The next morning, my friends returned to their house in Red Hook<\/a> to survey damages.\u00a0 I took the kids out for much-needed fresh air.\u00a0 The park was filled with similar groups of slightly bedraggled parents alongside energetic youngsters eager to return to outdoor play.<\/p>\n Things in the park had changed.\u00a0 It was strewn with tree limbs and there was significant damage to the play courts.\u00a0 Several old trees had crashed to the ground.\u00a0 Wrought-iron and chain link fencing was crushed. \u00a0As we followed the length of one downed tree, it led us out of the park and across Carroll Street where its upper trunk came to rest on a parked car and its canopy blocked the entrance to a stately brownstone.\u00a0 There were several people surveying the damage.\u00a0 I was struck by their silence. \u00a0Suddenly, one of my young charges squeezed through the line of onlookers, inspected the remains of what was once a fancy, red sports car, and proclaimed loudly, \u201cSheesh, I\u2019m glad that wasn\u2019t our car!\u201d\u00a0 Laughter ensued.\u00a0 We continued along what was clearly a spontaneous pilgrimage to all of the fallen trees in the area.\u00a0 Street trees.\u00a0 Park trees.<\/p>\n And then we come upon one of the most significant sites of tree loss.<\/p>\n At the base of this fallen giant, someone left a bouquet of flowers still encased in plastic wrap from a corner deli.\u00a0 I wondered whether this was the same bouquet I noticed over the weekend at the base of a temporary memorial in the park. \u00a0Perhaps the wind had blown this small offering around and another person had decidedly placed it at the base of the fallen park tree? \u00a0Or were the flowers meant only to commemorate the tree?<\/p>\n What seemed to matter most was the connectivity between the two events.\u00a0 Humans use nature as symbols\u2014typically rocks, trees and gardens\u2014to celebrate life and to mourn death.\u00a0 We convene around these symbols to mark the passage of time.\u00a0 Here, the tree, or perhaps this former union of rock, tree, and human<\/b>, was the object of our memorialization.<\/p>\n Amidst the grave destruction of human life and property, someone paused to mark the tree\u2019s death.<\/p>\n In many cases, \u2018nature\u2019 was the very thing that destroyed lives, homes and communities.\u00a0 Hurricanes. Ice Storms. Tornados. Floods.\u00a0 After each of these disturbances, there is recovery.\u00a0 Consider your own experience with such events.\u00a0 After the emergency responders have moved on, someone inevitably calls for the need to plant a tree, build a garden, or reclaim a piece of the shoreline. \u00a0Often, these humble expressions have served to remind us that the most vulnerable people often live in the most fragile places, made worse by social segregation and environmental degradation. \u00a0And even after \u2018not-so-natural\u2019 disasters, as in the case of the September 11th<\/sup> terrorist attacks, we\u2019ve witnessed hundreds of individuals and groups decide to plant trees and create living memorials<\/a> that stand not only in remembrance of those killed, but of the universal bonds between loved ones and communities.<\/p>\n For decades, we have seen this same, patterned response of emergent stewardship from people living in urban areas where populations have declined, housing has deteriorated, and employment has waned.\u00a0 In these forlorn places, we have seen the rise of vibrant community gardens, pocket parks, window boxes, tree lots and the like.\u00a0 It has been my experience as a researcher delving into human motivations of urban stewards, that many of these acts evoke the spirit of the forest.\u00a0 No matter how humble or small, these efforts loom large in the cycle of disturbance and resilience.<\/p>\n At some point along the path of recovery, we can lose sight of the importance of these actions. \u00a0We tend to focus on more instrumental or utilitarian questions such as: What can nature do for us? \u00a0How much is a tree worth? \u00a0How much can our wetlands and green streets absorb to save our homes and businesses from flooding?<\/p>\n This type of thinking is entirely reasonable when one realizes that yes, as humans we are part of nature.\u00a0 And, as humans, we are the only species that can rise to a level of abstraction to actually do anything about the long-term stewardship of our ecosystems.\u00a0 Thankfully, there are researchers, policy-makers and citizens working hard to help address these questions but we might consider there are some answers that are quite clear.<\/p>\n Dr. Nowak\u2019s i-Tree<\/a> model has been used by hundreds of cities throughout the world to quantify the environmental benefits of urban trees.\u00a0 These benefits include cooler air temperatures, air pollution removal, carbon storage and household energy savings.\u00a0 Mr. Swett, on the other hand, presents the urban tree as a \u2018keeper of the city\u2019s past.\u2019\u00a0 He depicts trees as part of the collective memory through a mix of personal stories, historical events and artistry.\u00a0 In one account of a massive Eastern Cottonwood<\/a> in a corner lot on Staten Island, the reader learns this tree has meaning that spans generations in the community. \u00a0The tree\u2019s great expanse triggers memories of a parent, a grandparent, a house.\u00a0 Memory continues to shape place and purpose. \u00a0I was reminded through these two distinct works how fortunate we are to have both artist and scientist value the urban forest, creating varied lenses to understand the essential relationship between rock, trees and humans.<\/p>\n As the audience awaited Dr. Nowak\u2019s top benefit of the urban forest with great anticipation\u2014(Hint: think temperature)\u2014I was pondering the number two<\/span> benefit of our urban trees: aesthetics and social benefits.\u00a0 Nearly all of the benefits, including temperature, had certain values listed.\u00a0 But why were aesthetics and social benefits marked ‘uncertain’? \u00a0Isn\u2019t this value universally known? \u00a0Hasn\u2019t it stood the test of time?