City Trees

As municipal tree manag- ers, we know that healthy urban forests are an indicator of healthy and pleasant cities and of com- munity wellness. If we think of the most desirable neighborhoods in our cities—those where neighbors interact with neighbors, families gather in front yards, and citizens are engaged and proud of their streets and landscapes—one common denominator is often the presence of mature trees. While many of our constituents never see the forest through the trees, we know that their existence and impor- tance to quality of life is immeasurable. We also know that it takes an intervening hand, working with nature, to man- age and sustain those forests—they don't just grow and flourish on their own in today's harsh urban environments. We have urban forestry research and technology to thank for giving us the tools to do so. If you haven't heard by now, the President's 2018 Federal Budget eliminates funding for urban and community forestry through the U.S. Forest Service. That funding provides finan- cial, technical, research, and educational support to urban forestry programs throughout the nation. To say that this mea- sure could have enormous implications for our efforts in every city and state is an understatement. We rely on partners at every level, including at the federal level, to help build better neighborhoods and improve quality of life for every citizen. Every dollar is leveraged to the maximum extent possible to reach those goals. It is critical that your representatives at the federal level hear that message. If you are not engaged in an effort to get that word out to your decision-makers, I urge you to do so. Every phone call, email and letter in each congressional office is logged and counted. Join forces with your state and regional urban forest councils and your local non-profit organizations and help make our voices heard. Ask your colleagues and friends to do the same. Funding for urban and community forestry funding is a tiny percentage of the US Forest Service budget, but it goes a very long way towards making America beautiful and healthy. I hope you have heard by now that we have expanded our SMA Student Intern program. It's not just for summer internships anymore! If you have a project you could use a student's help with— any time of year, and for a flexible length of time—consider applying for a project-based student internship. Our goal is to make student interns more available to cities and at the same time, provide a meaningful urban forestry experience for students. If you have a college, university, junior college, or technical school near you, you can contact them directly about students who may be interested in an internship. You may want to consider a student intern who is majoring in a course of study other than one directly related to urban forestry. Perhaps you could use help with marketing or communications or public relations? Student interns may just be the help you are look- ing for, and we think a clever way to introduce them to urban forestry! Students who are not majoring in a natural resource course of study may not have a chance to see what munici- pal arboriculture is all about if they didn't have an internship opportunity like this. You can read all about it on our website, but basically, we will reimburse the city for the $15 hourly wage for the intern for up to 40 hours per week, for up to 10 weeks. This is a great opportunity for you to get some help while influencing a young student about what it means to be an urban forestry professional. And remember that every person who is positive- ly impacted becomes a future advocate for the urban forest, regardless of what career path they take. So, please take advantage of the extra help and of being a mentor to a student. The application deadline for a proj- ect-based internship is Aug 1. The application is on our web- site, so check it out: www.urban-forestry.com. To thank you, your registration fee for this fall's SMA Conference in Tulsa is on us if you have a summer or project-based intern in 2017. And as always, if you have questions or need more informa- tion, you can email us at urbanforestry@prodigy.net. President's Message Joe Benassini Executive Director's Message Jerri J. LaHaie 6 City Trees

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