City Trees

14 City Trees What You Do Now List the ways you communicate now, and grade the effec- tiveness of each method. Some possibilities are: Website: Does the forestry program have a page of its own, distinct from the public works department, on your community's official website? Does the page explain, with pictures, what your program does? Are your name and contact information listed? Does the page link to your ordinances related to trees? Is the page up to date and do all the links work? Public contact: Are you prepared with a short, clear "elevator speech", briefly explaining what your program does and why it's important, to use whenever you meet people in the community? If you have an opportunity to speak, are you prepared to share your program accom- plishments as well as information from your tree inventory and your budget? Do you have at least one public event a year so that people have the opportunity to meet you and be involved? Media: Do you submit items to your municipal newslet- ter about trees and their seasonal care? Do you notify media of plans for planting, pruning, removals or other operations, and include your contact information? If your municipality has social media accounts, do you suggest posts and supply pictures? Do you have a list of contact information for local media and understand your municipal policy regarding communication with media outlets? Setting Goals for Improvement Once you have established a program baseline and eval- uated how well it is working, the next step is to set goals. Use simple language, avoid jargon, and share your position with openness and transparency. Volunteer key program information to the public before there is a problem or pub- lic controversy. There are many possibilities for increasing the effectiveness of your public communication, such as the following: Improve your website: When searching online, your community's residents want to quickly find information that is easy to understand. Talk to your municipal IT staff about adding forestry pages to the municipality's website or improving those that exist. Find other web pages that offer useful, research-based tree information, such as those of your state university's extension service, and link to them. Make sure that your page is tagged, searchable, and includes a Frequently Asked Questions page about your department and what it does. Add local pictures so the page feels credible and welcoming. Whatever is most useful for you to know should be shared and accessible online: tree inventory data, your tree man- agement plan, the number of trees planted/removed each year, schedules for tree pruning and maintenance, budget changes over time, and information about Tree City USA and Arbor Day events and programs. As your page grows, you might include videos that illus- trate what you do. Be sure to track how often they are viewed. Maps and GIS data can illustrate your program's reach. Potential resources for links include the Society of Municipal Arborists' EAB Toolbox and collected round- tables, Vibrant Cities and Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition resources, your state urban and community for- estry program, and the U.S. Forest Service. Other information to consider for your page includes rec- ommended species, approved contractors, proper tree care, tree health monitoring, public and private property planting, brush pickup, protecting trees during construc- tion, tree removals, and damage to trees. For every opportunity to speak in public, are you prepared to share highlights of your program's accomplishments? Photo by Michelle Sutton

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