City Trees

Getting to Know Board Member Keith Cline Can you tell us about your educational trajectory? Keith Cline: I started in the unlikely—at least for an urban forester—field of Political Science, receiving a Bachelor's Degree from Virginia Tech in 1976. My last two years at Tech I completed a number of courses in natural resource manage- ment and conservation. In 1991, after several years of night courses while working full-time, I completed a Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a concentration in Natural Resources Management, from George Mason University. Please tell us about your career trajectory. KC: After graduating from VA Tech I began an unpaid internship at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in Vienna, Virginia doing research for a series of publications on raptor research and management. At the same time, I began dragging brush working on the ground crew for Growing Earth Tree Care in Northern Virginia. As I learned tree climbing skills and arbo- riculture, I also began climbing into bald eagle nests for NWF research in the Chesapeake Bay region at the very beginning of the bald eagle's slow recovery. This research eventually took me from Florida to northern Manitoba, Canada. Over the next 25 years I pursued a dual career path in arboricul- ture & urban forestry and wildlife management. That path took me through all job sectors: nonprofit (NWF), commercial arbo- riculture, state government (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), county government (Fairfax County, Virginia), and federal government (US Forest Service). Please tell us about your position now. KC: As director, I lead a staff of 20 (of whom 19 are ISA Certified Arborists) in the Forest Conservation and Forest Pest Management Branches of the Urban Forest Management Division in the Stormwater Business Area in Fairfax County, Virginia. I provide leadership in the development and imple- mentation of policies, processes, programs, and partnerships to enhance the health and extent of the urban forest for the benefit of all County residents. This includes coordination and implementation of all County policies and programs relating to urban greening and tree and urban forest management in the Board of Supervisors Environmental Agenda, Zoning Ordinance, Tree Action Plan, and other land development, economic development, environmen- tal, public health, livability, and sustainability initiatives and programs. This also includes incorporating urban forests and urban forest management in County initiatives that address regulatory requirements and processes such as Total Maximum Daily Load water quality planning and the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit process. Fairfax County is in the Virginia suburbs just outside of Washington DC. The County has a population of 1.2 million people and 395 square miles (1023 sq km) of land. The Department of Public Works and Environmental Services just received Agency Accreditation from the American Public Works Association. The Urban Forest Management Division is housed in Public Works in the Stormwater Business Area. How long have you been involved in SMA and in what capacities? KC: I have been an SMA member for about 20 years. I am in my second year on the SMA Board. I have also been a member of the teaching cadre for the Municipal Forestry Institute since MFI's first session 12 years ago. What has your involvement in SMA meant to you? KC: My involvement in SMA, particularly my participation in MFI, has allowed me to pursue my primary professional goal of being a Leader Growing Leaders. What aspect of municipal arboriculture do you find most challenging? KC: Being a municipal arborist is about managing people and peoples' desires and expectations for the management of their trees, landscapes, and urban forest resources. The great- est challenge is in balancing peoples' sometimes competing desires and expectations for the use and management of those resources. Every day the municipal arborist must consider, address, and balance the expectations of residents, elected officials, policy makers, regulators, developers, builders, public works professionals, city planners, stormwater managers, and many others, while ensuring the health and wise use of the resource that is entrusted to us. As Dr. Paul Ries says to MFI classes, "Municipal arboriculture isn't rocket science; it's much more difficult—it's about people." What do you like to do in your free time? KC: In my free time I enjoy sitting in the tree shade on the back porch of our house on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River with my wife Julie and our dogs Scratch and Meatball. That is, after a long hard day of fishing for smallmouth bass. SMA Board Member Keith Cline is Director of the Urban Forest Management Division of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services for the County of Fairfax, Virginia. 30 City Trees

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