Recent News

January 2025- Fischer's annual guest lecture and discussion- E555- Sustaining Urban Ecosystems

Burney Fischer annually gives a short lecture and then leads a discussion on urban patch dynamics and related topics to the O’Neil SPEA E555 course Sustaining Urban Ecosystems.  A three-page pre-session description of patch dynamics and a few associated articles are the prework for the students who then develop a discussion question that is submitted to the instructor ahead of time.  The presentation covers introductory thinking about urban patches – from both a social (neighborhoods) and ecological (urban forested patches) perspectives.  The presentation closes with a review of redlining and the Moxley and Fischer research paper “Historic HOLC Redlining in Indianapolis and the Legacy of Environmental Impacts.”  The discussion focuses on redlining and its ecological and social-ecological impacts on cities and as well as how urban greening nonprofits might address this long-standing legacy to improve the environmental condition and human health of those living in impacted areas. 

December 2024- Jess Vogt, former BUFRG graduate student, publishes major article in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry

Jess Vogt, Associate Professor at DePaul University and Lead for the Lab for Urban Forestry in the Anthropocene (LUFA) has published a major article “A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding Urban Forests as Social-Ecological Systems” in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2024. 50(6):427–469. 

The article first explains the logic of using frameworks and then reviews specific frameworks that  are applied within urban forestry.  It presents the urban forest social-ecological system (UFSES) framework. The UFSES framework specifies five first-tier factors: 1) the Characteristics of Trees in the Urban Forest (T); 2) the Surrounding Growing Environment (E); 3) Management & Institutions (M); and 4) Characteristics of the Human Community (H); which influence 5) Urban Forest Outcomes (O). A detailed set of second-, third-, and fourth-tier variables nested within these factors are presented in tables within the paper. The framework should foster holistic systems thinking in a systematic yet flexible way; provide a working draft of a common language for thinking about and studying urban forest systems; and enable comparative case research.

Within the paper Jess gives credit to her experiences at Indiana University as a graduate student with the following:

“ The first version of the urban forest SES perspective was published while I was in graduate school conducting research on planted trees with fellow Ph.D. student Sarah Mincey under the guidance of our advisor Dr. Burney Fischer with the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG) at the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University. The BUFRG urban forest SES perspective (SES1 in Table 2) (Vogt and Fischer 2014) was an explicit combination of the Ostrom SES (Ostrom 2009) (see also Appendix A), Clark et al. (1997) (see also Appendix B), and an understanding of tree physiology (Kozlowski and Pallardy 1997). The SES1 perspective was applied quantitatively to data collected on trees planted by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc., revealing that the full complex SES variables predicted tree outcomes (survival and growth) better than models that excluded any of the SES components (Vogt et al. 2015d).”

An example from the article is the figure on the left, A simple version of the urban forest social-ecological systems (UFSES) framework, which should be recognizable by everyone associated with BUFRG and the Ostrom Workshop.

Summer 2024- Extending the Knowledge Commons Concept to MN Lakes with Dr. Burney Fischer

The May meeting of the Hubbard County Coalition of Lake Associations (HCCOLA) monthly Board meeting featured Burney Fischer giving a talk “Exploring the Knowledge Commons of Lakes for Hubbard County.”  The HCCOLA has 31 Lake Associations and for their monthly board meetings, which are open to the public, they generally host an educational speaker for the first hour of the meeting.  During conversation with HCCOLA Executive Committee over this past winter discussing lakes as commons Burney was asked to expand on the ‘commons idea’ to expand thinking on how lakes may be managed. Please scroll down to read the abstract, and a white paper is linked here.

In the Great Lakes states it is common for lakeshore residents to self-organize into a lake association, particularly in the time of a perceived crisis. Generally, the crisis passes after a couple of years, but the lake association continues to function. These lake associations could be thought of as the start of collective action to governing a lake as a common but the terminology is unfamiliar and rarely embraced by the residents. In fact, the uneasiness with the term governing is strong. Given this disregard for the practice of governanceit is interesting how much data about their lakes is accumulated over time and how this data becomes information and shared knowledge that is incorporated into decision-making about the lakes by the lake association, lake visitors, and local/state government. The presentation and draft paper are a first attempt to present to a coalition of lake associations how they influence the co-management of their lakes between lake associations, various government agencies and other interested partners through the wide array of knowledge they create and/or have access to.

