Davey Tree Flipbooks

8 | July/August 2014 Family Fun Focused on Trees I mpressive gardens, an art gallery and even a glasshouse attract nearly 150,000 visitors to the Cleveland Botanical Garden each year. But two of its trees also proved their values to the garden on Arbor Day weekend. Visitors had the opportunity to participate in special tree activities dedicated to Arbor Day, thanks to Davey volunteers. Davey's East Cleveland R/C District Manager Ken Cloutier and Assistant District Manager Jim Pochedly, as well as Max Walter from residential services, arrived to the Cleveland Botanical Garden's Hershey Children's Garden that Saturday to tag two special trees—a shingle oak and a tulip poplar tree. "We talked to children and their parents about Davey and the value of trees as the kids worked on arts and crafts activities about the different parts of trees," Cloutier explains. "It was nice to see the families enjoying the activities and coffee mugs we handed out, while sharing Davey's presence in the community." Jim Pochedly tags a tulip poplar tree with a tree benefit tag to highlight the tree's value within the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. A large tree house surrounds the tree. A tree benefit tag quantifies the value of a shingle oak tree in the Cleveland Botanical Garden during Arbor Day weekend. Tags for Trees O n Arbor Day, trees are "it." Nearly 2,000 trees in the Chicago Loop and Museum Campus alone received extra special recognition on Arbor Day when volunteers attached The Morton Arboretum's tree benefit tags to their trunks. The tags read six different messages, including, "Trees clean the air we breathe," "Trees surround us in beauty," "Trees increase home values" and "Trees make our cities safer." "On Arbor Day and every day, we embrace the many values trees provide to us and our world," says Gerard Donnelly, president and CEO of The Morton Arboretum. The trees displayed their tags through May 2. (For a news clip of the event, visit: http://bit.ly/1uDq4xx.) In addition to tree tagging project volunteers from The Morton Arboretum and the City of Chicago, Davey volunteers included: Rich Bergland, Brian Borkowicz, Dave Bruckner, Tony Brugger, Clay Busse, Geoff Cowan, Tom Ginnow, Matt Hess, Andy Lutz, Pete Ritenour, Matt Schaefer, Evan Schorr, Mike Stilin, Auxillo Tovar and Shannon Westphal. Volunteers adorn trees with tree benefit tags, which illustrate some of the benefits trees provide. Tagging the Benefits of Trees T he famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright incorporated environmental factors into his structures, even the use of trees. In fact, Wright built his studio in Oak Park, Ill., around a single gingko tree. So when The Care of Trees' Dan Krug, sales arborist at the Chicago office, was looking to celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day, he knew he should turn to Wright's Oak Park home and studio. He honored three important trees at Wright's home and studio—a gingko, a Kentucky coffee tree and a tulip tree—by adorning them with temporary tree benefit tags so visitors could see the many benefits they provide. "Using each tree's diameter, we were able to use i-Tree and the Tree Benefit Calculator to get the data for the tags," Krug explains. Besides the fact that the ginkgo was one of the three largest trees located at the home and studio, Krug says it was also chosen because of its historical significance. In Wright's journal 150 years ago, he made a point of saying the gingko was only 4 inches in diameter when he purchased the property in the late 1800s. "In Oak Park, this is significant because not many gingkoes are more than 100 years old," Krug points out. As Krug says, "The gingko itself was left on this site to provide shade for the home and studio." The tags help showcase these cooling effects, as well as storm water reduction, electri- cal energy savings and even total dollar amount. We think this special gingko has done its job well. Brian Borkowicz (far left) helps volunteers tag a tree in Chicago for a tree tagging project for Arbor Day. A gingko tree with a tree benefit tag sharing the amount of savings the tree brings to the property.

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