Urban forestry citizen science and community-based stewardship in Birmingham - the UK's second largest city

As metropolitan regions of Europe develop pathways to climate resilience, sustainable urban forests are crucial to help cities adapt to climate hazards such as surface water flooding and extreme heat. Generally, the larger a tree canopy, the greater the ecosystem services provided; however, trees must first survive their ‘early years’ and grow big before they can begin delivering these well-documented ecosystem services. The city of Birmingham, UK, is a Biophilic City (2014), a Tree City of World (since 2019) and the first UK city to adopt an ‘Urban Forest Master Plan.’ Birmingham has a comprehensive, geospatially mapped street tree inventory, which has facilitated an ambitious large-scale, long-term project since 2020 between Birmingham TreePeople (a Non-Governmental Organisation), the University of Birmingham, and Birmingham City Council. This citizen science-led research explores i) tree establishment data for street trees 3-,5- and 9-years after planting and ii) how strong links between trees, people, and communities can be achieved through community-stewardship. The methodological approach to date has required carefully trained volunteers, who have surveyed over 3000 street trees that were planted between 2015 and 2020 across Birmingham. The ‘Planted Tree Re-Inventory Protocol’ (Vogt et al, 2014) is used, resulting in detailed information about each surveyed tree - including measurements of tree growth, health and social-ecological growing conditions. Volunteers also provide some ‘tender loving care’ (stewardship) to each surveyed tree such as removing or readjusting any tree protection (tree stakes and ties), and they actively engage with local residents. Initial results will be shared including tree mortality rates and lessons learnt from working with volunteers on the project.