Over the course of the past year, the Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests Task Force has been collaborating with the New York Restoration Project and the U.S. Forest Service to craft the Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests National Call to Action that merges ongoing conversations about and notable efforts towards improving the nation's urban ecosystems and urban forests.
The task force's twelve recommendations include creating metropolitan alliances to develop comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional Urban Regional Natural Resource Plans and points to The Metropolitan Greenspaces Alliance — of which The Intertwine Alliance is one of five members — as a model of such a grassroots-driven metropolitan alliance effort.
Through the lens of urban forestry, natural resources stewardship and green infrastructure, the Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests Task Force has established recommendations that will help change the way we live in, manage, study and rebuild our cities and towns over the next few decades. The hope is that the efforts of Vibrant Cities will contribute to a changed shared consciousness about urban life; that a diverse, growing, accessible urban forest will be considered fundamental to healthy, sustainable communities, neighborhoods and people. And that these recommendations will both bolster current and inspire new efforts and supporters – helping to guide cities and their citizens closer to making theirs a truly vibrant place to live, work and play.
View the Vibrant Cities Report here.
