The Shriver Center at UMBC
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/13442
The Shriver Center addresses critical social challenges by bridging campus and community through engaged scholarship and applied learning. It leads meaningful social change through transformational higher education and community partnerships.
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Item Distributed urban forest patch sampling detects edge effects and woodland condition for monitoring and management(Wiley, 2025) Baker, Matthew; Yesilonis, Ian; Templeton, Laura; Shobe, Beatriz Manon; Bos, Jaelyn; Sonti, Nancy F.; Lautar, KatherineUrban forest patches, including woodland interiors and bounding edge habitat, result from secondary succession and fragmentation of more extensive forested landscapes in the eastern United States. Management regimes, surrounding land use, and successional processes lead to distinct environments and contribute to local and regional heterogeneity. However, many woodlands are degraded due to frequent disturbance, aggressive exotic species, and heavy browsing, which stress canopies, reduce regeneration, and may reduce ecosystem services. Effective management requires rapid, repeatable assessment of forest composition, structure, and condition at the scale of local decision-making. We present and apply a protocol for characterizing urban woodlands that generates new insight into the status of urban woodlands and baseline data for change detection over time. Samples of overstory composition, ground cover, surface soil measurements, and the Schumacher Vine Encroachment Index were collected at 845 points across each of 47 patches across Baltimore, Maryland. Simple citywide summaries allowed characterization of Baltimore's urban overstories as overwhelmingly native, though dominated by a range of successional conditions. By contrast, we found that ground layers were predominantly exotic, with abundant invasives or ruderal native species benefiting from disturbed conditions. Seven overstory types were distinguished, the majority under threat from aggressive vines. Most soils showed little evidence of compaction, but variable organic content. Distributed data allowed cross-patch comparison as well as within-patch analyses along edge-to-interior gradients. Species diversity, nativity, and overstory basal area all increased toward woodland interiors, whereas soil compaction and vine encroachment decreased. Structural and compositional shifts in both overstory and ground layer species revealed indicators of edge (15.2–18.7 m) and interior (>41.5 m) conditions, as well as evidence of transitional zones with distinct patterns of biodiversity. Despite high levels of fragmentation and disturbance that challenge municipal land managers operating with limited resources, rapid, low-cost sampling enabled comparison across multiple scales, encouraging repeated sampling and adaptive response to changing forest conditions. Qualitative and quantitative analysis as well as specific examples illustrated the generic utility of the protocol for a range of applications and its ability to produce new insight enabling management action and informed conservation planning.Item A History of the Choice ProgramFord, EricItem REIMAGINING THE HARBOR AS A HUB(UMBC Shriver Center, 2021-12) Scott, Sally; Taylor, JobyItem Commentary: Investing in Maryland's young people(Maryland Matters, 2024-01-29) Quinn, Kelly; Ford, Eric N.Spotlighting a university-based, youth diversion program in the state that is evidence-informed and rooted in anti-racism, positive youth development, and trauma responsiveness.Item FY23 Choice Program Annual Report(The Shriver Center at UMBC) N. Ford, EricItem Maryland Public Service Scholars Programs Annual Report 2022(UMBC Shriver Center, 2022)Item The Choice Program at UMBC FY 22 Annual Report(UMBC Shriver Center, 2022-06) Ford, EricItem UMBC develops future STEM teachers, researchers through pilot program pairing high school and college students(UMBC News, 2020-07-20) Hansen, SarahItem The Shriver Center Annual Report FY 2013(UMBC Shriver Center, 2013-08-30) Wolff, Michele K.Item The Shriver Center Annual Report FY 2014(UMBC Shriver Center, 2014-09-01) Wolff, Michele K.Item The Shriver Center Annual Report FY 2015(UMBC Shriver Center, 2015-08-07) Wolff, Michele K.Item The Shriver Center Annual Reports FY16(UMBC Shriver Center, 2016) Wolff, Michele K.Item The Shriver Center Annual Report FY17(UMBC Shriver Center, 2017) Wolff, Michele K.Item The Shriver Center Annual Report FY 2018(UMBC Shriver Center, 2018-11-05) Wolff, Michele K.; Steele, Christopher P.Item The Shriver Center Annual Report FY 2019(UMBC Shriver Center, 2019-11-01) Wolff, Michele K.; Steele, Christopher P.Item 2021 WALTER SONDHEIM JR. PUBLIC SERVICE SUMMER INTERNSHIP SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM(UMBC Shriver Center, 2021)The Walter Sondheim Jr. Public Service Summer Internship Scholarship Program was established by House Bill 269. The Shriver Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) was asked to establish and administer this program to ensure that students across Maryland would have an opportunity to intern in various nonprofit, state, and/or local government entities each summer while earning a stipend. The Shriver Center succeeded in meeting this goal through the administration and implementation of three successful internship programs on behalf of the State of Maryland under the Walter Sondheim Jr. Public Service Summer Internship Scholarship Program umbrella, which includes the Walter Sondheim Jr. Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Internship Program, Governor’s Summer Internship Program, and the Walter Sondheim Jr. Maryland Public Service Law Fellowship. The MDOT Fellows program is funded through an MOU with the Maryland Department of TransportationItem The Choice Program at UMBC: BELIEVE IN BALTIMORE(UMBC Shriver Center) Ford, EricItem The Choice Program at UMBC: FY21 ANNUAL REPORT: July 2020-June 2021(UMBC Shriver Center) Ford, EricItem The Choice Program at UMBC: Annual Report FY 2020(UMBC Shriver Center) Ford, EricItem The Shriver Center Annual Report FY 2020 & FY2021(UMBC Shriver Center, 2021-12-03) Wolff, Michele K.; Steele, Christopher P.