February 2024-Full report released of tree planting survey of Bloomington residents

The analysis and write-up of the results of the post-planting survey of Bloomington residents has been completed. People living in neighborhoods selected for the first round of tree planting funded by the Bicentennial Bond were invited by mail to complete surveys reflecting their attitudes on and knowledge about urban forestry in Bloomington. The results are informative and can be found in the report linked here. The survey project will continue with a pre-planting survey of residents living in the newest selection of neighborhoods, expected during late summer/early fall 2024. 

November 2023- BUFRG researchers partner with City of Bloomington on post-tree planting survey

BUFRG researchers Stephanie Freeman-Day and Burney Fischer are in a collaboration with Bloomington Urban Forester Haskell Smith to conduct pre- and post-tree planting surveys of Bloomington residents living in neighborhoods receiving trees as part of the City's Bicentennial Bond Tree Planting Project. They just recently received and analyzed results of the post-planting survey for the first phase of the project. The pre-planting survey was conducted in early 2022 with results described in the June update here. Please scroll down to read the Executive Summary included in the Survey Report.

Executive Summary

The City of Bloomington recently finished a large-scale, bond-funded tree planting over four planting areas. The tree planting survey, a partnership between the city and the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG), was given to residents in neighborhoods receiving trees, both before and after the trees were planted. This report describes the findings from the second survey that was sent after the plantings were complete. Surveys were sent to 311 houses, with 65 filled out and returned. With this response rate of over 20%, it is reasonable to believe that Bloomington residents are interested in the plantings and in urban forestry in their city.

Overall, respondents are positive about the plantings. 58% said they would support or participate in another planting in their neighborhood. 63% said projects such as the Bicentennial Plantings are a good use of this funding. When asked if their neighborhood could use more trees, answers varied by planting area. The Detailed Report, below, further delineates these differences. With regards to questions related to how the plantings affected their neighborhood, in general, respondents did see an impact. 65% of respondents said the plantings improved their neighborhood. 63% said they learned more about the city’s urban forestry program.

When asked about their interests in urban forestry practice and programming, answers were diverse and included topics like planting, pruning, invasive trees, native trees, fruit trees, and questions about how trees can be included in urban green infrastructure (i.e., rain gardens, flooding prevention, and urban heat island reduction). Finally, respondents were given a chance to pass along any comments or questions to the urban forester. These comments cover a variety of topics and add important insights from the Bloomington community. This survey, in both its pre-planting and post-planting forms, will be repeated in future phases of the planting project. Each iteration will help the city’s urban forestry department and BUFRG to be more informed about city residents’ attitudes, knowledge, and opinions about urban forestry in Bloomington.

October 2023- BUFRG researcher Gretchen Luchauer publishes paper in special issue of Sustainability

Luchauer’s work, Urban Stream Corridors and Forest Patches- The Connections: A Case Study of Bloomington Indiana, coauthored by Freeman-Day and Fischer, was accepted for inclusion in the journal Sustainability’s special issue, “Forward Thinking Urban Forest Management for Sustainable Cities”. The paper can be viewed here along with other papers included in the special issue. Scroll down to view the abstract.

ABSTRACT: Streams and forests are ecosystems connected through hydrology, but few studies have looked at the connectivity between streams and forests in the context of urban development. City-made decisions affect connections between streams and forests by isolating both ecosystems. Streams are often channelized or buried to increase potential development areas. Forests often become fragmented and may be removed unless protected. Historical choices in land usage affect the sites and sizes of current urban streams, forests, and development. This affects the distribution of impervious surfaces, which separates streams from forests. Despite these barriers to stream/forest interactions, cities can experience stream/forest connectivity. Seven Bloomington watersheds are ranked on their proportions of buried streams, channelized streams, forested hydrology, forested streams, urban forest patch cover, and impervious surface cover, along with the historical presence of urbanization. Watersheds demonstrate stream/forest connectivity, with five watersheds containing 50% or greater forested stream segments. Bloomington canopy cover reduces stormwater runoff by approximately 127 kiloliters per year. These forested areas reduce flooding, reduce nutrient loading, and reduce stream conditions associated with urban stream syndrome. Understanding urban stream/forest connectivity can improve green infrastructure design and green space design, which improve urban resilience and better connect residents to the environment.

