SMA Member Athena Beshur's Santa Fe, New
Mexico-based landscape firm, Seeds of Wisdom
LLC, has increasingly focused on the role of
trees and shrubs in the semi-arid urban environ-
ment. At the same time, Beshur has completed
an Oregon State University (OSU) Graduate
Certificate in Urban Forestry and Master's Degree
in Natural Resources through its Ecampus.
"I had been looking for the right graduate degree
program for several years," she says. "I was looking
for a discipline that united botany, urban centers,
people, design, and trees. However, I owned my
small landscape firm and couldn't afford to close
the doors to go to school. I found Oregon State's
highly regarded online urban forestry program, which
made my education financially possible," she says.
Beshur's work project sites became her field
study sites, and her urban forestry capstone
project was a documentation of an i-Tree Eco-
based inventory and analysis of trees in Santa Fe,
which was submitted to the City in 2017. It was
conducted in partnership with the City, Santa Fe
Extension Master Gardeners, and the Santa Fe
Municipal Tree Board, on which she served.
"We recognized the need to have a core group of
volunteers for the inventory project," she says. The
Master Gardeners were game to be partners. "It
has been an organic style process," Beshur says.
"Originally we were just going to get a first round
of data to show value for a paid project, but with a
committed group of volunteers and the exponen-
tial value of a citizen-driven inventory, we have just
kept on going." The Santa Fe Public Spaces Tree
Inventory project webpage can be seen here.
John Muñoz is City of Santa Fe Parks and Recreation
Director. "Athena, Municipal Tree Board Chair
Katherine O'Brien and the Board as a whole, the
Master Gardeners, and other volunteer groups
have been amazing and have pushed forward more
mindful urban forestry planning in our City," he says.
Muñoz says that the inventory project was initiated
by the Municipal Tree Board under the leadership of
Katherine O'Brien to determine the quantity and con-
dition of trees in Santa Fe's public areas. "Athena was
then instrumental and relentless in the group's quest
to obtain the Tree Plotter platform, which allows for
information to be available instantly and provides
an overall view of our urban forest," Muñoz says.
"The group continues their work and by the end of
this year, a quarter of the City's parks will have been
inventoried." Eventually, they would like to inven-
tory the trees in all 923 acres (374 ha) of City parks.
Muñoz regards the inventory data as critical and
important as new personnel join the City and as
existing personnel help forge strategy to promote
the health and vitality of trees in this semi-arid
environment. "Sharing the value and training end-
users will be our focus and next steps," he says.
Santa Fe Partnerships
Fuel a Young Urban
Forestry Program
With contributions from Athena Beshur, Guy
Meilleur, Michelle Sutton, and John Muñoz
12 CityTREES
