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/143980
New Meets Cutting Edge Urban Forestry in Renton, Washington Sugar maples (Acer saccharum) line the main drive to Renton's Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park. Photos by Terry Flatley except where indicated Certified Municipal Specialist Terry Flatley is Renton, Washington's first city forester; he began his employment there in 2002. Flatley is enjoying building a new urban forestry program and bringing awareness of the urban forest to the community. Please tell us about your educational and work background. What are the some of the current priority projects and/or hot topics in Renton Urban Forestry? Terry Flatley: I earned a BS in 1976 in Forest Management/Natural Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin. I've held forestry-related positions with the U.S. Forest Service, State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, private tree care companies, and forestry consultants. I've been an urban forestry consultant for over 25 years. Two of my most memorable job experiences were working for the U.S. Forest Service in Alpine, Arizona as a forestry technician and with the Institute of Forest Genetics in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Before working for the City of Renton, I worked for 13 years with the City of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where I was an arborist, then city forester, and finally parks director before moving to Renton. TF: The City of Renton developed the Urban and Community Forestry Development Plan in 2009. It was prepared using an urban forestry task force of consultants and nine City staff members selected from each department. City Council approved the Plan, which included information on Renton's tree history, current status of the urban forest, the benefits trees provide, goals and objectives of the Plan, and a ten-year implementation schedule with budget estimates. 12 Initially the Plan contained two dozen strategies and over 100 actions for our new program. There were many strategies the task force wanted to accomplish in the first five years, but these have been re-programmed for future years due to a lack of funding. However, a few City Trees