Storms Over The Urban ForestSecond Edition 1994Planning, Responding, and Regreening-
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By: | |
| Lisa L. Burban | John W. Andresen |
| USDA Forest Service | University of Illinois |
| Northeastern Area | Department of Forestry |
| Cooperators: | |
| USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area | |
| USDA Forest Service, Southern Region | |
| University of Illinois, Department of Forestry | |
| Illinois Department of Conservation, Division of Forest Resources | |
| Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Forestry | |
When a disaster such as a wind or ice storm strikes a municipality, it causes the people and government officials to take actions to ensure survival and safety of its citizens. Downed trees, power lines and wrecked property are major hindrances in getting help to injured people. The beautiful shade tree, now severely damaged, is a hazard that has to be removed in a hurry to get emergency vehicles through the city.
Only after several days and weeks of clean up does the impact of the damage and loss of trees become a stark reality. The urban forest we all had taken for granted is mostly gone or severely damaged. A lot of time and money has been spent on these trees just to clean them up. The few trees that remain have been cut and topped so they look like telephone poles with stubs sticking out, with little hope of their recovery. This is when people start looking at the loss of their urban forest and all of its benefits that they had enjoyed. Sadly, it is almost too late to help the situation. It would have been better to have taken action to protect these trees before the storm, including an action plan for treatment of these trees if a disaster does take place.
In a community that does not have a tree board or park department to direct the management of city trees, its movement to correct the situation may be slow and unorganized. If a good forestry program had been in place before the storm, fewer mistakes in storm damage clean up and damaged tree care would have occurred. There could have been fewer hazards, not only from violent weather events, but also from weak over-mature trees, which are those most subject to windfall and breakage. Emergency crews of tree trimmers and removers would have had clear directions on how to get the work done without causing added damage to the trees. Also, a contingency policy and funds for replanting would have been available.
State and Federal Emergency Management Agencies stand ready to help in a disaster situation; however, they are not prepared to direct proper tree care for the community. Each city has to take this responsibility. Storms Over the Urban Forest is the handbook to help communities plan, respond and regreen their town besieged by a natural disaster.
Gerald L. Jensen
Division of Forestry
Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources
Every year, across the country, we experience natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, ice storms and hurricanes. 1993 was a particularly devastating year due to an almost continuous string of natural disasters. Some of the larger disasters included a record breaking snow storm on the east coast early in the year, unprecedented summer flooding in the Midwest, and fall fires in the foothills of southern California.
Many community's ability to respond to these disasters was hampered by the lack of prior planning. Through prior planning many of these communities could have reduced the severity of these disasters and improved their response and recovery processes.
In 1990, the Illinois Division of Forest Resources became involved in the replanting and regreening of communities in northeastern Illinois damaged by a series of tornados. During this "tornado releaf" process, it became clear that the communities lacked a single source of information that would have enabled them to both develop and implement disaster action plans. This need led to the development of Storms Over The Urban Forest.
The first edition of Storms Over The Urban Forest was the result of a cooperative effort between the Illinois Department of Conservation, United States Forest Service, University of Illinois, and "Plant Illinois-A Growing Concern." This second edition brings in two additional cooperators, United States Forest Service and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The manual provides communities with information that can be used to plan for natural disasters before the fact and mitigate the resulting damage.
A limited number of copies of this manual were printed. Permission is granted to copy any or all portions of this manual. Communities across this nation will benefit from the information included in this manual. I would hope that you would share the information it contains with other community leaders.
Stewart Pequignot, Chief
Division of Forest
Resources
Illinois Department of Conservation
On November 8, 1990, a group of concerned citizens, local
civic leaders, and representatives of state and federal agencies met at Indian
Trail Junior High School in Plainfield, Illinois to determine the best course
of action to help area communities recover from the devastating tornado of
August 28, 1990. This violent windstorm and tornado raged along a 16.4 mile
path through Kane, Kendall, and Will Counties, causing over $200 million in
damage. Twenty-nine people lost their lives and four thousand trees were
destroyed. Seven communities and surrounding areas were impacted, with
Plainfield bearing the brunt of the tornado.
