The long-awaited boat
so good. We need long-term studies on this tradeoff. The
foresters figured out a long time ago that tradeoff as far as
pruning low branches to maximize lumber quality as the end
product. We need to do the same research—but with canopy
as our end product. How can we get the most canopy, soon-
er? Pruning has a big role to play there.
What's one piece of advice that emerged from
your research that you find yourself most fre-
quently giving arborists?
EG: When contractors or your own crew are raising the
crowns for clearance, also specify three to five reduction cuts
on the biggest branches. What that does is provide structural
pruning at the same time as the crown raising. That keeps all
the branches that are going to come off in the future small
so that when they are removed in the next round, the wounds
are small.
What thoughts do you have about the state of
urban forestry today?
EG: When I got into the arboriculture industry in the mid-
1970s, the urban forestry field as we know it today was just
getting star ted. I attended the first urban forestry conference,
put on by the USFS, and it was really fun to see urban forestry
star t to come together as a profession. At that time, everybody
did everything—arboriculture and urban forestry was one big
conglomeration of people.
The two diverged a lot in the last 35 years. We've learned
a lot more about each field and we understand the dif-
ference between the two better, but I sense we are more
separate now than we should be; we have to continue to
make sure we talk to each other. If urban forestry goes too
much in the direction of social or budgetary or economic
benefit concerns and there's not enough arboriculture,
it's not good for either field. And then we all have to be
talking with growers, who for the most par t aren't involved
enough in arboriculture; we need them to understand root
systems. I'd recommend that both arborists and urban
foresters are interacting with and improving their relation-
ship with the growers.
What resources on your website do you want
people to know about?
EG: On the UFL Landscape Plants website you'll see
free
Tree Planting and Preservation specs that were done
in coordination with the Urban Tree Foundation's Brian
Kempf, landscape architect Jim Urban, and twenty of our
colleagues. Urban foresters, designers, and landscape
architects can download the full CAD files to access 76
peer-reviewed planting details. They can bring those details
into CAD and then edit and change numbers as befits their
project; this has never been done before and is a very
powerful tool. Par t of the review process involved the ISA
reaching out to DOTs in various states to review and help
us reach a consensus set of specs and details. The details
incorporate new research; for instance, based on our latest
findings, there's a detail on how to shave the root ball of a
container at planting. With these details and specs at the
ready, landscape architects don't have to face spending
unbillable time developing their own detail on CAD (his
-
torically they often wouldn't). As a result, more detailed
information is getting out to contractors.
The other free resource I'd want to highlight is that I put my
50 PowerPoint presentations that made up my college-level
online arboriculture course on the website; the course cov-
ers all facets of arboriculture except pests and diseases.
There are PowerPoints in English and Spanish. There are
also
51 videos of me teaching the course, over 1000 min-
utes of instruction.
One of Gilman's recent woodworking projects.
www.urban-forestry.com 21
