16 City Trees
Angela Hanson was born and raised in Minnesota, where
she attended the University of Minnesota and earned a BS in
Ecology. Her interest and work in ecology and animal behavior
led to her interest in studying systems, including the complex
and messy ones involving the human animal and its relationship
with natural and built systems.
Hanson worked for the University of Minnesota GIS Soils
Lab, the Minnesota Depar tment of Natural Resources, the
Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community's Land Depar tment, and the
City of Burnsville's Natural Resources Depar tment before
moving to Austin in 2010 to work for the City of Austin's
Forestry Unit, where she served as the City's urban forester
until early 2015.
Hanson's approach to forestry has been one of system-scale
and that system's interaction with the human values and desires
that go well beyond simply reveling in the beauty of nature. In
aligning to this broader set of values and civic needs, she devel-
oped many partnerships and interdisciplinary teams as well as
a tremendous amount of empathy for passionate civil servants
and those they serve. This drives her current work on the City
of Austin's Innovation Office team, whose role is to work across
government departments to build capacity for innovative meth-
ods and technology and design collaborations among, across,
and outside of government to address the wicked, complex civic
challenges that cities face, such as citizen engagement, chronic
drought, homelessness, and sustainable development.
In her spare time, Hanson enjoys racing sailboats, cooking,
gardening, slinging puns, and riding motorcycles in foreign
countries.
Meet SMA Board
Member Angela Hanson
The SavATree Consulting Group provides
Actionable Tree Intelligence for tree and tree
canopy management, including:
• Tree canopy assessments
• Tree inventories
• Tree risk assessments
• Tree preservation services
For more information about the unique
expertise offered by the SavATree Consulting
Group, please visit www.savatree.com/
consulting.
The SavATree Consulting Group is proud to be a
corporate member of the Society of Municipal Arborists.
savatree.com
Trees | Shrubs | Lawn | Deer | Consulting
Envision a
Sustainable Future
Call today (888) 750-7977
