Davey Tree Flipbooks

January/February 2017 | The Davey Bulletin 11 FUTURE LEADERS IN COMMERCIAL SERVICES The 2016 Commercial Landscape Services leadership training attendees included (pictured back row, left to right) Kyle Speck, Pedro Gamez, Pedro Lopez, Mike Watson, David Norris, Greg Myers, Dan Joy and Shawn Fitzgerald. (Front row, left to right) Mark Svozil, Roger Echols, Nick Miller, Taylor Rogers, Travis Thurston and Jason Encinias. TRAVELING THE WORLD WITH I-TREE Filipinos have a new tool to help quantify carbon emissions reductions and other tree benefits provided through careful manage- ment of their islands' forests: i-Tree. Al Zelaya, research urban forester with the Davey Institute, traveled to the Philippines in July in partner- ship with the U.S. Forest Service to introduce sustainable forestry management tools and strategies to obtain the greatest benefit from the island country's trees. "I don't think they'd seen anything like i-Tree before," Zelaya said. Zelaya took part in two separate events. First, he attended an international conference on urban development in Manila, the capital city, on the metropolitan island of Luzan. There, Zelaya sat on a low-emissions development strategy panel, which included a representative from the United Nations. He introduced the concept of managing natural resources and urban forestry as part of a Davey's fourth annual Commercial Landscape Services (CLS) leadership training program continues to inspire growth from within. In 2016, the CLS management team selected 11 up-and-coming employees from across the U.S. to attend this week-long leadership training program held at the Davey Institute. "It's not a horticulture program at all," said Shawn Fitzgerald, technical advisor. "It's about turning these employees into leaders." To qualify for this exceptional training opportunity, CLS employees need to have attended the Davey Institute of Grounds Management training program, been a crew manager for two years, and completed four extension courses of their choice. "It's been beneficial for us and a lot of employees want to attend," Fitzgerald said. "Several promotions have occurred for those who have participated." $385,000. They surpassed original funding goals for tree research that will be distributed as endowments, scholarships and grants in 2017. One of Baker's teammates, Laurie Skul, senior financial analyst, said of her four total tours this tour proved the toughest. "The support was unbelievable," Skul said. "Some communities even had fire engines and police out blocking the roads to greet us." low-emissions strategy through carbon sequestration. Zelaya then visited the city of Puerto Princesa to introduce i-Tree to representatives from a local university, the municipality and non-profit organizations. He taught them how they can use i-Tree tools to help manage their forests on Palawan Island. "They face pressures of managing growth from the tourism industry," he said. Tour des Trees riders blessed one of their newly planted trees during a community event on the tour.

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