Davey Tree Flipbooks

21 January/February 2020 | THE DAVEY BULLETIN 'FOREST CITY' HOSTS FORESTRY EXPERTS CONFERENCE Cities are not an easy place to be a tree. And as urban areas get hotter, municipal governments and other groups are looking to use trees to help cool things down. "If ever there was a time for trees, now is that time. Now is the moment to plant more trees," said Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the 2019 Partners in Community Forestry Conference. The event is the largest international gathering of urban forestry practitioners, advocates, researchers, and government leaders. In 2019, the city of Cleveland – a Tree City USA for 39 years – and Cuyahoga County pledged $1 million each toward further implementing the Cleveland Tree Plan, a long-range, comprehensive urban forest master plan that aims to restore the city's urban canopy to at least 30 percent by 2040. Currently it's at 19 percent, so 361,000 trees must be planted. Joe Gregory, regional operations manager, Davey Resource Group (DRG), environmental consulting, discussed DRG's role in developing the plan, which calls for government, private companies, nonprofits and citizens to work together to restore the canopy. Using i-Tree software, DRG calculated the economic value of canopy coverage and identified vulnerable areas. Resilience goals were set, stakeholders were identified, and the community has been planting trees since. Gregory also hosted one of the Urban Forestry Field Experiences at the conference called "The Forest City, From Cradle to Grave." This experience highlighted places and spaces that gave Cleveland the nickname "The Forest City." Attendees traveled to Partners Conference attendees visited Lakeview Cemetery as one of "The Forest City, From Cradle to Grave" tours. This historic white oak tree, as a Moses Cleaveland tree, is old enough to have witnessed the arrival of Moses Cleaveland when he discovered the area in 1796. Davey assembled and staffed a "TreeRx Nature Immersion Room" at the Partners Conference to provide attendees with a nature-like setting offering a calming break from the hustle of the conference. The room proved a big hit and drew requests for a similar space at future conferences. Davey Presenters at PCF: Mike Binkley, manager, technology development, Davey Institute; Dave Gamstetter, project developer, Davey Resource Group; Kerry Gray, principal consultant, Davey Resource Group; Jim Jenkins, senior associate consultant, Davey Resource Group; Jennifer Lennox, director, public relations, corporate communications; and Jim Jenkins, project developer, Davey Resource Group. Cleveland Clinic's Main Campus, which is part of the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus Healthcare program, and visited historic Lakeview Cemetery. At each location, attendees heard from local leaders working to maintain these landscapes. The tours also included several planting and revitalization projects that have helped increase the city's canopy cover. On the last day of the conference, Lambe, Jon Utech, senior director in the office of healthy environment, Cleveland Clinic, and Davey's Frank Monteleone, national sales manager, Commercial Landscape Services (CLS), spoke about Arbor Day's new Tree Campus Healthcare program and how it's being applied at local health- care facilities. Monteleone highlighted two projects: pocket parks being built around the Cleveland Clinic main campus and a future project called the University Hospitals Portage Project to improve the hospital room views of children receiving cancer treatments. He reviewed each project and explained how they will affect both the patients and communities. "Aside from the benefits the trees will give us, the motivations for these projects are the fact they promote a feel-good attitude within these communities, promote good health and wellness and, more importantly, create community partnerships," Monteleone said. EXPERTISE

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