Thursday, March 14: Lara Roman, "Landscape Legacies in Philly's Urban Forest"

About the Seminar

Urban forests are collections of trees in cities, towns,and suburbs, and the characteristics of these sylvan landscapes form over decades to centuries. This presentation will explore how Philadelphia’s urban forest got its current patterns of tree canopy cover and species composition, including the legacies of tree and park advocates, post-industrial population loss and associated disinvestment and disinvestment, as well as the enduring influence of city foresters, real estate developers, and the nursery trade. As we look to the future with ambitious management goals around canopy increases and species diversification, what lessons can we learn from the historical legacies in our inherited landscapes?

About the Speaker

Dr. Lara Roman is a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service. Her research centers on the temporal dynamics of urban forests, including tree mortality and growth, canopy cover change, historical legacies, species composition change, citizen science monitoring, and the factors constraining or enabling tree planting in diverse urban neighborhoods. These studies involve close collaborations with urban forestry professionals at municipalities and nonprofit organizations throughout the US, and her contributions to urban forestry practice were recognized with an Early-Career Scientist Award from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). She has led or coauthored over 50 publications, including a recent urban tree monitoring field guide that set the standard for longitudinal data collection of city trees. She received a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelors in Biology and Masters of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. When she is not measuring trees, she is baking or hiking with her husband and two young daughters.

Zoom Meeting Info: https://umd.zoom.us/s/93116060346
Meeting ID: 931 1606 0346
Passcode: 196182