The highly urbanized and developed northeastern corridor of the United States (roughly from Boston, MA to Washington, D.C.), home to > 50 million people, also contains nearly a million forest “patches” – smaller forests in human dominated landscapes that serve as most peoples’ primary experience of forests and nature. This interaction between forests and people in the urban Northeast guides the Unit’s composition (including both biophysical and social scientists) and emphasis on social-ecology and co-production of scientific information. The Unit’s work focuses on communities and landscapes in a geography linked by common aspects of culture, history, climate, and ecology, and applies the expertise and knowledge gained to inform science and practice in urban landscapes at the national and international levels. 

Four primary locations are anchored by sites that are a part of the larger Urban Field Station Network:

• Amherst/Springfield, MA
• Baltimore, MD
• New York City, NY
• Philadelphia, PA

By acknowledging the fundamental interdependence between forests & greenspaces, stewardship and engagement, and human health and well-being, Unit staff conduct research and develop approaches and technologies that help communities achieve their goals for nature and people in urban and residential landscapes.

All of the Unit’s research is tied to three dominant and interrelated themes or Research Focus Areas:

Forests & Greenspaces, Stewardship and Engagement, and Human Health and Well-being.

These three focus areas tier toward a unified vision that includes communities that are inviting, livable, socially connected and environmentally equitable, and resilient to extreme events; ecosystems that are made more healthy, functional, and resilient through science-informed management; and economies that thrive based on healthy ecosystem function, the inclusion of waste to wealth initiatives around urban wood, and the training and inclusion of underrepresented groups in the environmental workforce and sustainability leadership.

Within and among these themes, we conduct research and application that address questions such as:

• What are manager and policy information needs?
• What knowledge and tools are we producing to fulfill these stakeholder-driven needs? 
• What value are we delivering to the public? 
• How are we demonstrating effective collaboration within our Station, across our Agency, and with partners and stakeholders?
• How do we continue to advance shared stewardship, social-ecological integration, and systems thinking, to solve the 21st century’s most complex sustainability challenges?