Overstory #106 - The Hidden Bounty of the Urban Forest
Introduction
Have you ever picked berries from the edge of a forest in a city park? Made a holiday wreath from wild grapevine growing in your backyard? Collected the nuts of a Chinese chestnut street tree? Or harvested pokeweed growing in an abandoned lot? Many people do collect such products -- and others -- in cities. These urban nontimber forest products (NTFPs) represent important economic, nutritional, biological, educational, and cultural resources for a diversity of urban residents (Community Resources 2000).
Within the past ten years, people have increasingly recognized nontimber forest products for the important cultural, subsistence, and market values that they add to rural forests and individual households worldwide. Nearly all ethnic groups around the globe rely on NTFPs for household income, food, medicine, construction supplies, and materials for decorative and ceremonial purposes. These resources are especially important during times of economic hardship or during lulls in agricultural production (Saxena 1986).