Environmental Studies Blog

ENVS 400 students volunteering at Boise Native Grove

Finishing up work on our capstone for ENVS 400, we spent April 19th in the Albina District doing volunteer work and giving our final presentation. Our research, as outlined in our previous post, has expanded from being strictly focused on Tree of Heaven removal to an interdisciplinary study of the history and demographics of the Albina District, specifically the Boise and Humboldt neighborhoods. Our research included interviews with community members, historical and aerial photography analysis, census data collection, and lots of in-depth research through our library and online databases.

Our findings have been both eye-opening and deeply informative. We discovered that the Albina District, particularly the Boise and Humboldt neighborhoods, have undergone significant demographic and environmental changes over the past century. Many of which are closely tied to patterns of urban development, redlining, and displacement. The Tree of Heaven, once planted intentionally for its hardiness in urban environments, has become a symbol of broader environmental and social challenges in the area.

Through interviews with long-term residents, we gained personal insights into how these communities have experienced waves of gentrification, environmental degradation, and resilience. Our historical and aerial photograph analysis showed that green spaces and tree cover have changed over time, but we found little direct connection to shifts in neighborhood demographics. Analyzing the historical photos helped us better understand how patterns of development and displacement coincided with land use and community priorities across different periods. The census data helped us quantify some of these trends, showing how systemic factors have shaped both the human and natural landscape of Albina.

As we presented our work to the community, we emphasized the importance of pairing ecological restoration efforts like Tree of Heaven removal and awareness with a broader understanding of social justice and community engagement. We hope our project exemplifies how and why environmental action must also recognize and address the historical and ongoing impacts of racial and economic injustice.

ENVS 400 students adding Tree of Heaven to iNaturalistWe started our Saturday working at the Boise Eliot Native Grove, participating in their 8th Annual Earth Day Clean-up. Luckily, the weather was perfect for working outside, so we took advantage and helped plant tree saplings and remove unwanted plants. We had the opportunity to work again with the project managers Andrine de la Rocha and Howard Patterson, who originally introduced us to this space. The turnout for this event was great, there was a variety of community members helping to make this a better space for all.

After our time at the Native Grove, we met up with the Scouts to help teach them how to identify and utilize iNaturalist to mark trees of heaven in Albina. We formed groups at First AME Zion Church to identify and input tree of heaven sightings into iNaturalist. We were concerned that the tree may not have been easily identified due to the time of year, but luckily, they had just started to produce leaves and seed clusters. As each group set off, we decided to go in different directions to cover as much ground as possible. Each group found and took pictures of trees of heaven, making sure to input them into iNaturalist.

We finished our afternoon presenting our work in ENVS 400 as a group at First AME Zion Church. We are grateful to everyone who could attend and enjoyed all the amazing questions asked by the audience. Special thank you to First AME Zion for hosting us throughout the semester and introducing us to many of the people who attended our presentation.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to do everything in one semester. But, our research has opened up opportunities for future students and community members to continue and even expand upon what we did. As mentioned in our presentation, we gave three suggestions on next steps for future work if someone were to continue what we started.

Students presenting project to neighborhood residentsThe first is to bring community groups together in order to create dialogue that connects First AME Zion, the Boise Neighborhood Association, and other community members and stakeholders. We learned, although they live next door to each other, that they have little to no communication amongst each other. This makes it very difficult to coordinate and solve community issues as well as to relay shared values.

Second would be to focus on one community issue at a time, even if it is not a priority for one community, they should know that all problems will eventually be addressed. Stemming from the first suggestion, efficient communication would allow all members to coordinate resources and tackle problems to their greatest abilities rather than stretch them thin.

Lastly, community members should consider methods for financial collaboration. For example, establishing a social wealth fund (publicly owned pool of assets) that the community can pull from when they need funding for a project instead of relying on government and NGO grants. This would allow for more efficient funding and a greater sense of stake since members would be contributing their own money. With these suggestions, we hope that our research can continue and help to better a community that deserves to thrive.