City Forest Managers: You Are Not Alone

Forests in different geographic areas face common challenges and opportunities.

By the editorial staff of Park Science magazine

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About this article

This article was originally published in the "Research Roundup" section of Park Science magazine, Volume 39, Number 2, Summer 2025 (August 29, 2025).

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Example of the landscape cover types and amounts around a single forest plot. A. Imagery of the sample plot (the red dot) and analyzed area (the black circle); B. Forest canopy cover (40%); C. Impervious cover (2%); D. Agricultural land cover (26%).
From Schmit and others, Ecosphere, 2025.

Image credit: Schmit and others. 2025. The influence of urban and agricultural landscape contexts on forest diversity and structure across ecoregions. Ecosphere 16(2): e70188.

Forests are especially important in urban and developed areas. They help reduce flooding and improve air quality for example. But urban forests face their own health challenges. Not knowing which issues are common across forests, city forest managers often try to solve problems on their own.

Now, new research published in Ecosphere in February 2025 looks at how land use around forest patches affects forests. The authors reviewed 17 different studies spanning five eastern forest ecoregions. For context, they also looked at surrounding land cover data.

The researchers found that forest patches reflected the land uses in their region. But regardless of where they were, forests in the most urban areas had a lot in common with forests in the most agricultural areas. Both types of forest had smaller, more uniform tree sizes, less tree species diversity, and more non-native trees. However, one difference between urban and agricultural areas emerged. Tree species in agricultural areas were similar to those found in more canopy dominated areas, while urban areas had unique tree communities.

The study authors say the forests’ common features imply shared pressures but also opportunities for collaboration. Taking into account the larger landscape around forests may also help managers set more achievable goals.

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Schmit and others. 2025. The influence of urban and agricultural landscape contexts on forest diversity and structure across ecoregions. Ecosphere 16(2): e70188.