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/677172
The 2016 Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI) took place in February at the US Fish & Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The NCTC has all the ingredients for a perfect MFI site. Its location is relatively isolated in a forest overlooking the Potomac River, way upstream from Washington, DC. The physical separation from daily routines creates a sense of place where creativity can thrive and it is safe to "think outside the bark." As participants arrived from all over the US and Canada to spend a week at this beautiful and inspirational complex, they were greeted by bald eagles nesting along the entrance. Every room had an Eagle Cam Channel on the TV—but as any MFIer can tell you, there isn't much time to watch TV! Each day at MFI is meticulously planned by the teaching cadre in the preceding months, with lessons learned from previous years incorporated into the curriculum. Then, serendipitous things happen and the MFI motto, "Semper Gumby" (always flexible), comes into play. This year marked the 11th annual MFI, which was first held in 2006 at UCLA's Lake Arrowhead Lodge in the San Bernadino Mountains. Since then, it has taken place in the Hill Country of Texas, Palm Key in South Carolina, and outside Portland, Oregon, but mostly at the Arbor Day Foundation's Lied Lodge and Conference Center in Nebraska City. There were 39 graduates in the MFI Class of 2016. There are now over 500 MFI alums, and the MFI reunions at SMA con - ferences have grown each year to become a special event that urban forestry leaders from all over eagerly anticipate. This network is perhaps the single most important outcome of the Municipal Forestry Institute. —Andy Hillman, MFI Teaching Cadre Member and SMA Past President New York State Urban Forestry Council Board Member Karen Emmerich and Oakdale, Minnesota City Forester & Environmental Services Superintendent Chris Larson. Photo by Owen Croy Davey Resource Group Project Developer Anne Fenkner (left) and Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Plant One Million Manager Dana Dentice. Photo by Owen Croy MFI Teaching Cadre Member Andy Hillman, Gumby, and guest speak- er Kristi Dooley of True Purpose Leadership. Photo by Owen Croy Soaring with the eagleS A Look Back at MFI 2016 22 City Trees