Academic Research

Tree cover change dynamics in global tree-planting plots

Holl Restoration Ecology Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz

Summary

Global organizations have lofty goals to afforest, reforest, or restore thousands to hundreds of thousands of hectares worldwide. Tree-planting intermediary organizations support these efforts by aggregating funding, selecting projects for support, and routing funding to these projects; assessing land cover changes in these organizations’ project areas is critical for monitoring tree-planting project outcomes. We used remote sensing techniques with an emphasis on high-resolution land use land cover (LULC) data to evaluate changes in tree cover in these organizations’ project areas. Most frequently, project areas demonstrated high tree coverage at project outset and maintained high tree coverage over project lifetimes. Less frequently, areas increased in tree coverage between project outset and 2024; in some instances, short term tree cover increases (within the first three years) were subsequently reversed. Future analyses would benefit from increased clarity on vocabulary and terminology used to describe tree-growing interventions; land use and land cover conditions before, during, and after project periods; and robust mixed-methods approaches incorporating land use change dynamics.

Contributions

Spatial data collection and management, methods development, writing, editing

Authors (in preparation)

Schubert, S. C., Seither, C. J. P. & Holl, K. D. 

Moving from principles to practice: A comprehensive survey of global reforestation leaders

Holl Restoration Ecology Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz

Summary

Tree planting initiatives have faced criticism for not achieving stated goals, or worse, contributing to negative ecological and social outcomes. Recent scholarship establishes best practices for tree planting and reforestation initiatives to ensure positive project outcomes; we assessed global reforestation organizations’ adoption of these best practices in their ongoing projects. We administered a digital survey and reviewed websites of 130 tree planting intermediary organizations to assess their performance against multidimensional Financial, Social, Ecological, and Permanence axes. We observed significant variation in data quality and availability between survey responses and public websites. Additionally, while reporting on monitoring protocols was generally available, few organizations reach the highest standards of long-term monitoring. Our results illustrate the ongoing need to advocate that organizations adopt ever-improving practices in their reforestation and tree-planting initiatives to ensure projects secure positive ecological and social outcomes.

Contributions

Methods development, data collection and processing, drafting and editing

Authors (in preparation)

Schubert, S. C.,  Seither, C. J. P., Berman, O., Kapal, A. &  Holl, K. D.

Advances and shortfalls in applying best practices to global tree-growing efforts

Holl Restoration Ecology Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz

Abstract

As global tree-growing efforts have escalated in the past decade, copious failures and unintended consequences have prompted many reforestation best practices guidelines. The extent to which organizations have integrated these ecological and socioeconomic recommendations, however, remains uncertain. We reviewed websites of 99 intermediary organizations that promote and fund tree-growing projects to determine how well they report following best practices. Nearly half the organizations stated tree or area planting targets, but only 25% had measurable, time-bound objectives. Most organizations discussed the benefits local communities would receive from trees, but only 38% reported measures of these outcomes. Nonprofit organizations with greater prior experience converged more closely on best practices, and their level of scientific expertise was positively associated with clearer project selection standards. Although many tree-growing organizations acknowledge the importance of clear goals, local community involvement, and monitoring, our results raise questions regarding whether long-term benefits are being achieved and emphasize the need for stronger public accountability standards.

Contributions

Data collection, drafting and editing support

Citation

Schubert, S. C.,  Battaglia, K. E.,  Blebea, C. N.,  Seither, C. J. P.,  Wehr, H. L., &  Holl, K. D. (2024).  Advances and shortfalls in applying best practices to global tree-growing efforts. Conservation Letters,  17, e13002. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13002

Projects

Summary

Native birds and their habitat, southwestern US grasslands, face climatic and anthropogenic threats. Oaks and Prairies Joint Ventures (OPJV) aims to protect these native birds through a collection of conservation and restoration activities throughout Texas and Oklahoma; our team implemented remote sensing and machine learning technologies to assist OPJV in their ongoing efforts by (1) assessing change in climatic conditions over time, (2) predicting vegetation conditions across their working area, and (3) evaluating plot-scale grassland plant community responses to prescribed burning and shrub management strategies.

As a team, we produced a collection of time series spatial data products, a random forest model to predict vegetation conditions, a replicable ArcGIS Pro tutorial, a scientific poster, technical paper, and presentation materials.

Remote sensing and machine learning for grassland restoration and native bird conservation in TX and OK

NASA Earth Sciences DEVELOP Program, Texas Tech University

Contributions

Spatial data processing, management and analysis

Stakeholder engagement and relationship building

Public materials

Forthcoming