The term “urban forest” is often used to refer to all the trees within a city or town. But the urban forest is part of a much larger social-ecological landscape that supports a complex web of biodiversity, ecosystem services, values, and cultures.  The...

Diversification of urban forests is essential to enhance their resilience to future biotic
threats as well as those posed by a changing climate. Arboreta and botanic gardens
host a wide range of plant material that can be evaluated to...

Many are well aware of the inequitable distribution of trees in our urban areas.  Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities often face the greatest burden of heat, air pollution, and flooding all of which urban greening can help to...

Phytoremediation is a green technology that utilizes specialized trees to remediate contaminated soils across the rural to urban continuum. The trees stabilize pollutants in the soil, trap the contaminants in their biomass, and/or break down the...

As land-use patterns change over time, some pollinating insects continue to decline both in abundance and diversity. This is due, in part, to reductions in floral resources that provide sufficient nectar and pollen. Our overall goal is to help increase...

Despite the importance of bees, there is a gap in the public's understanding of them. To help address this gap, we developed the outreach tool Experience Bees, a series of simple learning and hands-on activities to teach community members about bees...

Crop wild relatives—the plant species closely related to agricultural crops—are valuable
genetic resources used by plant breeders to increase pest and disease resistance, stress
tolerance, nutritional profile, and other traits critical to...

The nation’s forest land area remains stable, but the composition and distribution of those forests is changing. The data supporting this assertion, along with other information on the status, condition, and trends in the nation’s forest resources, are...

Of the myriad gifts plants provide to humanity, food is among the most visible, as everyone needs to eat, every single day. Due to their universal importance, food and agricultural plants would appear to represent ideal entryways to address plant...

Indigenous communities rely extensively on plants for food, shelter, and medicine. It is still unknown, however, to what degree their survival is jeopardized by the loss of either plant species or
knowledge about their services. To fill this gap...

These learning resources are provided as a starting point for building fundamental skills needed for engaging the public about climate change as a critical issue affecting public lands and...