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/30662
Partners Updates State Coordinators Wisconsin: Building Bridges in Urban Forestry by Dick Rideout, Wisconsin State Urban Forestry Coordinator Visitors relax on Wisconsin’s capitol grounds in Madison. Photo by Jeff Roe W hen you come to Wisconsin this September for the SMA Conference, you’ll find a state with a long his- tory and commitment to city trees. Frederick Law Olmsted designed Milwaukee’s “Grand Necklace of Parks” in the 1890s, creating parks connected by tree-lined boulevards. John Nolen (a student of Olmsted) created the plan for Wisconsin’s state park system and designed Madison’s State Capitol grounds in the early 1900s, linking the for- ests straight to the downtown seat of government. Trees have been an integral part of Wisconsin communities and urban forestry has been evolving, making connections and building bridges ever since. In those early years, Wisconsin communities were pri- marily monocultures of American elm. This made urban forestry pretty straightforward for a while. But then came Dutch elm disease and things got more complicated and costly. With the huge loss of trees in a short period 22 of time, the need to have connections with community policy makers became instantly essential. In Wisconsin, the tradition of building urban forest bridges to people, professions, and policy makers was pioneered by Bob Skiera, Milwaukee’s city forester from 1973-1990. Bob was a master at connecting the ben- efits of community trees with the goals of elected offi- cials, engineers, planners, and citizens. Bob’s insights and actions set the stage for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ commitment to urban forestry. Wisconsin DNR’s urban forestry assistance program began in 1990 not with federal funds, but with the hiring of its first state-funded coordinator. In the next three years, six regional urban foresters were hired and a state-funded grant program was initiated; it now provides $524,000 to communities annually and has a full-time grant manager. City Trees