Boxwoods still hurting
Many boxwoods are still hurting from the harsh winter, even though it is June. These boxwoods live in West Harrison, NY with their proud owners. They are receiving TLC from SavATree and should look better soon.”
Launching a coalition to enhance resilience in the Greater Baltimore region #GBWCLaunch
Today I was proud to be part of the launch of the Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition. The Coalition is a voluntary alliance of agencies, NGOs, and professional associations supporting a vision for a connected green infrastructure network in the Greater Baltimore region. The Coalition will have four focus areas: resilience; biodiversity; equity; and, discovery. …
Treasuring the Chesapeake with the Chesapeake Bay Trust
I had a great time Friday night at the 17th Annual Treasure the Chesapeake Celebration in Annapolis. The event is a fundraiser to support the work of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. The Chesapeake Bay Trust is a nonprofit grant-making organization dedicated to improving the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers through environmental education, community…
The Baltimore Ecosystem Study: Urban heterogeneity as driver and outcome
Last week the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) had its spring meeting. Discussion focused on the theory of urban heterogeneity. If that sounds like it may be confusing, we got a great example (shown below) of how the patchy distribution of ash trees in Baltimore and the patchy invasion of emerald ash borer may cause unequally…
Cleaning Urban Stormwater
The Chesapeake Stormwater Network is a network of nearly 7,000 stormwater professionals, primarily, but not exclusively, within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. They do a lot of great things – one of them is helping to clean up urban stormwater with BUBBA. No, BUBBA is not my fun-loving uncle. It is an acronym for Best Urban BMP in…
How do you care for a 500-year old oak tree?
I’ve been fortunate to help care for some very special trees. When I worked for Maryland DNR, I helped care for the Wye Oak in Wye Mills, MD, which stood for decades as the National Champion white oak (the largest known white oak in the US). I was also around when that grand tree came…
When will this tree fall down?
I drive, walk, or run by this tree just about every day. It has no bark most of the way around the base, and the wood beneath is significantly decayed. It looks like it could fall down any minute – right? I took the picture of the tree from the roadway. It is a divided…
Obstacles to urban greening: similarities from Baltimore to Poland
Last fall, we talked about a paper we collaborated on with Michael Battaglia of Michigan Tech Research Institute, Geoff Buckley of Ohio University, and Morgan Grove of U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station Baltimore Urban Field Station. The paper considered two East Baltimore neighborhoods that have potential for enhanced tree canopy but have social barriers…
Advancing sustainable urban forests
The Reception and Annual Meeting of the Sustainable Urban Forests Coaliton were great successes. Wednesday night we had our reception at the U.S. Botanic Garden on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. SUFC Chair Don Winsett addresses attendees at the Reception We are grateful to our host, the U.S. Botanic Garden and to our Sponsor, Congressman…
TreeBaltimore: Growing Baltimore’s tree canopy one tree at a time
Last week we had a great time at TreeBaltimore’s winter gathering at Cylburn Arboretum’s Vollmer Center. A packed house broke bread and heard about what’s been happening and what’s on the horizon for TreeBaltimore. The effort provides technical and resource assistance in a variety of ways, from free trees to how to plant a tree…
