8 CityTREES
In This Issue: Contributors
Interested in writing for City
Trees? Please send your
one-paragraph story pitch
to Editor Michelle Sutton.
Maegan Blansett is a geospatial
analyst living in Denver, Colorado
and working on urban tree canopy
assessments for communities all
over the world. Her favorite part
of her job is being able to com-
municate the data science behind
her work to others and watching the
results get implemented in real life.
Fred Chalfant is an Urban Forestry
Technician with TreeBaltimore
within the Baltimore City
Department of Recreation and
Parks. He is an ISA Certified
Arborist, TRAQ qualified. A native
Baltimorean, Fred has a lifetime
passion for the city's trees.
Steve Cothrel is a longtime SMA
member, an SMA Past President,
and served for many years as
Editorial Review Committee
Chair for City Trees. He recently
retired after more than 35
years in urban forestry and
parks. Steve remains active
with ISA and on several SMA com-
mittees along with managing a local non-profit.
David Moore is the Senior Tree
Supervisor for the City of Oakland
Department of Public Works.
He is an MFI 2010 graduate,
a past president of the New
York State Urban Forestry
Council, and a recipient of the
Arbor Day Foundation Trailblazer
Award. David is an electronic music
composer, recording artist, sound engineer, and DJ.
Blake Shepard is a Licensed Marriage and Fam-
ily Therapist (LMFT), musician, computer tech-
nician, 3D animator, and digital fine artist.
Miche Palmer is an urban forester
and arborist in New York City who
manages street tree planting
contracts and teaches arboricul-
ture classes. When not talking
trees, Miche can be found
running through the parks of all
five boroughs and upstate New
York, chasing the marathon dream.
Becky Schwartz is the Senior Manager
of Urban Forestry at American
Forests. Prior to that, she worked
as an Urban Forester with
Washington, DC's Urban Forestry
Division. Becky is a 2020 grad-
uate of the Municipal Forestry
Institute and lives in Cambridge,
Massachusetts with her wife, Adriann.
Alex Smith is the owner of Division
Street Landscaping in Baltimore
and an experienced horticulturist
with an emphasis on the urban
landscape and workforce
development. His path to
a career in horticulture—15
years thus far—was a unique
one. While in prison, Alex helped
create a horticulture program that built greenhouses
and installed garden beds; the program has since
spread to other prisons in the state of Maryland.
