City Trees

Twenty-three attendees from three countries (Canada, the U.S., and China) made history last fall by attending SMA's Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI) in Cornwall, Ontario on October 15-20, 2017. It was held at the NAV Centre—a very impressive conference centre located on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. This was the first time in MFI's twelve-year history that the Institute was held outside the U.S., a move that helps support SMA's efforts to serve its inter - national membership. Attendees at the 2017 MFI Canada came from towns ranging in population from as small as 14,000 to major metropolitan areas of more than three million. SMA built MFI's curriculum around the idea that urban foresters know enough about trees but need to learn more about leadership, communications, planning, and strategic thinking. Amongst the participants were city foresters, consulting arborists, and conservation and other non-profit professionals. The MFI Canada class of 2017 came with a wealth of experience and expertise and generously shared it with one another and with the teaching cadre throughout the week. For the teaching cadre, it was gratifying to witness the development of these attendees, some of whom seemed to blossom in front of our eyes as the week progressed. The teaching cadre, too, is impacted by the MFI experience. This was particularly the case for the two rookie instructional team members—us, Martha Barwinsky and John McNeil. We both benefited by rekindling our thinking "outside the bark"—an MFI term coined to convey that urban forestry is as much about people as it is about trees. We benefited from stretching past our respec - tive comfort zones to serve alongside the veteran members of the teaching cadre. The veterans' steadying influence was very much appreciated. In our opinion, fellow MFI Canada teaching cadre members Jerri LaHaie, Walt Warriner, Paul Ries, Owen Croy, and Andy Hillman exemplify the very spirit of the selfless leader who serves without ego and performs at their best "…for the world." The teamwork they display is impressive. So much goes on behind the scenes to make sure each day runs smoothly and adds value to each attendee's expe - rience. The cadre provides a living lesson right out of MFI's "Session 4.6 Group Dynamics" that exemplifies a "performing" team in action. We are also grateful to our guest instructors: Mike Rosen, Dave Nowak, Andy Kenney, Rosa Linda Perez, Ivan Listar, and Philip van Wassenaer, who each contributed much to the program. During his Sunday evening welcoming remarks, Mike Rosen beautifully framed the program material on leadership and introduced us to what it means to "fail forward." Dave Nowak made his first visit to MFI; can there be anyone in the world more qualified to teach the attendees about i-Tree than Dr. Nowak? Andy Kenney spent time with us on Wednesday evening for a very pleasant "fireside chat" session about urban forestry in Canada. Rosa Linda Perez taught us valuable communication tech - niques around developing an effective presentation style as well as how to MFI Canada, eh! by John McNeil and Martha Barwinsky John McNeil led the Town of Oakville, Ontario's Forestry Team for 30 years. 34 CityTREES

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