Speaker: Kevin O'Donnell

2. • The LA Center operates as a partnership between:
• USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station,
Urban Ecosystems & Social Dynamics Program
• USDA Forest Service, Region 5-State & Private Forestry,
• City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation & Parks &
• The Million Trees LA Initiative
• The partnership will serve as a center of excellence
in urban natural resources stewardship and promote
adaptive management, technology transfer and
science to improve the lives and environment in the
Los Angeles metropolitan area.

3. • The USDA Forest Service’s Pacific
Southwest Research Station has locations in:
1. Arcata, CA
2. Redding, CA
3. Placerville, CA (Institute of Forest Genetics)
4. Davis, CA
5. Albany, CA
6. Fresno, CA
7. Riverside, CA
8. Hilo, HI (Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry)

5. And now…
Thanks to the help of the
City of Los Angeles, the
Million Trees LA Initiative
and its many non-profit
partners, the Forest
Service’s Pacific
Southwest Research
Station now has a full-
time and permanent
presence in the City
through the LA Center &
the PSW/Los Angeles
Urban Field Station

6. • Similar Forest Service Urban Field
Station’s are located in:
• New York: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/nyc/
• Baltimore: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/urban/baltimore/
• Philadelphia: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/philadelphia/
• Chicago: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/urban/calumet/

7. • The LA Center will be both a physical place to focus
research and technology transfer as well as a network
of relationships among a growing community of
scholars, policy makers, cooperators and facilities
focused on urban natural resources sustainability.
• The LA Center’s physical presence will exist as a
“Research Destination Hub” where key environmental,
urban ecosystems, urban natural resource and social
dynamic studies will serve to enhance the urban
forests, urban waterways, urban wildlife, green
infrastructure and lives throughout the Los Angeles
metropolitan area.

8. • The LA Center’s Executive Oversight Team consists of:
– Deborah Chavez, PhD, Program Manager, Urban Ecosystems &
Social Dynamics (UESD), Pacific Southwest Research Station,
USDA Forest Service
– Sandra Macias, Program Manager, Urban & Community
Forestry, R5-State & Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service
– Lisa Sarno, Executive Director, Million Trees LA / City of Los
Angeles
– Vicki Israel, Asst. General Manager, Department of Recreation
&Parks, City of Los Angeles
– George Gonzalez, Chief Forester, Urban Forestry Division, City of
Los Angeles
– Jack McCabe, Regional Operations Manager, Davey Resource
Group / Past President of the California Urban Forest Council

9. • Some of the science delivery goals of the LA
Center and its partners:
– Awakening and Strengthening the Connection of
Urban Youth to the Land (currently in progress)
– Million Trees LA Life Cycle Assessment (currently in
progress)
– Urban Tree Canopy Assessment & Prioritization for
the City of Los Angeles, using LiDAR (planned, LMU-
Center for Urban Resilience & Univ. of Vermont
Spatial Analysis Lab)
– Stewardship Mapping & Assessment Project (STEW-
MAP) – social analysis of stewardship groups in the
city (planned, LMU-Center for Urban Resilience)

10. Pacific Southwest Research Station
http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/
Urban Ecosystems and Social Dynamics Program
http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/uesd/uep/
USDA Forest Service Research Publications
http://treesearch.fs.fed.us/