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/677172
14 City Trees Urban foresters come together to learn and network at the annual SMA conference. Photo by Michelle Sutton by arborists, horticulturists, and land- scape architects who have brought their expertise in managed trees and landscapes to the table, contribut- ing to the now considerable body of knowledge in urban forestry that has emerged over recent decades. In more recent years, social scientists, plan- ners, ecologists, and geographers are weighing in and making significant con- tributions to urban forestry practice and our knowledge base. With many enthusiastic participants coming from a wide variety of educa- tional and professional backgrounds, a career in urban forestry can be difficult to visualize clearly. What is the career trajectory of an urban forester? What type of education should an urban forester have? Are urban foresters well networked? What is the highest pro - fessional recognition an urban forester can have? Do urban foresters get the professional respect and funding need- ed to get the job done? The answers to these questions depend upon whom you ask—their professional and educational background, where they work, and their area of specializa - tion. The diversity inherent in the world of urban forestry is stimulating and exciting—but creates difficulties as well. There are numerous allied professions that directly address urban forest man - agement, while professionals of many stripes indirectly make urban forestry management decisions, whether they realize it or not. Municipalities vary considerably in how they avail them - selves of urban forestry knowledge, contributing to this confusing picture of our profession. So where do urban foresters turn for professional development, education, or engagement? Clearly the Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA) is a long-standing leader in professional development for urban foresters with its track record of more than 50 years of annual conferences and more than a decade since the first Municipal Forestry Institute and the first SMA Arborist Exchange. Yet urban forestry confer- ences are offered by everyone from grassroots nonprofits to the Association of American Geographers. Green infra- structure and low impact development conferences are largely populated by engineers and other allied professionals who are thereby, in fact, planning signif- icant portions of the urban forest. EEEE Should future urban foresters pursue degrees in forestry, arboricul-