21
May/June 2021
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
ON-THE-JOB TEACHING MOMENT
As the West Toronto Residential services office crew
started pruning a honey locust tree's branches, a teacher
from the nearby Mountview Alternative School approached.
She was curious about the work and asked if she could bring
some students out to watch. Peter Mandino, foreman, said
"No problem." Soon after, a dozen grade school students
lined up outside the work zone to watch the pruning and
ask questions. Mandino, a father of a young daughter
himself, stepped away from the work to explain that the
city wanted the tree trimmed because it was interfering
with electrical wires.
"They asked the cutest questions, as all curious kids do,"
Mandino said. "'How tall can a tree get?' 'Do trees have
diseases?' One asked about the truck and how high the
bucket goes. Things like that hardly ever happen, so when
it does, it feels like giving a little back to the community.
It's helping to educate people about what we do and why.
And who knows, maybe they'll grow up and have an
interest in trees or want to be an arborist."
Peter Mandino takes questions from students in Toronto, Canada.
Andrew Conboy, UVM technician, Davey Resource Group
(DRG), volunteers for several organizations that promote the
planting of native tree species and work to eliminate invasive
plant species in the Philadelphia area.
"Any tree planting is fulfilling to me because I know it will
PROLIFIC VOLUNTEER PROMOTES
NATIVE SPECIES IN PHILADELPHIA
provide fresh air for residents, provide
shade, help cool the local environment
in a warming climate and provide a lot of
benefits for many decades to come," Conboy said.
Conboy, a Davey Green Leader, volunteers most of his
time with the Philadelphia Parks and
Recreation Department. An example
of one of his volunteer efforts is being
a forest steward at Houston Meadow
in Wissahickon Valley Park where he
removes invasive trees, shrubs and vines
from a deer exclosure and protects the
native seedlings.
"The hope is that in 20 or 30 years this
deer exclosure will become a mature native
forest that will act as a native seed bank,"
he said. "We're hoping to build up these
pockets of native forest to shade out the
invasive species and promote the growth
of native species."
STEWARDSHIP
Andrew Conboy founded a
non-profit organization called
Colonial Canopy Trees, which
plants seedlings and sapling trees
in the Colonial School District area.
He started growing trees in his
backyard and looked for places to
plant them around the community.
He joined forces with other
community members doing similar
efforts and they were able to plant
49 trees in 2020. He also volunteers
with the Philly Tree People,
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,
and PA IMapinvasives, which
is a citizens science initiative
through iNaturalist.
