"Keeping Davey's name attached to cutting-
edge tools and creating relationships with those
using them is key," Zelaya says. "By being seed
planters with our training, we cause a ripple
effect. The community realizes how beneficial
trees are to their cities; then they know who to
call to help maintain and manage their trees,
including Davey's residential and commercial
services or Davey Resource Group."
J
ason Henning and Al Zelaya, both Davey
Institute research urban foresters, recently
had the opportunity to present an i-Tree
workshop to curious, knowledge-craving tree
lovers in the Millbrook, N.Y., community.
During the workshop, Henning and Zelaya
did an overview of i-Tree's nine applications
but focused the majority of their time on i-Tree
Streets and the pest detection module because it
was what the attendees were most interested in.
"It was a new audience, and we tried some
new features with them, including mobile data
collection with smartphones and tablets,"
Henning says. "It's amazing how quickly our
user base continues to grow."
"We had many participants involved with
community projects," Zelaya adds. "Having
the ability to walk through and create projects,
get data and create reports that are
achievable and accessible to those
using the application will benefit the
communities and Davey."
Henning sees many benefits of
providing this kind of training to
these kinds of audiences. "A lot of
using the tool is knowing what can
be done with it," he says. "They can
learn how to use the software and
get results in their own community
by improving their understanding
of the value of trees."
Zelaya agrees and sees future
benefits of presenting the
information to
the public.
i-Tree Workshop Improves
Software Sense
"We're constantly expanding, changing and
engaging new audiences," he says. "With
i-Tree in the community, there is a new way
to demonstrate how valuable trees are. We're
showing them how to move beyond seeing
tree structure and aesthetics to understanding
tree-produced ecosystem services and values.
Trees produce many community benefits, so
when we teach people how to use i-Tree, they
can be more effective in terms of advocacy
and future planning to improve their cities."
Although teaching i-Tree software can
sometimes be difficult due to the range of
computer skills of participants, Zelaya finds it
rewarding to see it "click" with those learning
and knows it is important for Davey to stay at
the forefront of education.
On the Job
Al Zelaya, Davey
Institute research
urban forester
Jason Henning, Davey
Institute research
urban forester
18 | January/February 2014