<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s fair to surmise that when my neighborhood tree fell down in Carroll Park, residents did not immediately mourn the loss of a few dollars in home heating and cooling bills.\u00a0 Nor is it likely that they lamented its capacity to absorb water and carbon.\u00a0 It is not to suggest that these benefits are not important, but only to have us reflect on the idea that quantifying and qualifying the loss of this tree is dependent upon one\u2019s frame of reference.\u00a0 At the scale of an energetic five-year-old and a parent wanting to escape the confines of an average sized, two-bedroom, Brooklyn apartment, we mourn the shade this tree provided as children spent endless hours climbing the rock beneath its branches and playing with twigs near its base.\u00a0 We\u2019ll miss the cool haven it provided during the hot summer months.\u00a0 I know that many will recall the dappled sunlight and the brilliant, colorful turn of its leaves each fall. \u00a0And we will be forced to find another way for rock, tree and humans to interact to create a seemingly ordinary but decidedly sacred space.<\/p>\n In this way, we know<\/i><\/span> what this tree was worth in terms of social benefits to the surrounding community.<\/p>\n When we look to the long arc of history, we can understand social value even further.\u00a0 In the writings of our greatest philosophers and work of acclaimed artists of all kinds, we find inspiration from nature.\u00a0 In the speeches of world leaders, we hear language that acknowledges the interplay between nature and the quality of human life.\u00a0 In the actions of those engaged in social movements and acts of resistance, tree planting and reclaiming nature has become an effective \u2018weapon of the weak\u2019. \u00a0We tend to reduce these acts to gestures, moments, stories or fleeting shouts in the street.\u00a0 But they are more than that.\u00a0 When we discover the true value of urban nature it is social and it is transformative.\u00a0 It becomes the place from where we may set a course of change and discovery.<\/p>\n Do we need to quantify what exists before our own eyes?<\/p>\n We never experience same forest twice, as both people and place are constantly evolving. Carroll Park is different, post-storm. \u00a0My perception of it has changed, as I have changed, deepening my understanding of public space and human agency in the recovery process.\u00a0 Somehow park volunteers and managers did more than repair the park, but improved it as they created opportunities for the public to experience the reciprocity of nature. \u00a0In a dynamic and ever-changing urban environment, they sustained and strengthened a place of social meaning.<\/p>\n Not unlike our vast wilderness areas in the American West, our urban forests have much to teach us not only about disturbance, but about what constitutes resilience.<\/p>\n![\"CP](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CP-Tree-Root_1-560x420.jpg\")
![\"CP](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CP-Tree-Workers_2-e1367269656698-315x420.jpg\")
For decades, this stately little leaf linden tree<\/a> stood in a corner of the park, in a small gated area ringed by flowering shrubs.\u00a0 It stood in an area adjacent to basketball courts, benches and a water fountain.\u00a0 The tree\u2019s presence, next to a large boulder, invited a different experience for the park user: one that was more peaceful. \u00a0Young parents brought their toddlers here to quietly sit upon the shaded rock.\u00a0 Groups of school-aged children often scrambled atop the rock to share secrets or engage in free play in the slightly more subdued place.\u00a0 At dusk, teenagers typically positioned themselves here to look out for friends or spend time talking.\u00a0 Early risers have used this spot to stretch, meditate and greet the morning sun.<\/p>\n![\"CP](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CP-Tree-Looker_3-560x420.jpg\")
Working for the U.S. Forest Service<\/a>, I have become acutely aware of cycles of disturbance and resilience. \u00a0When a forest burns, there are winners and losers among the flora and fauna.\u00a0 Some creatures lose nests or burrows, feeding or breeding grounds.\u00a0 Others flourish as they gain space, light and air. \u00a0Disturbance is part of life in the woods and, ultimately, we never walk the same forest twice.\u00a0 The quality of resilience often depends upon time and conditions before any disturbance. \u00a0Having worked as an urban forester and now a researcher of the urban forest, I revere the way in which individuals and groups often embrace nature after a significant disturbance.<\/p>\n![\"CP](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CP-Tree-Stays_4-560x420.jpg\")
Earlier this spring, I had the honor to introduce a special lecture on \u2018The Benefits of Urban Trees,\u2019 by U.S. Forest Service scientist, Dr. David Nowak<\/a>.\u00a0 The lecture was part of a series to celebrate the release of a vibrant, new book of photography by Benjamin Swett, entitled \u201cNew York City of Trees<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 As I prepared my introduction, I found it remarkable that both scientist and artist had found profound, but strikingly different ways to value and understand the urban forest.<\/p>\n![\"CP](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CP-Tree-Play_5-560x420.jpg\")
Back in Carroll Park, there is an active group of park volunteers.\u00a0 The storm\u2019s aftermath has sparked a great deal of activity in terms of clean ups and repair.\u00a0 I\u2019m not certain who led the decision to leave a significant portion of our downed tree alongside the rock or even what exactly they had in mind in doing so.\u00a0 I do know that many of my neighbors have whispered in passing, \u201cI hope they leave it on the ground.\u201d\u00a0 In my own wanderings around the park, I\u2019ve observed a wide range of people, young and old, pause to admire the downed tree.\u00a0 Neighborhood children delight in touching it, climbing it and being in the company of this old friend.<\/p>\n