MFI Teaching
Cadre Members
• Karla Nagy –
Coordinator
of MFI 2022
• Claudia Alzate
• Darren Green
• John McNeil
• Leslie Berckes
• Michael Martini
• Michelle Cole
• Owen Croy
Qualification. I do love learning, especially all things horti-
culture (including arboriculture) and botany. Work sends me
to seminars; I'm like a kid in a candy store at these things.
I became an ISA Certified Arborist earlier this year, an occa-
sion that gave my parents great pride. My dad shares my
accomplishments with his clients who knew me when I was
working with him, and they are supportive and happy for
me. My parents live in Southern California and I grew up
here but our roots are in the pueblo of Jalpa (pop. ~ 417)
in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Our family still owns land
there and it's my dream and goal to help the family tran-
sition away from monocultural crops (like corn) to a more
sustainable form of business built on regenerating farmed
land with native trees. There's also a parcel of virgin forest
on the land with soil that has so much leaf litter on it, and
organic matter in it, that it's deep and coffee-brown—I'm in
awe of it. There are beautiful mountains around the pueblo.
I'm drawn to urban forestry because as I'm getting
older, I'm contemplating my purpose and how
to best be of service—the bigger picture of life.
Urban forests are critical to humanity's future. I
want to be a part of preserving and expanding tree
canopy for all the myriad benefits it brings us.
MFI provided the sense of camaraderie that it adver-
tises. Being in this space of shared interests and
goals was so energizing, my new friends and I
lamented that the week had to come to an end.
urban-forestry.com 21
This Peer Learning Group seems to have bonded
exceptionally well. Photo by Leslie Berckes
Colleen Berg (left) of the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources, Alyssa O'Brien of the State of New Mexico, and Jon
Matiuk of the City of Rochester Hills, Michigan get connected
during the meet-and-greet exercise. Photo by Owen Croy
