rake or clear leaves out of the gutters, you might have a more negative perspective about a tree. Whereas if they really liked reading in their backyard under the shade of a tree, they might be more inclined to retain that tree or plant another one."
Growing an urban canopy
As a result of their positive feelings and preferences toward trees, residents were helping to grow Camrose's overall canopy, the survey showed. Across the city, each person had planted an average of six trees and removed three in their yards, for a net gain of three trees, since moving into their current home.
The study also found that about 61 per cent of survey respondents reported a high level of knowledge about trees, which could reflect a greater ability to make decisions about planting and removing certain types in their yards.
"Having a good grasp of what species they have translates into knowing what they want out of their trees,like removing some types to instead plant trees that attract pollinators," Beattie notes.
Results also revealed that residents being older, living at their property longer and owning their home were positively linked to tree net gain.
"If you own your property, you have more agency to plant trees, and then the longer you've lived there, the more opportunity you have just to plant trees," Beattie notes.
"And then if you're older, maybe you have time for doing yard work. And if you spend more time in your yard, you'll want to plant more trees."
Planting trees was also more about beauty and the bottom line than environmental benefits, the research indicated.
Of the residents surveyed, 75 per cent believed trees increased the appeal of their yards and 60 per cent felt having trees increased their property value, "but there was no strong connection between attitudes toward the environment and tree planting or removal," King says.
The study's findings can help smaller cities branch out their messaging in public awareness campaigns that encourage residents to plant and keep trees on their property, the researchers suggest.
Messaging should include mentioning potential economic benefits along with environmental advantages that are commonly part of such promotions, King says.
"Cities can tailor their communication to include both. Larger-scale environmental benefits resonate with some people, but we do need to talk to people about things like, 'Hey, this tree will look great in this spot, you have a great yard for this, if properly cared for, it will have this benefit to your potential property value.'"
"It expands the audience, and potentially, smaller cities have more people who may respond to that more personal messaging than larger cities."
Younger residents also need to be a target audience, Beattie says.
"They're people who haven't lived on their property as long, or people who don't own homes — maybe they rent instead — and they aren't planting as much. So that tells us, when we're doing engagement campaigns on urban forests, we should be looking to connect with them."
Though it focused solely on Camrose, the study could aid other small municipalities in shaping future management for sustaining their urban forests, King suggests.
"By aligning city policies with the attitudes and behaviours of residents, we can achieve better outcomes."
The study's co-authors include Glen Hvenegaard, professor of environmental science at Augustana Campus. The research was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Internal Grant through the Augustana Campus Research Committee.
