City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/26931
stumps resprout vigorously into large, full shrubs, causing view obstruction. • Diversify, diversify, diversify. Obviously. • Take advantage of the heightened pub- lic awareness of tree issues to educate, change policy, and encourage volunteerism and private/corporate donations. The most difficult and important of all lessons: learn from the lessons of others. I was approached by many fellow foresters as they faced EAB outbreak. I emphati- cally described the devastation they could expect with EAB, and I suggested harsh but practical management options such as lumbering the ash while they are still live and whole. I was disappointed in their unwillingness to accept the situation. One said out loud, “Oh, our ashes won’t die like that.” This seems to be a natural response, and it is not easily overcome. Imagine the resistance by those from cities with large ash popula- tions to maximize efficiency by systematically removing every ash with a target. “Ann Arbor didn’t know better,” I cautioned them, “but you do. Don’t repeat our mis- takes.” I only hope that when the next challenge comes, I remember this lesson. —Kay Sicheneder, Field Operations Supervisor, Forestry, Ann Arbor, Michigan trees’ benefit. We were witness to a vari- ety of “treatments” including a shamanic ceremony, a Buddha placed at the tree, and injection of medicinal herbs. We found lovingly painted smileys on trees and even a hand-drawn picture inscribed with “Please don’t die.” • Speak the truth despite residents’ need for public servants to be confident and capable. • This widespread destruction affects all. Have compassion, and keep a strong sense of humor. Try not to take it personally. • Keep the public well-informed through as many channels as possible. • If a tax for tree removal is proposed, be sure to seek stakeholder and public input and include a tree replacement component. We asked the public for funds to remove the trees and stumps but wanted to rely on the many grant opportunities to fund replant- ing—perhaps a good strategy, but not sup- ported by the public. • Do not underestimate the aggravation that stumps cause. Stumps remind folks of what was lost, and they are a nuisance. Also, ash www.urban-forestry.com I n the Roundtable in the last issue of City Trees, I wrote about the early stages of our ash detection and treatment in Oakville, Ontario. Influenced by the City of Milwaukee’s successful use of hyperspectral imaging technology (HSI), we decided to conduct our own HSI project. In July, 2010 a plane collected data from Oakville with a specialized spectrometer calibrated with local ash tree spectral signatures. The objectives of this proj- ect included mapping all of the 177,300 ash trees, an update to our 2005 UFORE canopy cover analysis, and—most promising for EAB management across the continent—an attempt to identify a spectral pattern to EAB infestation. The U.S. Forest Service is partnering with Oakville on this project being carried out by AMEC Earth and Environmental Ltd. Preliminary analysis indicates the consultant will be able to map all ash trees larger than 150 square feet in canopy size with 80% level of accuracy. At this writing it is too early to tell if they will also be able to map infestation levels, but we hope they are able to find a relationship between spectral signature and the larvae counts from the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) Branch Sampling Project. The CFS method is a new tool in the EAB Toolkit that accurately maps early EAB infestation before any outward signs and symptoms. 33