was brilliant," Lori says. "I learned a ton from her
about site analysis and about tree diversity, and we
did the Fairmount Flower Show together for many
years." In 1996, Lori became the District Manager
for Fairmount Park, and in 2017, she became Urban
Forestry Director for the entire Parks system.
"Forty years ago, my colleague Walt Stankus would
take me on tree walks around Fairmount Park on
our lunch hour; that's how and when I started
focusing on trees," she says. She became a Certified
Arborist and would volunteer for Tree Philly, giving
out trees and tree planting and care advice. So
it was a natural evolution from horticulture into
urban forestry over time and when Lori was hired
as Urban Forestry Director in 2017, she jumped
at the chance to attend MFI that same year.
"MFI programming really laid it all out in terms
of leadership, goal-setting, and how to get things
done in the municipal context," she says. "It was
also great training in communicating the value of
the urban forest to the public. I made professional
relationships at MFI that I treasure to this day."
Some of the challenges Lori and her team face in
Philadelphia include EAB and large-scale removals
of ash monocultures—something that has only rein-
forced her push to diversify the City's tree inventory.
Root-heaved sidewalks—especially from London
planes—that homeowners must address is another.
She also wishes she had the budget to hire more
employees skilled in tree work to add to the crews of
skilled workers she has. However, she notes that "not
everything is an emergency … we get to plant lots of
trees and have wonderful Arbor Day celebrations!"
Lori enjoys the challenge of communicating with
constituents; "I have to be the level-headed person
who speaks kindly to the homeowner who is facing
repairing the sidewalk, for example," she says. "I com-
municate options and share my knowledge and use
each encounter as a chance to educate folks about
why the trees are so valuable." Lori has of course
been intimately involved with the creation of the
Philly Tree Plan, the City's first urban forest master
plan, which is expected to be released late in 2021.
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