Good tree info. Great new contacts. Fun.
The traditional tree people trifecta proved to be in full force at the thirtieth annual New York ReLeaf Conference. From July 20-22, 2023, arborists gathered on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
The theme of the gathering was “Keeping Trees in Mind: Planning for a Better Tomorrow.” ReLeaf is the joint program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Urban Forestry Council and the U.S. Forest Service. ReLeaf Region 1 hosted the gathering.
Participants included representatives of such disparate entities as Woodlawn Conservancy and PSEG Long Island, Plan It Wild and PlanIt Geo, the Village of Bellerose and the City of Rochester.
It proved to be a beautiful weekend for a conference dedicated to the health and preservation of the natural world.
Early arrivals had the option of participating in a walking tour at Hofstra’s Bird Sanctuary.
A reception followed a NYSUFC Members meeting on the evening preceding the start of the conference proper.
On Friday morning, Gloria Van Duyne of NYSDEC welcomed participants to the conference.
She introduced Phil Healey, Superintendent of Public Works for Lynbrook, as the newly sworn in. President of the New York State Urban Forestry Council.
She welcomed Fiona Watt, New York State Forester and Director of Lands and Forests for NYSDEC. With a previous tenure of 25 years at New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Watt now presides over five million acres of state land.
The first keynote was horticulturalist, lecturer and garden writer Vincent Simeone, Director of Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park. Simeone spoke on the topic “Selecting Trees That Thrive in Urban and Suburban Landscapes.”
“It’s a great time to be in this industry,” he said. “We live in turbulent times, but we learned from Hurricane Sandy which plants did well and which didn’t.”
Simeone described “the miserable life that urban trees can live,” and said that “green space is more important now than ever before.” He shared information about some of his current favorite species, including Autumn blaze maple and shadblow, a native he said is underutilized. He cited black birch (“one of our toughest birches”) and white redbud (“something of an oxymoron”) along with sweetgum (“It is a thug in the landscape, no doubt about it, but it has its uses, especially the ‘slender silhouette’ cultivar, a very neat plant that has architectural appeal as well.”) He praised the tulip tree, whose “flowers smell like freshly cut grass.” “We’re looking for the next great plant,” he said. “How can we bring the native plant into the urban landscape?”
Arbor Day Foundation CEO Dan Lambe followed with the second keynote, focusing on “Finding the Chemistry in Urban Forestry.”
The Arbor Day Foundation’s mission, said Lambe, is simple: “We inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees.” He introduced his foundational tree, a pin oak in his Nebraska front yard. He did not realize until later, he told the group, that that tree “was taking care of us, protecting us.” Lambe showed a photo of himself posed in front of the tree before heading out to his high school graduation. He emphasized the importance of “looking beyond stories, beyond nostalgia, to action.”
The idea of “equity – bringing fairness and benefits that are valuable to all communities – might be the only thing that people can agree on,” he said. “The time is now. And it always takes partnerships to get work done.” He told the audience that the idea for Tree City USA was born in 1976, with forty-two cities recognized. There are now 3,600 Tree Cities across the country, including 174 in New York State. Nineteen New York colleges and universities participate in Tree Campus USA. A new program, Tree Campus K-12, has already named two schools. Tree Line USA is another important program, as is the Alliance for Community Trees. Lambe asked for a show of hands of those who can count their community among one of these groups, and a good majority of participants said they were.
According to Lambe, the challenge before us is chemistry, meaning “bringing the right parts together to create solutions.” He introduced the idea of a periodic table for urban forestry. Its critical elements would include city foresters, nonprofits, tree boards.
Every combination of elements requires “a catalyst — someone or something that creates action.” Lambe inspired with his conclusion: “We all have the opportunity to be that catalyst, that spark, to be the person who causes change.”
Conference participants expressed their enthusiasm for finding themselves in a room full of such catalysts. Cereza Bloodwood, who works with Onondaga Earth Corps in Syracuse on rain garden and tree planting, said, “I get really happy looking at all this, to see all the people who came out.”
About the work with Onondaga, Cereza said, “You can actually see a before and after difference that’s impactful. It really matters.”
Elizabeth Jaeger, who helps the Natural Areas Conservancy advise New York City on the twenty-thousand acres of natural areas in the metropolitan area (including ten thousand acres of forest on NYC Parks property), “I love hearing about what people are doing. The knowledge we share is really important. It’s vital to stay connected to the larger practice.”
Conference workshop presenters included Richard Gibney of Gibney Design Landscape Architecture on “Caring for trees in the urban environment”; and Kristin Griffiths, Deputy Director, Chemung County Emergency Management on the “Chemung County BRIC Grant.” Alicia Ragusa of the Holistic Law Practice focused her remarks on “Trees & Laws & us, oh my! The impact of tree laws on our Urban Forest.” She spoke about tree ordinances, legal authority and best practices. “I always say that money does grow on trees,” she said, in terms of homeowner savings and more successful businesses.
She told of the importance of implementation – of the progression from “resource mentality” to “stewardship mentality”. She spoke of the legal question, “Should trees have standing?” It’s not a new concept, she said, but now, more than ever, “we speak for the trees.” Every tree ordinance, she said, must start with intention, and it must have clear definition as well as jurisdiction. She emphasized the importance of having “a code of conduct so you can hold elected officials accountable.”
“The arc of justice is long,” Ragusa said. When you remove a three-hundred-year-old oak on private property it reduces the value of all the properties around it.
Other conference attendees conveyed the reasons they attended. Noreen Riordan of birdsong landscape design in Rochester said she was at the conference “for inspiration and to find out what other people are doing. It gives you hope.”
Others spoke of their roles at home. Rebecca Kassay, Deputy Mayor in Port Chester, said she “stepped into politics because she didn’t see an environmental perspective in policy making. It’s been great to bring my community organizing background to our small village.” She talked about establishing a tree nursery on the village’s municipal golf course property, growing red oaks, white pines, white spruce and an assortment of shrubs. She, along with members of the Village Tree Committee, hoped that by attending the ReLeaf Conference they would “bring expertise and accomplishments from across the state back to the Village.”
Asked why he had come all the way across the country to mingle with those in New York State, Dean Alberty, Senior Chair, Missouri Community Forestry Council, said simply: “It was so much fun last year!” On a more serious note, he added, “We’re losing a lot of canopy in Missouri because of all the freezing in recent winters. We’re seeing the bark sloughing off. We need solutions.”
On Friday afternoon buses took groups to one of two fascinating locales: Hempstead Plains or Clark Botanic Gardens.
Another option was a walking tour of the Hofstra Arboretum.
To be continued…
