The U.S. Forest Service’s work in Springfield seeks to improve people’s lives through research, partnerships, and environmental education. We focus on urban ecological systems and natural resource management and have four main goals:

• Develop multi-disciplinary science projects and programs that support community well-being and innovative urban natural resource management.
• Effectively communicate information, data and tools to our partners, citizen scientists and others.
• Support environmental education, career development, and citizen science through classroom and experiential learning and community engagement.
• Foster an extensive network of interdisciplinary scientists and partners who are working on these same goals.

Like many U.S. cities, Springfield is rich in natural resources but faces an array of social and environmental challenges. It has more than four square miles of urban parkland and about 36% tree canopy cover. Its population of just over 150,000 people is racially and ethnically diverse but has a high overall poverty rate and one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the country. Springfield’s legacy as “the birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution” created over 1,000 sites that are contaminated and need environmental clean-up. In June 2011, an EF-3 tornado ripped across the city, devastating homes, other buildings and mature trees in affected areas.

In this context and landscape, the U.S. Forest Service is conducting social and ecological research to improve lives, inform natural resource management decisions, and create opportunities for environmental education and community engagement.Urban research in Springfield is related to urban social-ecological research that is part of the U.S. Forest Service’s network of Urban Field Stations. The Urban Field Station Network includes Field Stations in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Juan.

In Springfield our research and environmental education activities focus on biodiversity, wildlife habitat, urban forestry, and climate resilience. We use research to assess the effectiveness of existing programs, inform decisions made by managers and practitioners, engage practitioners and residents in data generation and research design, and share what we learn in Springfield with other communities.