Oral Abstract Details

Author(s):
Yaoqi Zhang, Bin Zheng

Affiliation:
School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University

Presentation Type:
Oral

Topic Area:
Urban forestry and urban agriculture

Abstract Text:
While evidence shows that urban trees are greatly demanded, financial support and supply of urban trees does not match the growing demand. This is not surprise we all demand for more if not costs or lower costs. Another potential cause is the nature of public goods of urban trees: everyone like the other people to provide the services. In contrast with many studies that primarily focused on the demand side, this study is to investigate from both demand and supply and examine how the disparity between demand for and supply of the urban trees from a citizen survey conducted in Alabama. We mailed our questionnaires to 3500 participants and received about 500 valid respondents. This paper summarized the major findings from this survey and examined the factors (demographic and geographical factors) affecting the demand and supply. The results will provide empirical evidence on institutional and policy recommendation for future urban forest development. While we must depend on government budgets for urban and community tree programs, we still need to explore our resources from private and corporate foundations, nonprofit organizations, local businesses and individual contributions, and in many cases, volunteer tree activists and businesses that provide in-kind services and goods.