City Trees

4 CityTREES President's Message Jamie King Executive Director's Message Leslie Berckes I'm proud to say that your UCFS Board of Directors and I are deep in the action steps for the third year of the UCFS Strategic Plan. And, boy, what a journey we've been on. We hope you've fol- lowed along with the changes; they are all in an effort to ensure you have the community and sup- port needed to do your job to the best of your abilities! Here are just a few of the things in the works or that you can take advantage of right now: • Monthly Learning Series and the new Career Compass Series – Helping you learn and grow is core to the work we do each day. The new Career Compass webinar series was developed by our Young and Emerging Professionals Committee and is aimed at helping those new to our profession grow (but heck, we'll likely all need the tips provided in the series). Check out the previous Career Compass recordings and sign up for what's next. • Job Board – UCFS Members and non-members can explore job openings and post new opportunities. See if your next professional chapter is out there now! • Coming soon! ISA Certified Urban Forest Professional exam prep – We're excited for this new credential and are eager to help you get and maintain it. We'll be rolling out a study prep resource list, study courses, and other opportunities to help you prepare to ace the exam. • Coming soon! New and improved UCFS Accreditation – We've taken our time getting this program right, and we're just about ready to roll it out. We believe our members are the premier urban foresters in the world and this organi- zation, on your behalf, should say what the premier urban forestry programs must achieve to reach star status. • Advocating for the issues that impact you, the Industry Trends Committee is working on policy positions and recommendations related to trees and insurance companies (i.e., insurance companies dictating when trees come down) and trees as green infrastructure (i.e., ensuring that trees are on equal footing with gray infrastructure in the urban landscape). This is the power of your membership society—helping you build competence, confidence, and camaraderie. I hope you're taking advantage of all the great UCFS Member ben- efits. And, if you're not a member, you belong here now! I knew some special trees when I was the urban forest manager and university arborist at Virginia Tech. There is a stand of 300-year-old white oaks (Quercus alba) there, somehow spared the axe when the land was colonized in the late 1700s. The oaks endured centuries of disregard and neglect; when I arrived in 2019, I was eager to figure out how to preserve them. Researching and responding to decay, pests, disease, flash floods, droughts, and human impacts—and applying new technology and novel treatments to the oaks—was exciting. We began retrenchment on dozens of these relics and saw promising early results. I watched and learned, and I felt connected to the land and project in a profound way. Then, presented with the oppor- tunity for new and different impactful work, I had to leave. I still think about those trees and this special- ized knowledge and wonder—who will pick it up? We as urban foresters spend so much time working to cultivate trees and communities on unique sites, creating special places on earth. Be it planting trees on challenging sites, preserving natural areas with unique urban ecolo- gies, or battling the rapidly advancing threat of noxious weeds, we gain insight into the previously unknown. We connect dots through time and space. Then, one day we leave or retire and—poof!—it's all over. Or is it? I've been lucky to have learned from great people in my career, to soak up hard-earned knowledge from my peers and predecessors—some on the local level and some through this Society. UCFS works hard to con- nect members to confidence, new ideas, and success in hopes that what we've learned will remain relevant and grow and evolve in the hands of others. This is exemplified by our current charge to develop a pathway to prepare practitioners for success when they pursue the ISA Certified Urban Forest Professional credential. How are you building and sharing your body of knowledge? Can you help us mentor and train the next generation of urban forest professionals? And if you are new to the profes- sion, will you take advantage of the collective knowledge in UCFS via its programs, networking, and volunteer service? Consider stepping onto this brightly lit path to walk together.

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