Protecting the Exceptional: Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Hawai‘i's Exceptional Tree Program with Implications for Global Standards
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2024
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Abstract
“Exceptional trees” have long been recognized for the unique characteristics that set them apart from other trees. While the terms used to identify exceptional trees can vary based on geographic location (e.g., “significant,” “heritage,” “champion,” “monumental,” etc.,), these trees embody similar traits that represent important attributes valued by humans. However, anthropogenic activities often conflict with exceptional trees, threatening their existence and the benefits they provide to society and the local environment. Exceptional trees are recognized in various locations worldwide through urban forestry conservation programs, which are designed to identify and sometimes offer legal protections to these valued specimens. For example, Hawai‘i’s “Exceptional Tree Program” began in 1975 with the enactment of Act 105 by the Hawai‘i State Legislature, conferring legal protections to exceptional trees. However, in the intervening five decades, the program has become stagnant and remains relatively unknown by the public and practitioners due to ineffective programmatic components, which have also seen few improvements since the program’s inception.
This three-paper dissertation examines the current state of Hawai‘i’s Exceptional Tree Program to identify its known weaknesses and provide suggested improvements to enhance this urban forestry conservation program. The first paper explores current challenges associated with Hawai‘i’s Exceptional Tree Program based on the lived experiences of exceptional tree practitioners through the use of the Reflexive Thematic Analysis methodology. The second paper is based upon an analysis of exceptional tree case studies in Hawai‘i and South Australia in order to provide suggested improvements to the widely-used Delphi methodology, while also providing methodological context for the third paper. The third paper uses the Delphi method to achieve expert consensus on the ideal program components that should be include in Hawai‘i’s Exceptional Tree Program. Together, these three papers provide a template on how an exceptional tree program in Hawai‘i and elsewhere can be improved, in addition to urban forestry conservation programs more broadly. The collective findings of these papers also help to better understand the knowledge exchange preferences of urban forestry practitioners and experts. Finally, the study’s recommended Delphi methodological improvements could be used to aid future research utilizing this method, particularly studies focusing on exceptional tree and urban forestry topics.
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Urban forestry, Forestry, Natural resource management, Delphi, Exceptional Trees, Hawaii, Reflexive Thematic Analysis, Significant Trees, South Australia
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197 pages
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