Abstract
China is implementing an extensive urban forestry plan in Xiongan New Area (XNA), a new city in Hebei province. The city has been designated to serve Beijing’s noncapital functions and promote the integration of the broader Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei city-region. As part of a green initiative to minimize environmental impacts and its carbon footprint, a massive urban forestry system has been planned on an unprecedented scale, expected to cover over 600 km2 by 2030. Using science to inform policy, one major goal is to simultaneously minimize impacts of invasive species, while making urban forests more resilient to potential invasive species threats. In this review, we introduce these urban forestry plans such as basic concepts and principles for afforestation, tree species to be planted, delineation of existing pests already established, and expected forest invasive species of concern threatening the new area. Finally, we introduce a framework for invasive pest management strategies in XNA based on a “big data” approach and decision system to minimize impacts of invasive species. This new approach to urban forestry has the potential to become an exemplary global model for urban forestry planning, one that integrates research activities focused on forest health surveys and monitoring with sustainable forestry management. Finally, we provide an overview of the forest health policy required for the design of an unprecedentedly large new urban forest from initial planning to full implementation of an integrated forest management program.
Highlights
Urban forests are beneficial to human health and well-being as well as preserving urban environments and biodiversity [1,2,3]
The urban forest itself is a key facilitator for pest invasion due to presence of suitable habitats for invasive pests, such as diversity and often non-native host tree species, heterogeneous landscapes, and favorable microclimatic conditions that could enhance the opportunities for the establishment of non-native pests [9,10]
Collection of “big data” such as tracking records of each tree will provide valuable information for risk evaluation and greatly assist the managers in designing appropriate strategies when actions need to be implemented. Based on these features of the “Millennium show forest”, we suggest a framework for management of invasive forest pests in Xiongan New Area (XNA) to minimize the impacts of invasive species on this urban forest (Figure 3)
Summary
Urban forests are beneficial to human health and well-being as well as preserving urban environments and biodiversity [1,2,3]. Once established, populations of invasive pests can be amplified and the urban forests may serve as “bridgeheads” to threaten natural forest landscapes far beyond the urban forest [13] Such invasions lead to costly and challenging eradication programs and post-establishment management strategies [14,15]. Our main objective is to utilize the Xiongan New Area as a case study to address how planners and resource managers can create an extensive urban forestry system with the goal of both minimizing impacts of invasive species and making urban forests more resilient to potential invasives, and to provide an overview and critique of the Forest Health policy
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