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…

The LA River runs through it

The Los Angeles River is about to undergo a major change. A huge investment is being made to transform the river to enhance water quality, provide green infrastructure, and improve access and environmental equity by way of the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration project. Rendering from the USACE LA River Study It is a massive,…

How will climate change affect your trees? EPA’s Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool

Climate change effects are not expected to be equally distributed. Changes in precipitation, temperature, and sea-level will be “spotty” – some places will see decreases, some will see increases, and increases will be higher in some places than in others. US EPA has developed a Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) to relate anticipated…

Networks and collaborations: Stew-MAP

In a previous post, we talked about green infrastructure social networks. Social scientists with the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station have developed a tool to assess these networks – it’s called Stew-MAP. The Stewardship Mapping & Assessment project (Stew-MAP) seeks to answer the questions: Who, what, where, why and how are environmental stewardship groups…

Learning about advanced levels of tree risk assessment for consulting arborists

The American Society of Consulting Arborists (ASCA) is the industry’s premier professional association focusing solely on arboricultural consulting. This week the Association is having its 2014 Annual Conference. Hundreds of consulting arborists from across North America are here to improve their practice as arboricultural consultants. An advanced technical program included discussions of legal issues consultants face…

Collaborating for clean water in cities

The Clean Water Act passed in 1972. Great progress has been made. In many large cities, rivers and harbors that served as sewers behind industrial lands now serve as amenities facing residential and commercial lands, bringing economic development,  water access, and jobs. But a lot of work remains. While many of these waterways are no…