![]() So, we work with these neighbors and others to plant rain and hardy native trees and understory plants and then steward those plantings. Individual citizens sometimes say they don’t have the skill, physical ability, or knowledge to plant and care for a tree. We are often told the city does not have the money to plant and maintain enough vegetation to truly shade our neighborhoods. Neighborhood Rain, Tree, & Understory Plantings.Neighborhood forestry, as we advocate, regrows the soil-carbon-sponge and enhances the hydrologic cycle, improving the climate for all.įor more on how we plant rain, forests, and the soil-carbon-sponge-and how you can do likewise-see… Reproduced with permission from “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2, 2nd Edition” Adapted from “Recognizing the Soil Sponge” by Peter Donovan,. The condition of the soil-carbon-sponge controls the fate of rainfall and affects climate. Which world do you want to live in? The one on the left or the right? And that cycle, coupled with the soil-carbon sponge, helps maintain a stable climate on our planet such that the amount of heat released to space is equal to incoming heat from the sun-though our planet has been holding onto more heat than it releases since about 1750 due to human-influenced climate change, and the destruction of the soil-carbon sponge.” According to climate scientist and soil microbiologist Walter Jehne, the vast majority of the heat dynamics and hydrologic cooling on Earth is governed by our planet’s hydrologic cycle. “There is a powerful, beneficial partnership between the planet’s hydrologic cycle circulating life-giving water and the carbon-based, soil-building, and carbon-cycling life in the soil-known as the s oil-carbon sponge. ![]() The following is reproduced with permission from “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2, 2nd Edition” by Brad Lancaster… Our local actions have global consequences. After planting rain and vegetation.īlue arrows denote stormwater flow into water-harvesting, vegetated basins. Hot, barren, and exposed public walkway.īlue arrows denote stormwater flow lost to the street. ![]() Reproduced with permission from “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2, 2nd Edition” by Brad Lancaster. Vibrant public forest harvesting street runoff to grow shade for the public walkway and street. Before planting rain and vegetation.īarren public right-of-way draining stormwater to the street 1994. This practice also reduces downstream flooding, naturally filters pollutants, and helps recharge our groundwater. Stormwater running off the streets in turn becomes a free irrigation source for the forest by directing the water to the street-side plantings via curb cuts and curb cores. Tucson is the third fastest warming city in the U.S., but we can reduce urban temperatures by over 10˚ F degrees in the shade of native vegetation.īy planting the rain and multi-use native vegetation, hot and exposed public rights-of-ways can become cool and shaded, food-producing public forests that shelter and enhance public walkways and streets (see figures 2A, B and figures 3A, B). Planting rain, plants, & community capacity.Photo: Brad Lancaster For more of what we do, and you can too-see links below or scroll Harvesting from now-grown native food plants in traffic circle. Planting native food plants in traffic circle. Planting rain in newly installed neighborhood traffic circle. Since 1996 we’ve collaborated with our neighbors to plant over 1,600 native food- and medicine-bearing native trees and many hundreds of multi-use native understory plants (the plants growing under the overstory or canopy of the trees).Īnd we’ve collaborated to plant over a million gallons of stormwater annually in the neighborhood’s public rights-of-ways via water-harvesting earthworks or rain gardens that freely irrigate these plantings while also reducing downstream flooding. See here for the Neighborhood Foresters’ aims & goals. And we hope that it inspires and aids neighbor- and neighborhood-led forestry efforts everywhere. It’s an invitation for anyone to participate-see our Events, Sign Up, and Be A Neighborhood Forester pages. ![]() But it is meant as a resource for anyone, any neighborhood and their efforts in growing more reciprocal life. This site focuses on the efforts of the Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Foresters in Tucson, Arizona.
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