New York State Urban Forestry Council
Board Member Sophia Rodbell graduated
from the 2020 Municipal Forestry Institute
(MFI), funded in part by a scholarship
from the Council. MFI 2020 was held in
February in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Can you tell us about your job
background and education?
Sophia Rodbell: I started working at Davey Resource
Group Inc. (DRG) after graduating from Roanoke
College in 2014. I started as an inventory arborist,
moved to urban forester, took on more responsibility
as a site manager, and then became a project manager
when I joined our NYC team to manage the urban for-
estry component of our office. Prior to moving to
NYC I was on the road 365 days a year, working up
and down the East Coast, all across the Midwest, as
far south as Texas and as far west as California. DRG
gave me the chance to see all parts of the United
States—as long as they had trees, I was there.
I am currently a DRG Project Manager; I work with
a team of five to ten arborists in different places
in their careers. This is the same work I previously
did, but on a regional scale. We help mid-Atlantic
clients—from Northern Virginia to Central New York—
with their urban forests. In more typical times, we
also have the opportunity to send staff across the
country to assist other regional offices; it is awesome
seeing them have the same experience I received.
How did you decide to go to MFI?
SR: The first I heard of MFI was a couple summers
ago at the New York ReLeaf summer conference at
Rochester Institute of Technology. At the industry-fa-
mous ReLeaf after-hours hangout, Council President
Karen Emmerich, DRG's Lori Brockelbank, and Plan-It
Geo's Chris Pfeiffer all talked fondly of their time at
MFI. I learned that MFI was leadership training specifi-
cally tailored to urban foresters and allied professions.
What was the most surprising
thing to you about MFI?
SR: The most surprising thing to me about MFI
was how intense it was. You are with the same
people—in our case 65 participants—from sunup
to sundown. By the end of the week you are really
sad to leave; everyone goes to the airport together
like one big family, and you can just tell that these
people will be a part of your life for a long time.
Sophia Rodbell at the 2019 NY ReLeaf
Conference. Photo by Michelle Sutton
MFI Reflection:
Sophia Rodbell
28 CityTREES
