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/625396
12 City Trees Carmel, Indiana has been on the Money magazine "Best Places to Live" list several times in recent years, ranking #1 in the nation in 2012 and #3 in 2014. Adding another feather to the City's cap, Carmel's urban forestry program has recently become SMA-accredited, under the leadership of urban forest- er Daren Mindham. Congrats to Daren and to Carmel! Can you tell us about your educational trajectory? Daren Mindham: As a teenager in the 1990s in rural southwest Wisconsin, I knew I wanted to go to college for a degree in natu- ral resources. After looking at wildlife and forestry majors, I was told urban forestry would be the next big trend. So, I decided that the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point was the way to go, as it has a great forestry program. I graduated with a B.S. in Urban Forestry in 1999. Please tell us about your career trajectory and some peak moments. DM: After a few years in Wisconsin with a landscape company learning the tools of the trade and simply how the business world works, I decided that I better use my degree to get a job working for a city. I packed my bags and moved to Indianapolis to work for the Parks and Recreation Department. A year after that, it was on to Carmel, Indiana (a suburb of Indianapolis), where I am today molding the urban forest of a suburban community that has more than doubled in size in the last 15 years. Peak career moments: • Discovering the emerald ash borer in Carmel, Indiana, when at the time we were a far outlying southern point (2006) • Attending the Municipal Forestry Institute, Lake Arrowhead, California (2007) • Receiving a Home Depot Foundation Award of Excellence for Community Trees - Carmel was run- ner-up and received $25,000 (2008) • Being one of the 22 professionals in North America invited by Dr. Greg McPherson, USFS, to the Municipal Tree Planting Initiatives Workshop in Los Angeles, CA (2010) • Earning Accreditation with the Society of Municipal Arborists for the Carmel Urban Forestry Program (2015) The Pressures and Opportunities of Growth: Daren Mindham and Carmel Indiana's SMA Accreditation Located in the center of Old Town Carmel, the Arts & Design District is home to interior designers, art galleries, specialty shops, and restaurants. Photo by City of Carmel, Nancy Heck