As a result of the public meeting at Indian Trail School, Operation Tornado ReLeaf was conceived. Four urban forestry oriented objectives were proposed:
By the end of 1993, all four objectives were realized. Objective 1 led to the composition of the Storms Over the Urban Forest (SOTUF) natural disaster mitigation manual. Meg Bushnell, author of SOTUF's Chapter 7, describes a case study of the area impacted by the August 28, 1990 tornado, and efforts to releaf the area by the private sector. This Chapter also shows the response to Objective 2 and Objective 3. Illinois Division of Forest Resources District Forester, Tom Gargrave, accomplished Objective 4. Joliet, Oswego, Plainfield and Plano, were certified as Tree City USA communities in 1992 and 1993. Joliet also achieved a Tree City USA Growth Award in 1992.
As public official during the time, I need to acknowledge the enormous efforts of Meg Bushnell, Tom Gargrave, John Andresen, and Lisa Burban for their help and encouragement. Without their sustained support, the "releafing" of the communities would have taken much longer and would have been a more painful process.
As further reinforcement of Operation Tornado ReLeaf's primary goal to aid northeastern Illinois cities and villages to re-establish natural disaster-ravaged urban forests, the University of Illinois Department of Forestry developed a series of eight planning reports in January of 1992. These reports were concerned with factors and methodology which influenced the recovery of urban forest vegetation following a natural disaster. All of the tornado impacted communities, including Plainfield, were studied.
In support of Tom Gargrave's Tree City USA success, and in recognition of multiple urban forestry benefits, including the recovery of trees from natural disasters, I strongly advocate that all municipalities seek certification credentials provided by the National Arbor Day Foundation, sponsor of the Tree City USA program. If communities do not qualify at this time, they should contact their local district forester for assistance.
Mary T. Latta
Former Village President
Village of Plainfield, Illinois
Natural disasters which can occur in the United States include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and related high-velocity winds, as well as ice storms. Preparing for these natural disasters, which strike urban forests in large cities and small communities, should involve the cooperative effort of a wide array of municipal agencies, private arboricultural companies, utilities, and volunteers. Principles and methods determining how to mitigate or minimize the impact of natural disasters are critical in determining the capability of communities to respond. Similarly, replanting the uprooted urban forest also requires a closely coordinated effort of key civic leaders, elected officials, community foresters, and managers of municipal agencies. This manual is intended to assist community leaders and governmental agencies to prepare for natural disasters, respond appropriately when these natural disasters occur, and recover from the subsequent loss of vegetation.
For urban foresters, mitigation involves efforts to prevent or minimize damage or loss of trees in areas affected by natural disasters. The three chronological emergency action phases for natural disasters involve:
Preparation--planning and warning activities
Response--immediate activity during and after natural
disasters
Recovery--activities to regain or improve upon
pre-disaster conditions
A flexible action plan must be created as part of the preparation for natural disasters. This plan is a critical step. Many activities can be accomplished prior to a natural disaster. These can reduce the severity of its impact. Technical and practical training helps prepare professionals and lay persons for rapid and efficient mobilization. Communities must recognize that disaster damage often exceeds what can be handled by municipal workers. Thus, a list of private and public cooperators should be developed and kept up-to-date. One of the most important preparation activities is the proper planting and maintenance of the urban forest. If trees are planted improperly, or in the wrong site, and if trees are not given adequate care, they may sustain greater damage than trees that are properly planted and cared for.
Identification of an effective early warning system for natural disasters is essential. Three to five hours of lead time before severe weather strikes can be gained using information from the National Weather Service, consulting meteorological firms, TV weather channels, or local municipal police departments.
Small-sized communities differ from medium- to large-sized communities in that they usually do not administer a public works department or municipal tree program. Unfortunately, for many small communities, natural disasters may often be poorly managed for lack of planning and preparation. Fortunately for these communities, assistance is often available through expert tree services, utility companies, and other communities. Medium- and large-sized communities usually have a public works department, but may or may not have a municipal tree program. Two examples of mitigation plans, one for medium-sized communities and one for large-sized communities, are presented in detail in this publication.
After a natural disasters has occurred, a variety of community replanting or regreening opportunities exist. Key players to regreening include: volunteers, community leaders, elected officials, as well as extension service experts, urban foresters, state and local natural resource professionals, consulting foresters, private tree care firms, and state and national professional organizations. It is critical that regreening efforts focus on planting the right tree in the right location.
National awards such as Tree City USA and the Tree City Growth Award encourage communities to manage their urban forest to maintain its health, beauty and safety. State and local awards are often also available. Recognition at all levels (national, state, and local) for the community and its citizens is an essential element to maintaining urban forestry interest and support.
