City Trees

4 CityTREES President's Message Rachel Habig-Myers Executive Director's Message Leslie Berckes It's fall-time conference season! Your UCFS Board of Directors and I have been busy representing the organization at events across the United States. All of this travel culminates on November 18 and 19 in Chicago when we hold our UCFS Annual Conference in conjunction with the Partners in Community Forestry Conference and our friends at the Arbor Day Foundation. This flurry of conference travel kicked off with the ISA 100th Anniversary Celebration and International Conference in Atlanta. UCFS is a proud Professional Affiliate of ISA, and we work closely with them to represent the urban and community forestry branch of arboriculture. As you'll recall, this year, we assisted ISA on the Job Task Analysis for the Municipal Specialist credential. We're eager to share the results of that process with you very soon! Next, I was back in Atlanta for the American Public Works Association (AWPA) annual conference where Des Moines, Iowa City Forester Shane McQuillan, ISA Director of Credentialing Services Luana Vargas, and I shared a presentation entitled: Tree Trilogy—Treating your Urban Forest as a Critical Asset. Many of you, our members, work within a Public Works department, and we look forward to continuing to represent your interests with allied professional groups like APWA and others. Finally, UCFS Board Members David Lefcourt and Jamie King helped kick off our first in-person Member and Friends Meet- Ups at the New England Chapter ISA and MAC-ISA annual conferences. These new UCFS Meet-Ups are a direct result of the Professional Development Committee's work on the overall UCFS Strategic Plan, which calls us to build on the camara- derie part of our mission by "growing kinship and belonging for all." We know that the Meet-Ups will be a great chance to socialize, share knowledge, and learn in order to be at your most confident. Additional Member and Friends Meet-Ups are scheduled across the country. Be sure to keep your eye on our Events calendar or plan to host one of your own! I'll wrap this message by saying how lucky I feel to be able to represent you and your important urban and community forestry work. The work you do is valuable, needed, and necessary; know that UCFS and your fellow members are in your corner! This is the time of year when I find myself reflecting on the important work accomplished, planning for the future, and finally feeling relief from worry about whether a given tree's leaves should be changing color yet or not. Like most years, this particular year has been one of losses and gains, both personally and in our urban forest. No matter what you have been handed in 2024, I hope everyone has had moments that struck you as peaceful, joyful, successful, and that you were able to be present and appreciate those moments. I try to acknowledge and appreciate the simplest gains, like finding a parking space in the shade. In that regard, 2024 was a notable success! I find myself reflecting on the seeming constancy of trees, the way people seem to group them into the "always there" and "unchanging" categories of objects in our environment. Science shows us more and more of the benefits of these large "permanent" plants—among other things that they can help us feel safe and secure when life changes. How many times have I seen residents openly grieving the loss of a tree in their neighborhood? It stands to reason that they feel a bigger loss because of the seeming permanence of trees. I think urban foresters risk losing that security blanket when we gain the ability to "read" trees. If we don't take care to still find ways to appreciate them, we can easily pick apart most trees into various defects and start to lose the magic that so many others find in simply living amongst our large green friends. I find that sharing my love and my concerns with colleagues and others in my community helps greatly in remembering to appreciate the forest resources around us, and reminds me to enjoy rather than to overthink. One of my favorite ways to find community is at confer- ences. I love them because they kick-start my reflecting and planning, showing me example after example of new successes—or at least lessons learned—from colleagues. During conferences I can dream up new efforts at col- laboration, success, and more trees, and I can run these ideas by a large group of people pondering the same ques- tions. Our UCFS Annual Conference in Chicago is quickly approaching on November 18-19, 2024. Friends, I can't wait to reflect, plan, share, dream, and celebrate with you!

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