Motivations and Task Preferences of Urban Forestry Volunteers

A study of reasons why people volunteer for urban forestry projects, and of their task preferences, compared the opinions and attitudes of volunteers with those of people in botanical organizations who might be considered likely targets for recruitment. A mail survey used membership lists of two tree volunteer organizations and one botanical garden in New York City, as well as one tree volunteer organization and one arboretum in Philadelphia. Members of the three tree volunteer organizations had completed a training course on tree care or inventory, and may not be representative of volunteers typically involved in single-day projects. Collectively, 1,038 people were sampled and 63% responded. Tree volunteers were predominately white, middle aged, well educated, and financially middle class. Improving one's neighborhood was the main reason for volunteering, followed by desire for education; social interaction was only moderately important. Respondents from all organizations considered tree care to be the most important urban forestry task. Volunteers thought tree care would provide the greatest personal satisfaction compared to other tasks, while potential volunteers thought planting trees would be most satisfying. Education was regarded as a highly important task to gain public support, even more important than tree planting. Respondents were least willing, by a large margin, to engage in fundraising or lobbying politicians. Both volunteers and potential volunteers were willing to perform a wider range of tasks than they have performed already, suggesting strong potential for increased involvement. Tree volunteers expressed a strong desire to increase their level of participation in the planning and decision-making of their projects. Less than half of the volunteers thought they had been recognized for their work in some way, but recognition was mostly viewed as unimportant. Respondents from all organizations felt that their urban forest was in rather poor condition, and that volunteers are needed to improve their city's trees. Four-fifths of potential volunteers have volunteered before in some way, indicating a general willingness for voluntary action by members of botanical organizations. Many current tree volunteers were selfmotivated in seeking volunteer involvement; i.e., they responded to media announcements and volunteered without being personally asked. However, personal contact with potential volunteers is an effective recruitment technique for expanding the pool of volunteers beyond this self-selected group, as well as for increasing diversity.