Grove recognized as social innovator in Baltimore
Baltimore doesn’t have enough trees. Arborists say cities should have a tree “canopy” of about 40 percent; Baltimore’s is 27 percent. A lot of people are doing good work encouraging tree planting in the city, but according to Morgan Grove, a social ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, “We do best in reaching groups where there’s already a lot of trees. We’re not doing so great in places where there’s not a lot of trees.”
How can the city reduce this disparity by bringing more trees to the primarily low-income and African-American communities that lack them? That’s the puzzle that Grove and his research partner, Dexter Locke, are trying to solve by applying a scientific approach to the work nonprofits and city agencies are doing in this area. Their work is supported by the National Science Foundation as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.
