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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1163463
www.urban-forestry.com 15 urban forest management plans, provided the impetus for Owen to develop all-new policies for urban forest management for the City. In 1995, he was promoted to Surrey Manager of Parks, a position he held for the next twen- ty-two years. In this position, he was responsible for park planning and design, park construction, park maintenance, urban forestry, the City's film office, special events, marina operations, and cemeteries. He was also an instructor in the City's Management 101 and Leadership programs. Recognizing the need for a separate special- ized urban forestry group, Owen formed a new section for urban forestry and environmental programs in the year 2000. The urban forestry section has now grown to approximately 40 staff and a large contract work force. Today, Surrey is an SMA-Accredited City with a thriving urban forest; the City has won numerous awards for its environmental and urban forestry programs. In 1995, Owen attended his first Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA) conference. He was very impressed by the friendliness and camaraderie of the attendees; he decided to be an active part of SMA to learn from the more experienced city foresters and city arborists and to help the organization as a vol- unteer. Within a few years, he joined the SMA Board and began working on various committees. He was involved in the merger of the Municipal Arborists and Urban Foresters Society (MAUFS) & SMA, helped hire the first full-time SMA staff, and hosted the 1999 SMA Conference in Surrey. Owen has missed only one SMA conference in the last 22 years. He is now a Life Member of the SMA, continues to serve as the SMA Board Liaison to the ISA, serves on the Editorial Review Committee, and has been involved in teaching the Municipal Specialist preparation course. In addition to serving the SMA Board directly, Owen has served as a Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI) cadre member since its inception in 2006, a role that he enjoys immensely. Owen began to teach urban forestry at UBC as a sessional lecturer five years ago. After retiring from the City of Surrey in 2017, he increased his service to the university, where he is now an adjunct professor, teaching in both the Bachelor of Urban Forestry Program and in the summer program where international students come to learn the basics of urban forestry. He also does committee work for the International Society of Arboriculture; presently, he is the Chair of the Board-Certified Master Arborist Test Committee. The last two years have seen Owen very busy as an invited lecturer. In this capacity, he has been to Asia several times and has been invited to a number of North American cities to provide his perspectives on leadership, building bridges between city operations and non-profit organiza- tions, and on various other aspects of municipal forestry management. From time to time, he has been involved in providing expert testimony in various proceedings or providing advice to local municipalities in matters related to urban forestry. He has also written several articles for urban for- estry magazines and contributed to a chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Urban Forestry. Owen firmly believes that he has been blessed with a wonderful career and feels that continuing to stay involved through the SMA and MFI allows him to give back to the municipal forestry profession in a mean- ingful way. He is lucky to have a supportive spouse (Sheena) who keeps him grounded when he starts to fly off in several different directions at once. She has learned the lingo of urban forestry over time, and has even taken to pointing out interesting tree-related things that he should photograph for his students. Owen among the redwoods at Surrey's Mound Farm Park. Photo courtesy of Tom Zytaruk/Surrey Now-Leader Scaling the climbing wall at SMA's 2010 conference in Albuquerque. Photo by Paul Johnson courtesy of Owen Croy