The City of Baltimore has announced plans to increase tree canopy cover from the current 20 percent to about 40 percent. Research from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) LTER contributed to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' (DNR's) new policy for forestry and water quality issues in urban areas. Based upon that change, Maryland DNR encouraged cities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to adopt an urban tree canopy goal. At this juncture, BES has helped the city and state to assess the existing land available for urban tree canopy using high-resolution data from state, city, and BES sources. Through this process BES assisted in formulating the goal that was announced in March 2006.
BES anticipates involvement in writing the plan that will be implemented, including data, data analysis, application of research findings, formulation of protocols for monitoring and evaluation and, over the next 30 years, also monitoring and evaluating the social and ecological benefits and costs associated with the plan. Baltimore County is beginning this process in summer 2006 and BES expects to collaborate with them as well.
We believe this is an example of the benefits of a long term experiment on a large scale, interdisciplinary research, links to policy and management and, ultimately, benefits to society. You can read more about this story in the Baltimore Sun at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.canopy30mar30,0,6530633.story?coll=bal-local-headlines.