Matt Stewart is Upper Arlington, Ohio's Forestry
Supervisor and Sidewalk Maintenance Program
Manager. Through the UCFS Arborist Exchange
Program, Stewart went to Cambridge, Massachusetts
for four days in June, 2024 to learn from City
Arborist/Tree Warden of 17 years David Lefcourt and
from Assistant City Arborist Abby Bentley. Lefcourt
is a UCFS Board Member and Past President and
Bentley is a 2024 Municipal Forestry Institute
graduate who worked as a Senior Forester for
NYC Parks before coming to Cambridge in 2020.
Upper Arlington, a bedroom community of Columbus,
Ohio, has a population of about 36,000 people.
Three folks make up the in-house forestry crew.
Cambridge's population is about 118,000 and as
such, enjoys a larger staff and budget for urban
forestry. One of the ways Stewart hopes to lighten
the load for his small crew is by doing more bare-
root tree planting, less balled-and-burlapped.
"The day I spent with Abby learning about
Cambridge's tree planting program and visiting
their bare-root nursery at one of their municipal
golf courses was really enjoyable and interesting,"
Stewart says. "Cambridge heels their bare-root
tree deliveries in compost and mulch—and irri-
gates them—to buy themselves more time before
planting. They fit a surprising number of trees into
a small nursery space. A contractor does their B&B
planting for the species and sizes that require it,
and the in-house crew does the bare-root planting.
We would like to pursue that model here."
Bare-root planting could open the door to more
volunteer involvement in tree planting in Upper
Arlington. "Currently, we have a Friends group
that is mostly engaged in invasive plant removal,"
Stewart says. He was struck by Cambridge's pro-
grams, built over many years by Lefcourt, that
create buy-in from residents—like its Forest >>
Matt Stewart's
UCFS Arborist Exchange
to Cambridge, MA
By Michelle Sutton, Editor, City Trees
28 CityTREES
