City Trees

4 CityTREES President's Message Sam Oludunfe City Trees Editor Guest Message Michelle Sutton Greetings! I'm Michelle Sutton, editor of City Trees since 2005. The SMA Board asked me to write a column for this issue because the SMA Executive Director position is in transition. It's my pleasure to keep working with the SMA leadership in my capacity as editor, as I continue to find writing, editing, and photography greatly rewarding. I am excited for you to see, in the next (March/April 2022) issue of City Trees, a beautifully photographed story about how David Moore (MFI Class of 2010) and his friend and busi- ness/creative partner Blake Shepard created an installation for Oakland, California's Autumn Lights Festival called "Palm Reflections." David and Blake used their technical prowess to convert plant conductivity data into a magical sound and light immersive experience that wowed the 3000 daily visi- tors to Autumn Lights and earned the Mayor's Choice Award. Working with David and Blake on this story had me remem- bering other art and performance related pieces of the past in City Trees. Consulting Community Forester Jenny Gulick explored the beauty and fascinating symbolism of Victorian-era tree stones in the July August 2013 issue of the magazine, and ever since, I've looked for these works of art in cemeteries. Often, there are no more than one or two tree stones in the whole cemetery, so one has the pleasure of searching them out among the big trees. In the July/August 2015 issue, we ran a story called "The Dance of Urban Forestry," about a performance in the Govalle neighborhood of Austin, Texas that involved the people, equipment, and machinery of the city's urban for- estry division. The choreographers of Forklift Danceworks harnessed the gymnastic grace of the arborists in this dance performance under a grand heritage pecan tree (Carya illinoinensis) for more than 2000 people. More recently, in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue, artist Gary Stutler lent us an image of his stunning charcoal and acrylic painting of a mature giant sequoia (SMA 2021 Urban Tree of the Year) in his Vallejo, California neigh- borhood. This image of Sequoiadendron giganteum so precisely captures the particular magic of the big tree/ cityscape juxtaposition that it will forever stick with me, and I remain grateful to Gary for sharing it with us. There are more such creative gems in the archives of City Trees and to come in this, your SMA Member magazine. Samuel (Sam) Olusina Oludunfe is the City Forester and Open Space Manager at the City of Chula Vista, California. His previous position was as Campus Forester and Assistant Superintendent of Facilities Management (Landscape Services) at the University of California, San Diego. Sam started his forestry career in 1978 when the Nigerian Federal Department of Forestry appointed him as a Field Overseer, working out of the Sokoto Field Office. An International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist/Utility/Municipal Specialist, an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ), and a National Recreation & Park Association (NRPA) Certified Park & Recreation Professional (CPRP), Sam obtained his Bachelor of Science (Forestry) degree in 1985. As of the recent SMA Conference in Louisville, he adds SMA President to his credentials. Read more about Sam in his Board Member profile in the May/June 2018 edition of City Trees. It was great meeting, in person, both old and new members of the SMA at the 57th Annual International Conference in beautreeful Louisville, Kentucky! The excel- lent ground work of the SMA Conference Programming Committee and the Local Organizing Committee ensured that the Conference lived up to its billing, and an enrich- ing learning experience and networking was had by all. The journey of a thousand miles starts with that first step forward. And it is not too early, at this time, to form a Conference Programming Committee for 2022's conference. You, the Society's members, are encour- aged to volunteer to serve on that committee or nomi- nate someone to do so. Actually, come closer and get plugged in: give SMA the benefit of your experience and expertise by joining one of the Society's committees. How has your city's urban forest fared in the last two years? For sure, municipal arboriculture didn't take a vacation for the coronavirus outbreak. Write in and tell us about your urban forest enhancement and man- agement activities. Better still, get your city Society of Municipal Arborists Accreditation. Your urban forest (and your city's administration) will thank you for it! Welcome to a semblance of the normal. Happy New Year!

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