HERO still super after 25 years

For eight weeks this summer, a group of Clarkies focused on two things: People and trees

Which trees survive? How big are they growing? Are residents happy with the added shade of recently planted trees, or worried about falling limbs? These questions and more steered the 2024 cohort of Clark’s Human-Environmental Regional Observatory (HERO) Program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

“It’s a significant milestone,” said  Deborah Martin, who leads HERO with fellow geography professor John Rogan, as the fellows presented their findings in July to a room full of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) employees and members of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Worcester’s Urban Tree Commission.

HERO began collaborating with DCR in 2013 for analysis of the Asian longhorned beetle infestation that had decimated trees throughout Worcester. When DCR’s Urban and Community Forestry program broadened its reforestation efforts to include Gateway Cities across Massachusetts, the partnership evolved. DCR began planting trees in Chelsea, Holyoke, and Fall River in 2014, creating an opportunity for long-term research. Since 2017, the fellows have worked hand-in-hand with the Greening the Gateway Cities Program (GGCP), which plants trees to increase canopy cover in urban residential areas, therefore reducing household heating and cooling energy usage.

“The findings have been instrumental in creating program improvements in both tree species selection and interactions with program partners and participants,” said Mathew Cahill, a community action forester for DCR, who notes that people and trees are the basis of urban and community forestry. HERO fellows link the two and analyze their relationship.

Throughout June and July, fellows Quinn Chang Martin ’26, Aria Cranford ’26, Espi Garschina-Bobrow ’25, Juju Kaiser ’26, Jack Keane ’25, Mara Litten ’26, and Kalon Shepard ’25 canvassed neighborhoods in Chelsea and Holyoke to measure trees planted by the GGCP during the last decade.

The group surveyed 1,500 trees in Holyoke and 1,509 in Chelsea. The survey zone in Holyoke was an industrial area once used for paper milling. Canal buildings and brownfields remain.

“Planting in these areas has historically been undervalued, but the GGCP has been helping out,” Kaiser explained during the July presentation at Clark.

The fellows discovered that public trees had higher survivorship than ones planted on private land, and street trees in particular lived longer. American elm, Swamp white oak, Scarlet oak, Pin oak, and River birch trees were in good health, while Dogwood and Black tupelo trees showed poorer growth and survivorship.

Cranford noted that among the Honey locust, Freeman maple, and the American hornbeam tree species, survivorship was higher in Holyoke than it was in Chelsea by 30 percent or more.

“There could be a number of reasons for that, but it’s important to recognize the vast differences in built environment and landscape between these cities,” Cranford said. “In Holyoke, the vast majority of trees were planted in yards or other maintained open areas as opposed to more denser street plantings.

“Chelsea is quite the opposite, the second densest city in Massachusetts,” Cranford continued. “It has a very high amount of impervious surface leading to most of the trees being planted on streets as opposed to yards and open areas. It’s likely that some of these species prefer different planting environments.”

The fellows heard that residents valued the aesthetics and shade from trees, with 80 percent wanting more trees in their neighborhood. They noted that there was some disconnect between residents and DCR because of language barriers, as Chelsea and Holyoke have large Spanish-speaking populations.

“Cities are dynamic systems, and HERO is uniquely poised to analyze changes over time to both tree and human population dynamics,” said Cahill. “Students spend their summers not only measuring trees, but also interacting with the program participants, and discovering the detail of why trees tend to survive where they do.”

To increase survivorship, the fellows recommended that the GGCP use more explicit maintenance agreements, increase support for watering trees planted on private property, and increase communication between foresters in the gateway cities. Based on their ground survey, the fellows also mapped priority areas in Holyoke and Chelsea for future planting

“They were a big team but worked to develop a collaborative ethos, got a lot done, and supported one another. They pulled together a sophisticated, professional presentation on a tight timeline, backed by strong data collection and analysis, and were responsive to feedback,” said Rogan.

HERO has evolved over the quarter-century. At its start, fellows studied the causes, impacts, and ways of preventing urban sprawl, Worcester brownfields, and the impact of automobile emission releases at drive-through windows in Worcester County. When the Asian longhorned beetle infestation devastated thousands of trees in Greater Worcester, fellows planted thousands more. Urban heat islands have also drawn HERO’s attention.

No matter the subject, fellows always engage in social geography activities, such as door-knocking and interviewing residents. This work is supported by the John T. O’Connor ’78 Endowed Fund for Environmental Studies.

Since HERO’s inception, 26 articles highlighting the program’s work and findings have been published. Rogan and Martin began partnering on HERO in 2012, and their collaboration has resulted in the publication of 17 journal articles, all but one of which had graduate or undergraduate students as lead writers.

Martin has enjoyed growing as a scholar and mentor, particularly in translating student research into publications.

“HERO students get to participate and be intimately involved in a research project from the start of data collection, through analysis to dissemination. It is rather unique in that regard and quite different from some other research internships,” said Martin. The experience translates into professional success. Former HERO fellows today can be found in myriad positions: flood risk assessor, park ranger, RS analyst, assistant principal, geographer, and Ph.D. candidate among them.

For Rogan, making the Hadwen Arboretum revitalization project a focus of HERO has been a pride point. The Hadwen, a 26-acre green space willed to Clark in 1907, is now used for study and recreation. But not long ago, it was rife with weeds and vines. Rogan has helped coordinate cleanup of the Hadwen, an effort that has included nearly 100 students.

Together, Martin and Rogan have worked with dozens of undergraduate fellows, as well as graduate students who help manage the summer cohorts. In fact, Nicholas Geron, Ph.D. ’23, who has supervised cohorts since 2018, is now a co-leader of HERO with the pair.