Editor Michelle Sutton

Community Tree Recovery Grants through Arbor Day Foundation

Community Tree Recovery Program: “Tell us about your 2021 tree needs!”

Have questions? Please contact Lachel Bradley-Williams at lbradley-williams@arborday.org.

The Community Tree Recovery program is designed to help support canopy recovery for those experiencing tree loss caused by wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and invasive pest species. This work is essential for re-establishing neighborhood trees, public green spaces, homeowner’s back yards and most critically, building a greater sense of community support and wellbeing. In this space, trees serve as a symbol of collective growth, hope and healing.

To date, more than 5 million trees have been planted and distributed across the globe through the Community Tree Recovery program. During each recovery project, our team works closely with highly valued local forestry partners on the ground to help organize events, ensuring right tree – right place – right time. Whether you are a State Coordinator, local Non-profit, regional Forester, City Parks and Recreation or local Garden Club, we want to hear from you!

We invite you to learn more about Community Tree Recovery online and explore the T.R.E.E. Proposal. In order to be eligible for financial support you must submit at least one project proposal. While not a guarantee of sponsorship, this is your opportunity to share how you plan to make a difference in your community through the power of trees. Paint a vivid picture to help us to tell your story and advocate for your local tree needs. If ever there were a time for trees, the time is now.

 

The Nature of Cities Online Festival 22-26 February 2021


At nominal cost, or free for those who need assistance:

The Nature of Cities (TNOC) Festival pushes boundaries to radically imagine our cities for the future. A virtual festival that spans 5 days with programming across all regional time zones and provided in multiple languages. The festival focuses on facilitating transdisciplinary dialogue, small group workshops, arts engagement, and fostering a collaborative spirit around urban solutions. It will even have online field trips in various cities! Participants will include a wide range of ways of knowing and modes of action: biophysical and social scientists, architects, artists, landscape architects, activists, planners, policymakers, practitioners, elected officials, engineers, and so on.

The core theme is “Better Cities for Nature and All People.” Do we truly believe in the benefits of nature for health, happiness, climate change mitigation, resilience, sustainability, and biodiversity? Then we must ask: who deserves to enjoy these benefits? Everyone. Does everyone? No. Thus, we want to view our work through a lens of justice and equity: how do we create cities that are full of nature that supports our global needs for resilience and sustainability, and the nature of which is available to all for increased livability?

TNOC Festival is our community’s effort to be fierce in finding new ways to engage internationally and be more inclusive. Last June in Paris, hundreds from 52 countries  joined us for TNOC Summit (catch the vibe of that event here). The meeting was a huge success, but it also left us with a lingering thought: How many thousands couldn’t come because of the physical and economic toll it takes to travel? How much carbon pollution? We can do better.

TNOC’s Global Festival comes to you online, and offers us the ability to truly connect local place and ideas on a global scale for much broader perspectives and participation than any one meeting in any one city, could ever achieve. Join us.

 

DEC Conservationist Magazine Includes Winter Pruning Feature by Christina McLaughlin


“Pruning in late winter and early spring minimizes
dieback of the inner bark and helps the wound-healing process. Pruning cuts can dry out some in winter due to low humidity, so waiting to cut a damaged limb until late winter or early spring can improve the tree’s healing process.”

—DEC Urban and Community Forestry Partnership Coordinator Christina McLaughlin

See the current Conservationist here

2021 Council Membership Drive & Renewal: Just $25 ($10 for Students)

Do you enjoy the Council’s popular online resources, grant programs, social media, and other output?

Please take a moment to renew your membership or join the Council. It’s fast, easy, inexpensive, and means the world to this nonprofit.

Mailings are exceedingly rare, and your info is not shared.

Thank you!

Free DEC ReLeaf Webinar on Urban Forest Health on Jan 28th

NYSDEC will host the first NYS ReLeaf webinar of 2021 on January 28th at 1 PM on Urban Forest Health.

Jess Cancelliere and Rob Cole will give an overview of DEC’s Forest Health Program, including the Diagnostic Lab and the services it offers. They’ll also talk about Beech Leaf Disease and White Pine Decline, two issues likely to impact urban forests across New York in the coming years.

This webinar is approved for ISA and DEC Pesticide credits.

To register for the free event please visit: https://meetny.webex.com/meetny/onstage/g.php?MTID=e0d534d38a2f88b4fa36a4cb40278e74c

 

 

Creating More Equitable Urban Forests by Understanding and Responding to Historical Trauma

The author, Christine Carmichael (far left), with a group of volunteers at a street tree-planting event in Detroit, Michigan in 2015. All photos courtesy of the author.

Creating More Equitable Urban Forests by Understanding and Responding to Historical Trauma

By Christine E. Carmichael, Ph.D., Founder and Principal, Fair Forests Consulting, LLC

For the last couple of decades, research documenting inequitable urban forest coverage by race and income in the United States has grown. Far from being an issue relegated to one city or region in the U.S., it is now clear that whiter and wealthier neighborhoods across the country have more tree canopy coverage than neighborhoods with predominately non-white residents and those with lower median income.[1] [2] [3]

Read more…