The Community Engagement and Preparedness project was designed to help communities in greater Minnesota prepare for the arrival of the emerald ash borer (EAB), which affects the health of native ash trees (Fraxinus) throughout Minnesota. As shown in the chart to the below ash trees make up roughly 15% of trees in Minnesota  according to a 2010 Community Tree Survey completed by the Minnesota DNR. Read more about EAB.

The University of Minnesota, Department of Forest Resources, the University of Minnesota Extension, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area cooperated on an EAB Rapid Response grant as a cooperative effort with fourteen "model" communities in Greater Minnesota. The communities represent different population categories (700-110,000) and five eco-regions (southeast, southwest, northwest, north central, northeast).  Each community conducted stratified community tree surveys or inventories of private, public and commercial tree populations. The original project concluded in August 2013 and the communities are being used as models to help additional Minnesota communities better understand the impact of their urban and community forests.

Community Tree Surveys & Inventories

Volunteers from each community were trained by University of Minnesota educators and researchers working the Urban Forestry Outreach and Research (UFOR) team using a training manual developed for the project. A peer-reviewed research article on the efficacy of volunteers conducted community tree surveys and inventories is also available.