Natural resources play a huge, often unrecognized role in our communities. Many people living or working in cities believe that natural resources lie outside of the city, and that they have to go to into rural areas to experience the natural world.

In my work, I help people understand the importance of the natural resources in their own backyards, along their downtown streets, in neighborhood parks and cemeteries, and in small patches of forestland. These street trees, landscapes, community gardens, and pocket parks can change people’s lives.

Research backs up our experience that natural resources such as trees, shrubs and flowers in our communities can:
 

• reduce crime in neighborhoods
• increase property values
• save energy
• improve air quality
• and even improve human health by reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and speeding up the healing process

So if trees and other plants really can improve quality of life, how do you get people who are worried about school budgets, parking problems, or high taxes, to care about them?

One way to get people caring about natural resources is by building partnerships. For example, because of my membership on the Board of Intown Manchester, a group mostly made up of influential developers, I connected with the president of Families in Transition, which provides temporary housing for homeless families, and we’ve begun working on several different landscaping projects with the residents.

Another contact, a local developer, approached me a couple weeks ago at Intown Manchester’s annual meeting. He’d heard that I was the person to talk with about putting plants on his roof. Installing a “greenroof” in Manchester is a goal I have been working on for the past four years!

I’ve found it’s important to involve as many people as possible from the beginning of the project. A great example of this is seen at the townhouses on Cedar Street. Back in 1995, I began working with Manchester Neighborhood Housing Services, which provides housing for low-income families. Working with the residents of new townhouses we helped develop a landscape plan, then plant and maintain the landscaping.

If you drive by today, 11 years later, you’ll still see the pride these residents have in their landscapes, because they created them and continue to watch over them.

As a result of the neighborhood pride that developed, the Manchester Police reported that the number of calls in the Cedar Street neighborhood dropped in one year from more 800 to just 64, a fact featured on ABC National News highlighting how trees benefit people by helping reduce crime.

Another example: the Pine Street Community Garden, which grew literally out of the rubble of an old garage foundation. Working together with community members and AmeriCorps volunteers, we developed the plans, gathered the materials, and built the Center City’s first community garden, which now serves several multicultural families.

Extension educator Julia Steed Mawson now oversees the garden. Julia brought in the 4-H Green Thumb Team, whose members grow food for the Salvation Army’s Kid’s Café, which serves hot meals daily to many children who would otherwise go without. The Green Thumb Team also grows food for the N.H. Food Bank. Through many partnerships, the garden has grown over the years and has become a keystone in the Center City.

A vacant lot on Cedar Street was a former crack house site. Residents of Cedar Street remember how afraid they were. According to resident Cathy Howland, “[The crack house] was only about six feet from our apartment. Its windows were aligned with ours, so we could see the drug dealers and they could see us. We couldn’t let the kids outside without an adult being right there.”

Many frightening incidents occurred as people came and went at all hours of the day and night. Beyond the fear of living next to drug dealers, residents had to live with the huge neighborhood eyesore of the house and yard, with trash everywhere and the house itself beyond repair. It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood when Manchester Neighborhood Housing Services purchased the property and took the crack house down.

The community came together to plan and build a new park. The residents helped create the landscape plan, and, in two days, more than 40 people including N.H. Community Tree Stewards transformed the vacant lot into a beautiful green space. Neighborhood children dug holes, planted shrubs, and spread mulch. Finding the remains of the old foundation while digging, one of the kids shouted, “This used to be part of the crack house. Let’s get it out of here!”

By Mary Tebo, UNH Cooperative Extension Community Forestry Educator

For more information call the UNH Cooperative Extension's Family, Home & Garden Center's Info-line (toll free) at 1-877-398-4769 or send us an email. Volunteers are available to answer your questions Monday through Friday 9:00am to 2:00 p.m.