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/1506882
4 CityTREES President's Message Earl Eutsler Executive Director's Message Leslie Berckes We have a great group of mem- bers who call SMA home! Your knowledge and insights have been invaluable as we navi- gate a new strategic direction. As I mark one year with the organization, I want to person- ally thank you all for being so supportive and willing to share your ideas. Your energy and excitement make this job fun and reward- ing. I hope that you're feeling the positive changes too! To that end, we have exciting things in the works. Your responses to the membership survey, documented in this issue, have helped us better understand what top- ics are on your mind, what you'd like to learn more about, and how you see yourself and your work. Already, the Editorial Review Committee for City Trees is look- ing at articles and features that will bring you more of the information you said you wanted to see. Additionally, the survey told us a lot about what it means to do your job each day and that the language used to describe that work matters. Sixty percent of members and fifty percent of non-members use the terms urban or city forester/forestry to describe themselves and their work. Members from outside of the United States told us that the word "municipal" is not used to describe a community and therefore municipal arborist simply is not a term that can be used to describe their work. Others told us that while they understand what a municipal arborist is, it's really not what they do because they work for a county, non-profit, state or provincial government, or private business. All of this member feedback makes it clear—our organi- zation needs to honor our past and the strong foundation built while looking to a future that is more inclusive of the many people who make or support daily tree planting and care decisions in communities. My role and the Board's role, as the people who are honored to lead this organi- zation, is to guide us all into the future. You'll soon see an updated look, brand, and website that we think will make you proud to be a member, along with providing you valu- able resources to keep doing what you do best—planting and caring for trees. Stay tuned—the best is yet to come! Registration for the newly updated 2024 Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI) is open! The 2024 MFI will be held February 25-March 1, 2024 on stunning Jekyll Island, one of the four Golden Isles along the Georgia coast. If you have attended MFI in the past and found it as beneficial as I did, please encour- age emerging professionals in your networks to attend. As you will recall, the Society used 2023 as an MFI focus year and worked with alumni, teaching team, organiza- tional partners, and industry leaders to refresh the curric- ulum—all in an effort to ensure MFI meets the industry's current needs for leadership development in Urban Forestry. I want to personally thank everyone who took the time to give thoughtful feedback, thanks to which MFI 2024 promises to be even more relevant, timely, and useful! Looking to the more immediate future, I encourage you to register for the World Forum on Urban Forests in Washington, DC, October 16-20, 2023. When you review the current agenda you'll notice that sessions that align with SMA's typical conference offerings are tagged as "SMA Applicable." By all means, attend the sessions of greatest interest to you, but know that these sessions are guaranteed to be relevant for our membership. In addition to the daytime conference offerings, be on the lookout for an SMA-hosted social close to the con- ference location for the evening of Tuesday, October 17. This event will be open to all, and will hopefully attract not only SMA members but others from the global com- munity who are in town for the World Forum, provid- ing us an excellent opportunity to network and wel- come new potential members to our organization. Lastly, since our typical conference has been folded into the World Forum this year, we will be holding the annual SMA Member Business Meeting virtually on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. In addition to reviewing the many changes and celebrating the major accomplishments that have occurred in 2023, we are excited to consider a few proposed bylaws revisions and to announce our awardees for the year. Looking forward to seeing you there!