Working trees: Supporting agriculture and healthy landscapes

The authors jr brandle and mm schoeneberger suggest a more broadened and applied approach to integrating woody plants on the farm,the idea of working trees,a term coined by gerald bratton,a forester with the usda national agroforestry center. working trees are defined as woody plants integrated into the agricultural production system to provide various environmental services to cultivated ecosystems and the people who manage them. use of working tree practices,such as windbreaks and riparian forest buffers,provide a means of sequestering carbon on agricultural lands while maintaining the agricultural productivity of these sites and enhancing other ecosystem services of value. working trees on farms,especially the linear plantings such as windbreaks and riparian forest buffers,can provide many critical wildlife services from feeding,migration stopover and roosting habitat to creating vital travel corridors. in the larger societal sense,this can contribute to species conservation,but at the local sense,it can provide habitat to foster natural enemies of crop pests.