City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/475555
14 City Trees At that time, street trees were managed by the Parks Operations Division, and forest trees man- aged by my division. With the Greenworks goal for tree canopy assigned to our department, and the merger of Fairmount Park with the Department of Recreation, it was decided that all tree efforts—the management of the whole urban forest—should be in one place. With that, the new Division of Urban Forestry and Ecosystem Management was formed. This combined the experience of 100 years of street tree management with 15 years of intensive forest management. Not being an arborist myself, I am lucky to have a strong staff of foresters and certified arborists to rely on to help create and implement the approach- es we have developed over the past five years to meet the Greenworks goal for trees. My experience of looking at the broad view of ecosystem manage- ment has been a good complement to the staff, enabling them to move beyond streets or parks to considering the whole urban forest system. Peak moments of your career thus far? JB: I led the City of Pittsburgh Planning Department team in the Nine Mile Run Restoration in Frick Park. This was the first environmental restoration that the city had ever undertaken, and it was in Pittsburgh's largest municipal park. That project has become a national model for urban watershed restoration. Making the decision late in my career to move from a mid-sized town (and my home town) to a big new city with big new challenges was a major life change. There was a steep learning curve and significant changes to my job responsibilities over the past nine years, but it has been an exciting opportunity for me, and one that I am so glad that I took. The opportunity to build a new division and to create new approaches to urban forest management has been the most significant undertaking of my career. What are the some of the current priority proj- ects in Philadelphia urban forestry? JB: Climate change and the effects of globalization on our forests are the topics that we are focused on primarily. The warming trends and extreme weather events that are predicted for our region, along with the continuing influx of foreign pests and diseases, are shaping our urban forestry management. Our urban forests are the natural-industrial power plants of our city. Nearly two million people are dependent on them for clear air, controlled tem- peratures, and managed stormwater. The ability of NE Philly Tree Tender leader Hasan Malik discusses the merits of flowering trees with homeowners. our forests to survive, thrive, and continue doing their work in the coming decades will determine if our citizens can also survive in this city. Therefore, we are in the process of significantly changing our approaches to forest restoration for the forested areas of the park system. Instead of restoring to the conditions of 100 years ago, we are now working to prepare for the forests that will likely exist here 100 years from now. We are developing large-scale (30 acre/12 ha) experimental sites in which we will test a variety of tree species that are on the northern end of their range here. On these plots we will also try to find more cost- effective ways to restore forests that don't require the level of maintenance of invasive plants that we can no lon- ger provide. In addition, we are installing deer fence around each of these sites; deer are our most signifi- cant deterrent to forest regeneration and health. As we look at how changes in future climate may affect Philadelphia as a whole, we know that one of the greatest threats to public safety during a storm is downed trees on power lines and on streets. We have an unevenly aged tree population, with many of our street trees planted between 80 and 100 years ago. A complete inventory of trees and their condi- tions, along with a robust asset management sys- tem, will allow us to document where the greatest threats are and help us make the budgetary case to manage them. We are in the process of acquiring that system.