City Trees

Steven and Haley's daughter Ryleigh. The desire to help my colleagues also led me two years ago to found the Arborist Institute, a source of practical-minded articles and webinars (and hope- fully soon, podcast episodes) that carry ISA CEUs on a wide range of topics including Palm Management in Florida, Business and Finance for the Arborist, Bee- friendly Practices for Arborists, and Impacts of State Laws on Local Ordinances. Greg and I created a webinar about the mentor-mentee experience for the platform to help other people get the most out of the rela- tionship. We also do one about Soils 101, and other colleagues contribute their specific areas of knowledge. Arborist Institute is a passion project for me; the fees are nominal and any money the project earns goes back into the Institute. The goal is to make this acces- sible to people who are working long days but need to learn something specific and actionable—and gain CEUs—without giving up a whole day. On the website you can also see a Dictionary of arboriculture and planning and urban forestry terms—something I created because I couldn't find one like it online. Another thing I do with future urban foresters in mind is volunteer through Florida's Great American Teach-In, a day of careers exploration. I lead a tree planting with elementary school kids but even more impor- tantly, it's a chance to make them aware of the field of urban forestry as a career option for them. I let them know that there are many ways to participate and that you don't have to do field work or run a chainsaw— unless that's your thing—to work in urban forestry. We're losing trees rapidly in Florida due to short- sighted planning and hurricanes. A lot of trees in Florida are cut down because of planning problems, not arboricultural problems. Having done plan reviews for large commercial developments and evaluating landscape plans of all sizes to make sure they meet standards, I see the ways in which planning needs to evolve. I'm getting my master's in Urban and Regional Planning because I think it will help me get a higher level seat at the table so I can help interrupt the cycle of trees being cut down every 10 to 15 years, just as they're starting to provide ecosystem benefits. Growing up in Florida, I became an Eagle Scout and as such, I've enjoyed the State's gorgeous natural areas—but they are going away. What we have to do now is preserve key features in the urban environment. I mean, everyone loves shade—I don't care who you are. It's all about cars here, but we can still have beautiful, shade-giving, treed parkways and street- scapes. I want to be a part of making that happen. Something I'd love to see young and emerging urban foresters discuss more as a community is the ques- tion: "Is this the right move?" For example, if you're a field arborist and have the chance to move into an office role, do you? Will it make you happy? What should the decision-making process look like? How do we evaluate our options in alignment with our own nature? And if the change doesn't make you happy, will you be able to transition back to what you enjoy? I don't want to fail to mention that my wife Haley is a huge part of my success! I run things by her all the time; she is an ideal sounding board and support. ucfsociety.org 37

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