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Welcome to Plum Landing.
"A Forest in the City."
Today we're on a mission for Plum.
We're going to find out what an urban forest is.
I'm Jessie.
I'm a forest ranger with the U.S. Forest Service.
Are we in a forest?
No.
Jessie told us we were going to walk through the forest,
but we met him in the city.
I want you to imagine that you're a bird
flying high above the city and looking down.
Look around, see what you see.
Just a lot of houses and apartments and cars.
Not that much trees
and pretty much sidewalks and buildings.
Is this a forest?
No!
Well, at least not now.
Well, guess what?
This city is in an urban forest.
What does "urban" mean?
So "urban" means it's a large built-up area
that humans have created for themselves.
My name is Henry, and with us today
are Jia, Jessie, Eyo, Bela and Bela's mom, Niri.
If you see something that you would see in a forest,
stop and point to it.
Okay, so what are you pointing to?
A nice, fresh and green space.
In a forest, what would normally use this type of area?
An animal might use this area.
They could build a home there.
Squirrels could hide nuts in there.
A lot of bigger animals might use the grass for food.
What is this place that we've just come to?
A community garden.
People in the community
get fruits and vegetables there to eat.
So they are taking care of the land.
They are stewards of the land.
Who else do you think might benefit from this garden?
Pollinators like butterflies and bees and some birds.
Exactly.
I see a bird on a sunflower!
Before people built a city, it was probably just a lot of grass
and there might have been some trees and some animals.
And then people came.
Rhey cut down the trees to build houses.
How did that affect the habitat for the animals and insects?
It makes there be less homes for them.
And it's important that when we plant things
that we also plant things to allow the animals
to also get a little bit of the fruit
because we've taken away the trees
that were providing food for them.
What do you see?
I see a dead crabapple that looks pretty disgusting.
It smells bad, too.
I also see a bird pecking at the crabapple
and it's eating the crabapple.
It's because the bird is hungry.
What about the apples that have fallen to the ground already?
What might eat these?
Maybe some squirrels?
Raccoons, maybe.
I see ants eating the crabapples right there.
Plants that produce fruit
that animals can eat and humans can eat
are really beneficial in urban areas,
especially because so much of their habitat has been lost
because we've built houses on it.
So we are climbing this hill
because there's an excellent view I want you to see.
This is a good view of the urban forest.
I'm drawing a picture for Plum to show her what it looks like.
So does this match what you were imagining
when you were flying over your city?
I didn't really imagine that there was so many trees.
When I first saw the view, I was shocked
because there was a lot of greenness.
I was surprised about so many trees and everything.
This really is an urban forest.
It's exactly like what Jessie said.
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