July 2023- Burney Fischer’s urban silviculture column appears in CanopyBloomington newsletter

CanopyBloomington is a nonprofit working with Bloomington residents to increase tree canopy coverage throughout the city of Bloomington and to engage area residents in tree stewardship. Their June 2023 newsletter includes Fischer’s editorial, aimed at increasing public knowledge about concepts of urban silviculture and how its practices can be applied to increase overall urban forest resilience. The entire editorial can also be viewed on the CanopyBloomington blog.

May 2023, part two- “BUFRG Article for Indiana Arborist Association Newsletter by BC Fischer”

See article “A New Frontier for Arborist: Urban Silviculture”

The Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG) has been asked over the years to clarify/explain new urban forestry concepts and ideas. Urban silviculture is a developing/new concept being talked about by urban foresters that arborists also need to understand. It is the adaption of the forestry practice of silviculture to urban natural forest areas, forested patches, or woodlots (hereafter urban forested patches). Silviculture is the theory and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, structure, and condition of forest stands to meet landowner objectives. Historically, it focuses on timber production and other economic and environmental benefits of forests.

By definition a forest stand is a contiguous community of trees sufficiently uniform in composition, structure, age, size-class(es), spatial arrangement, site quality, condition, or location to distinguish it from adjacent stands.Larger forests are collections of forest stands.

Urban silviculture differs from traditional silviculture practice. Urban forest patches are a key component of the tree canopy in cities but often overlooked by city leaders and decision-makers, and often lack formal management frameworks. One approach to addressing this deficiency may be to borrow from traditional forest management frameworks and practices. Although urban forested patches share similarities with rural forests, the impacts of urbanization on forest stand dynamics may require modification of these methods and in some cases development of novel silvicultural guidelines. The article goes on to explain urban silviculture thinking for managing both forest patches and more broadly the urban forest.

May 2023-BUFRG Indy Redlining Paper/Presentation Spurs Student to Explore Fort Wayne Redlining

Professor Fischer annually gives a guest lecture to O’Neill’s E555 Sustaining Urban Ecosystems graduate class that includes covering the 2020 BUFRG publication “Exploring the ecological legacy of redlining maps used by the Home Owner's Loan Corporation in Indianapolis: 80 years later.”  At the end of the presentation he highlights the other redlined Indiana cities (Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Muncie, South Bend, and Terre Haute) and encourages the students to explore one or more for a class project.  This spring O’Neill master’s student Mackenzie Hagedorn accepted the challenge, sought out advice from Professor Fischer, and for her GIS class explored the comparison of the change over time (2000-19) in NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) aggregated across each Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) score zone, hoping to investigate the relationship between HOLC grade and NDVI scores. Her final paper for the class “Redlining’s Impacts on Changes in NDVI Over Time in Ft. Wayne, Indiana” is here. Good work Mackenzie!

April 2023, part two-BUFRG researcher receives Research Grant from Ostrom Workshop

Stephanie Freeman-Day was excited to learn this month that she has been awarded a Research Grant of $3500 from the Ostrom Workshop for the year 2023-2024. The funding will support her work investigating urban forested patches in Indianapolis, the focus of her next dissertation chapter. The grant will cover salary for a master’s student as a Research Assistant, travel, and necessary equipment. Freeman-Day is also looking forward to continued collaboration with colleagues at the Workshop.

April 2023- BUFRG researcher Stephanie Freeman-Day to present at Ostrom Workshop Research Series

On April 19 at noon EDT, Freeman-Day will present her work on urban forested patches. She will discuss her manuscript in process, Urban forested patches as common-pool resources- key factors in successful governance for resilience and persistence. This piece is a future dissertation chapter and is theoretical in nature. The manuscript explores whether and in what cases urban forested patches may be common-pool resources, discusses governance practices of urban forested patches described in literature, and how the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) data collection tool might be modified for use in urban settings. The talk will take place in person at the Ostrom Workshop and is also available for viewing on Zoom. Details are here, along with a link to the manuscript for review.