City Trees

David Moore is the recipient of the 2019 Arbor Day Foundation Trailblazer Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in arboriculture and/or urban forestry by professionals under 35. At 34, David is the youngest Past President of the New York State Urban Forestry Council (2015-2017). After working for ten years in New York City for New York Restoration Project and then for NYC Parks, David is now the Senior Tree Supervisor for Oakland, CA in their Public Works Department. Within his first year there, David secured a million-dollar grant for a citywide tree inventory and 50-year urban forestry master plan for Oakland. Here, he synthesizes what experience and mentors have taught him—and offers seven pieces of counsel for his colleagues' consideration. Find or develop your niche by putting yourself at the intersection of two different specialties. This is advice from Georgetown Professor James Allen Smith, who was one of my mentors when I was in graduate school there, studying environmental and regulatory public policy. The conversation came about one day when I asked him for career advice over a cup of tea. He explained to me that in today's job market, there are a growing number of competitors in any one field of expertise, so if you can combine two different complementary specializations that are unique to your interests and abilities, you will carve your own niche at the intersection of those two fields. Dr. Smith knew this from experience, as he combined his passion for history with his passion for philan- thropy, becoming one of the world's leading experts on the history of American philanthropy. In my career, my forestry background equips me with technical and scientific knowledge of trees, while my public policy background gives me the perspective and skills needed to operate effectively within a government bureaucracy. This combination of skills really comes in handy for someone who works with trees every day within a municipal government, which, by the way, I find to be an exciting and rewarding career path! Government programs for public services are based on scientific facts, research, and statistics. I can best achieve the goals of our local government by being the mouthpiece of that scientific information, using language that policymakers can understand, as well as strategizing the everyday operations of an urban forestry program with the city government's overar- ching programs and goals. "Speaking the language" helped me secure the CAL FIRE urban forestry man- agement grant for Oakland. In 2018, I applied for—and the City was awarded—just under a million dollars to fund Oakland's first-ever citywide tree inventory and 50-year urban forestry master plan. Estimated date of completion for the grant is March, 2022. Seven Considerations for By David Moore, Senior Tree Supervisor, City of Oakland, California Photos courtesy of David Moore 12 CityTREES

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