City Trees

I first met Mark in 1991 at the second 'Seed in Time' UK Urban Forestry Conference held in Wolverhampton, which he helped organise along with the first of these conferences. Thus began our long and fruitful friendship, attending many talks and conferences together such as the 1998 ISA Annual Conference held in Liverpool. Mark has a long association with the ISA and has received three of their Awards of Distinction, including the Award of Merit—a well-deserved honour for the established global urban forester to add to his other accolades. One of the key takeaways from Mark's insightful autobi- ography is his incredible contribution towards community engagement. As a founding member of Birmingham TreePeople, I have always said, "You cannot have trees without people, or people without trees." This is an ide- ology adopted long ago by people like Andy and Katie Lipkis of the Los Angeles TreePeople, with whom Mark began corresponding in the early 1980s. Their success, along with other American initiatives for engaging communities with trees and tree planting, helped propel and shape Mark's work in Britain and Ireland. This surely inspired Mark with his future efforts on urban and community forests, bringing the bene- fits of trees directly to the people, with the Forest of London Project and its several spin-off projects as the main outcome of this. Fast-forward thirty years and Mark was the keynote speaker at the first Tree People Network Day 2024 as part of the first UK Tree Cities Forum, hosted by Trees for Cities and Birmingham TreePeople. He focused on the why and how of engaging communities, citing experiences from some of the countless projects he's undertaken. Mark's experiences as a London Tree Officer will sound very familiar to many urban foresters and municipal arborists today. Thirty years ago, the challenges around budgets and resources, and the opportunities around community engagement, are still happening today. In his book, Mark highlights the ongoing issues that must be fixed if the public sector is to move meaningfully towards its goal of effective urban forest management. Mark covers many of the major events in urban for- estry over the last fifty years where he was often significantly involved. For those who are interested in the forensics of larger tree-related organisations, Mark delivers candid and illuminating insights into Mark Johnston began his career as a forestry worker in 1973 but soon found that, for him, arboriculture and tree surgery was a more interesting vocation. numerous groups and events. Readers are left to arrive at their own conclusions from these revela- tions, further compelling them to turn the page. This free e-book is an essential addition to any tree-per- son's library. The journey through pivotal moments in arboriculture and urban forestry in Britain and Ireland were joyous to revisit and sparked contem- plation for this reader. This is a captivating memoir for anyone who is fascinated by the evolution of the tree industry, peppered as it is with personal details about Mark's incredible life with trees, like exploring Parisian boulevards or marvelling at baobabs in Zimbabwe. As Mark says in his preface, "Working with trees for the benefit of people and their envi- ronment has to be the best job in the world." ucfsociety.org 29

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