The Bounty of the Urban Forest: The Uses and Values of Urban Non-Timber Forest Products

Many urban residents of urban areas collect and use a variety of Non-Timber Forest Products(NTFPs) from urban trees, open spaces, and forests. These products represent significant and important values of the urban forest that many policy makers, urban land managers, and city residents tend to completely overlook.

Typical lists of the benefits of urban trees and forests include beauty, increased property values, reduced noise pollution, air and water filtration, cooling effects, and reduced energy costs (Molland Young, 1992: McPhearson, Nowak and Rowntree, 1994; USDA Forest Service, R8-FR 17). However, many urban residents also collect and use a variety of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) from urban trees, open spaces, and forests. These products represent significant and important values of the urban forest that many policy makers, urban land managers, and city residents tend to completely overlook.

Defining Urban NTFPs: Definitions of the urban forest are, of course, a matter of debate. They range from those that include all elements (biotic, abiotic, and social) that interact within our urban ecosystems, to those that include only large, closed-canopy-forested areas. We define the urban forest as the trees, other associated plants,and associated animals that grow and interact within our cities.

Urban Non-Timber Forest Products we define as any (non-timber) product collected, cultivated, or derived from the urban forest. For the purposes of this study in Baltimore, we narrowed this definition so that it did not include animals or animal products (except for honey and pollen), wood products, or products specifically cultivated in gardens.

Why Care about Non-Timber Forest Products? Within just the past 10 years, NTFPs have become increasingly recognized for the important cultural, subsistence, and market values that they add to the overall value of rural forests and individual households worldwide, and for the micro-enterprise opportunities that they represent. Around the globe, NTFPs are relied upon for household income, food, construction supplies, and materials for ceremonial purposes (FAO, 1995). Poor households in particular rely on these products for their livelihood, partly because they tend to have more access to forests than to other resources. These resources are also especially important as a buffer during times of economic hardship or lulls in agricultural production when they can provide important resources and income (Guijt, 1995; FAO, 1995).

Economically, the value of sustainably harvested NTFPs in tropical forests can often outweigh the value of other land uses such as logging, farming, or grazing (Peters, Gentry and Mendelsohn,1989; Balick and Mendelsohn, 1995; Grimes, et. al., 1994). Even in North American forests, NTFPs have been shown to provide significant additional income and even opportunities for small entrepreneurs (Thomas and Schumann, 1993; Shelly and Lubin, 1995; Emery, 1998.). NTFP markets have grown an estimated 20% in the last three to five years, and the U.S. herbal market is growing at an annual rate of 13%-15% (Chamberlain, Bush and Hammett, 1998;Hammett, personal communication).

Despite the documented values and growing markets of NTFPs, no study has explored the current uses or potential values of NTFPs specifically from the urban forest. The United Nations (UN)"Annotated Bibliography of Urban Forestry in Developing Countries," contains no annotations specifically discussing or valuing NTFPs. The UN Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) database contains no citations related to urban areas.

Over 70% of Americans live in our urban areas. Over 50% of the population lives in one of our 40 largest cities. The UN estimates that by 2010, more than half of the world's population will be urban. In addition, many of America's poor and minority residents live in our urban cores.

Although many environmental professionals and mainstream Americans may overlook the importance of urban NTFPs, they represent important resources for a variety of ethnically and socially diverse groups and individuals. By ignoring these resources, we undermine the values that different social groups place on the urban forest. We also under-sell the potential value our urban forests, as a whole, to both policy makers and the general public. Unless we recognize urban forest product collection as an important activity, we will fail to develop and implement appropriate management strategies to sustain the productivity and health of these vital urban resources.

NUCFAC recommended award: NA-98-0332

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