Urban Forest Blog
EAB, ALB, GSOB: Know Your Urban Forest Pests
by Melinda Housholder, Urban Forests Program Director
Urban forests across the country are facing very serious threats due to several types of tree-killing pests. At a meeting I attended last week with the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition, Faith Campbell, senior policy representative at the Nature Conservancy, discussed these threats and the urgent need for our country to step up our game on detecting, suppressing, and preventing the spread of these invasive insects that are harming our urban forests.
Cities are often where some of our worst tree-killing pests arrive and spread. With the number of people living in cities, moving in and out of cities and shipping things in and out of... (Read More)
Taking His Love of Trees Worldwide
by Michelle Werts
This week’s ’s 2012 True Professional of Arboriculture has travelled as far as China to bring arboriculture practices and work safety education to people who need them. Donald Lee Picker is an ISA-Certified arborist, CEO of Asia Tree Preservation, Ltd. and chairperson of the Institute of Arboriculture Studies in Hong Kong.
Join us next Friday to meet a True Professional who went from falling out of trees to giving some of the most memorable safety talks in the industry.
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Clearing Space for a Space Shuttle
by Susan Laszewski
The space shuttle Endeavour has successfully completed 4,600 trips around the Earth, but the trip from LAX airport to the California Science Center, where it will spend its retirement, is proving to be a challenge on another frontier.
The shuttle is too tall to clear overpasses on the highway route, too heavy to be airlifted and too delicate to be disassembled for transport. With all other options exhausted, the center and city officials have resorted to cutting down approximately 400 trees to allow the five-story-tall, 162,000-pound spacecraft to pass through the city streets. The trees include mature pines, magnolias, ficus and myrtl... (Read More)
The Poetry in Tree Care
by Michelle Werts
This week’s ’s 2012 True Professional of Arboriculture isn’t just a tree lover, but is also a poet and writer. Bill Logan is a New York-based, ISA-Certified arborist, teacher at the New York Botanical Garden and president of Urban Arborists, Inc. and writer with W.W. Norton.
Next week, we’ll meet a True Professional who began caring for landscapes at the age 12, when he started his own lawn-mowing service.
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From Oil to Trees
by Michelle Werts
Arboriculture was not his first career for this week’s ’s 2012 True Professional of Arboriculture. Texas-based Bruce Kreitler actually toiled on and around oil fields for 25 years before the demands of the job led him to turn his passion for trees into a new career.
Come back next Friday to meet a poet and writer who helps protect historic trees in New York.
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