When working with state and federal disaster relief organizations, local officials must understand the response and recovery process. Initial activities are emphasized at the local level. If additional assistance is needed, local authorities will contact State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) officials to have the impacted area declared as a disaster. If necessary, SEMA officials may contact Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials for federal disaster declaration. For communities seeking financial assistance for tree-related costs, it is critical that these communities show a commitment to managing their tree resources. Also vital, is a tree inventory that includes statistics on tree values.
A case study of the August 1990 tornado that struck several northeastern Illinois communities discusses initial response activities, including the development of a Tornado ReLeaf organization, public education opportunities, fund raising, and assistance activities. The effort to regreen these communities was a public and private partnership. As such, regreening activities were completed on public right-of-ways, as well as on private lands.
Insights from Hurricane Andrew illustrate how devastating a natural disaster can be to a highly urbanized area. Much of the hurricane related damage, unfortunately, was the result of poorly located trees, poor species selection and improper maintenance.
The final two chapters of this mitigation document focus on technical resources and sources for additional information and assistance. Mitigation resources include technical references, volunteer resources, natural resources organizations (public and private), a literature review, a bibliography, a literature cited section, and a number of relevant documents.
Communal cooperation throughout the Northeastern United States provided a wealth of support to generate this natural disaster mitigation manual. At the federal level, Area Director Michael T. Rains of the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry, was instrumental in recommending the preparation of our initial "Managing the urban forest to mitigate natural disasters." Retired Illinois State Forester Allan S. Mickelson provided continual encouragement and fiscal support from start to finish. And at the University of Illinois, Dr. Gary L. Rolfe, Head of the Department of Forestry, and his Administrative Aide, Joyce Canaday, coordinated and managed the project. Dr. Patrick Weicherding, Extension Specialist, Urban and Community Forestry, provided valuable editorial assistance.
Chapter 7 of this manual, "Tornado ReLeaf--A Case Study," was written by Mary B. Bushnell, Assistant to the Director, Illinois Department of Conservation. This chapter provided a case study describing the role of not-for-profit organizations. Dr. Reinee Hildebrandt, Urban Conservation Programs Administrator for the Illinois Department of Conservation, provided a number of manuscript enhancements. District Forester Tom Gargrave, also of the Department of Conservation, deserves the credit for the original thoughts of the Operation Tornado ReLeaf concept which led to this mitigation manual. Our sincere thanks go to Ken Ottman and his able staff, as well as Mike Stankovich, who shared their disaster plans for use as models in our manual.
Chapter 8 of this manual,"Notes from Hurricane Andrew," was written by Gene Dempsey, Senior Forester with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. We sincerely appreciate Gene's assistance with the writing and editing of the Second Edition and his contributions of the many excellent photographs throughout the document.
Evolution of the mitigation manual from the local municipal level to the regional plateau began with the inspiration of Plainfield, Illinois' Mayor, Mary T. Latta. Also at this fundamental level, Plainfield Township Supervisor Doug Almon supplied field office space and secretarial services. Additionally acknowledged is the cooperation extended by the many community mayors and village presidents, as well as forest and park district supervisors, who had experienced natural disasters.
The Second Edition of Storms Over the Urban Forest was made possible through cooperative support from the USDA Forest Service's Northeastern Area and Southern Region. We wish to especially acknowledge and thank Ed Made of the Southern Region for his advice and support throughout the revision process.
We appreciate the courtesy of Dr. Walter A. Robinson, Associate Professor of Meteorology at the University of Illinois, for providing us with the cover's photographs. We also wish to thank the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service for the many photographs used throughout the document.
The following authors and organizations graciously permitted us to include their papers and publications as appendix material: The National Arbor Day Foundation; American Forests; the National Arborist Association; the International Society of Arboriculture; the Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee, Community Outreach Task Force; and the USDA Forest Service; Northeastern Area,
Without the word processing skills of Mrs. Lorene Bier, hundreds of pages of hand-scribbled notes would still be in rough form. Funding for the field studies and publication of this mitigation manual were provided by the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry; the Illinois Department of Conservation, Division of Forest Resources; the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station's project 10-664; and the University of Illinois, Department of Forestry.
A very special thank you to the efforts of Kathy Anderson, Program Assistant with the USDA Forest Service's Northeastern Area St. Paul Field Office. Kathy's tremendous support, innovative ideas, and constant enthusiasm allowed us to reach the light at the end of the tunnel in producing our Second Edition.