Welcome!
Did you make it to the conference in San Luis Obispo? We were inspired by how many people are working hard to make some great tools and resources for us that help grow our urban forests. We have featured two of these tools below.
This month we are also featuring some of the other great online tools out there that can help you with things like grant proposals. There are just a few days left for the CAL FIRE grant opportunities. Find out more about that below.
Our Cool Parks program has held several successful events over the past month. This past weekend in Escondido with over 350 residents turned out to plant trees in Kit Carson Park to celebrate the city’s Arbor Day.
This month:
Brian A. Campbell from NASA showed us how we can contribute to a NASA mission by using our phones. With the GLOBE Observer, everyone can become a citizen scientist and easily take measurements to better understand their local ecosystem. Observers can measure one tree or hundreds. Brian demonstrated how the data points – along with a GPS tag of the tree’s location – are sent back to NASA and collected in a database. Anyone can visualize all of the tree height and other GLOBE data simply by visiting the GLOBE website.
Miranda Hutten, the Acting Deputy Director of State & Private Forestry with the U.S. Forest Service, presented the first-ever statewide interactive viewer that shows urban tree canopy in California! The interactive viewer shows urban tree canopy in California. Its purpose is to help communities capture community services from trees. A tree’s canopy cover – its leaves, branches, and stems that provide the tree coverage of the ground when viewed from above – is a driving force behind numerous environmental, social, and economic services. Try it out here.
Online Urban Forestry Tools
Forestry and technology may not be inextricably linked in the general public’s mind, but as we approach a new decade, you may be seeing the rise of online urban forestry tools both in the field and the office. The use of these resources may give professionals the ability to boost efficiency, increase communication, and achieve tasks previously not feasible.
Greatly ranging in geographic scale and intended function, here is a look at some of the tools we’ve been finding helpful:
i-Tree Planting Calculator
As part of a suite of online tools and software programs created by the US Forest Service, the i-Tree Planting Calculator allows users around the world to calculate the estimated long-term benefits that specific trees are expected to provide throughout their lifetime. These measurements include greenhouse gas sequestered, energy conserved, air pollutants captured and avoided, stormwater filtered, and tree aboveground biomass.
Urban Forest Management Plan Toolkit
Created by the Inland Urban Forest Council (IUFC), the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) Toolkit provides a step-by-step instructional guide to creating a plan for your project, whether it be small or large scale. Complete with downloadable worksheets, the toolkit provides a simple way for both individuals or groups of stakeholders to create the varying facets of a management plan, including overall vision, the current status of their urban forest, a strategic plan (goals, objectives, actions), an implementation plan,and a monitoring plan to ensure long-term success.
California Climate
Tree Map
The California Climate Tree Map is a statewide, interactive map displaying the trees being planted in our urban forests. Funded by California Climate Investments, the map shows trees planted by over two dozen nonprofit organizations and government agencies using public cap-and-trade funds, with newly planted trees added quarterly. Not only is the map extremely interesting to explore, but it serves as an indicator of the environmental benefits that each tree is providing to its community.
SelecTree
A tool formed by the folks at the Urban Forest Ecosystem Institute over at CalPoly, SelecTree is a fantastic resource for anyone faced with the ever-challenging decision of choosing which tree species to plant. The user can search for trees by name, or by inputting specific parameters to find the right tree for their site. Each species profile page is chalk-full of helpful information, such a its characteristics, preferred site conditions and site constraints, pests and disease information, concerns pertaining to health, safety, or the environment, and any special uses and values it may have.
What are your favorite online urban forestry tools? Vote in the Facebook poll.
**Grant Opportunity**
CAL FIRE is currently accepting concept proposals for their Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Urban and Community Forestry Grants, consisting of the Urban Forest Expansion and Improvement, Urban Forest Management Activities, and Urban Wood and Biomass Utilization grant types.
You’ll find a link to the online proposal form, as well as the grant guidelines, at the Urban and Community Forestry Grants Page — be sure to read the grant guidelines before you fill out the online form. Proposals must be submitted by 3:00 PM PST on November 27th.
**Fellowship Opportunity**
The LA Urban Center is a partnership between the USDA, the U.S. Forest Service, the City of Los Angeles, and various non-profit environmental organizations, including City Plants. The LA Urban Center’s mission is to serve as an information and research destination hub that fosters collaboration, generates new science, delivers information and technology to aid application, and engages diverse communities and knowledge bases through shared learning.
Each year, the LA Urban Center offers a fellowship program that provides research and science delivery opportunities for graduate students from a diversity of academic disciplines and backgrounds (see application here).
Two selected fellows will conduct research projects that contribute to the core mission and vision of the LA Urban Center. Fellows receive a stipend of $5,000 and are required to submit a work summary, translatable of their work (e.g. story map), and present their research findings at a seminar at the close of the fellowship period. Each fellow is expected to secure a research mentor with whom the Fellow will spend time working on data collection and professional development.
More information on deadlines and research areas of interest can be found here. Linked here is the actual application for the Fellowship, due January 15, 2020.
**Webinar**
Join Davey Resource Group experts on Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. EST to learn how to set an achievable urban tree canopy. This presentation will include examples of case studies demonstrating methodologies for setting achievable canopy goals and systems to check on the progress of achieving your goal.
The webinar is approved for 1 ISA CEU.
What: How to Set Achievable Canopy Goals
When: Dec 18 2019 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (EST)
Host: Josh Behounek | Business Development Manager
573.673.7530 | [email protected] | Bio | LinkedIn
Cool Parks
Invest from the Ground Up, in partnership with West Coast Arborists, Inc, and the Western Chapter International Society of Arboriculture is once again planting trees across California under their newest initiative – Cool Parks.
With a generous grant from CAL FIRE, the Cool Parks team has been working alongside partner cities and nonprofits to bring 2500 trees to California’s disadvantaged and low-income communities. We are making great progress, with over 1800 trees already planted at eight events.
The grant team has also organized CA Tree Team workshops, where residents learn about the trees in their community. Judging by the hundreds of volunteers at tree planting events during the fall, we can safely say that Californians love their trees!
Restoration and resilience
Under smoky skies from the recent Kincade fire, volunteers arrived for our third restoration planting event in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove II. Sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation and Google; the Fountaingrove II Open Space Maintenance Association (OSMA) added another over 1o0 trees and shrubs to the open space in areas affected by the Tubbs fire in 2017. Thank you to everyone who helped get everything planted.
Arbor Day in San Luis Obispo
On Saturday, Nov 2nd The Central Coast UF Regional Council joined others in the San Luis Obispo 36th Annual Arbor Day Celebration! The event was combined with an awards ceremony for students from local grade schools who competed in Arbor Day art. You can see the local news coverage of the event here.
Talking trees
Street Tree Seminar participated in a community event at Cal Poly Pomona the weekend of October 4th and 5th during their Pumpkin Festival. About 30,000 people attend this two day festival.
STS was there representing WCISA by hosting “Ask an Arborist” booth. Both Emina Darakjy the present president of STS and John Conway a past president were on hand to answer questions and hand out tree related materials.
Besides thousands of pumpkins to choose from, the visitors enjoyed walking through a corn maze and a beautiful sunflower field not to mention the many children activities such as the Tree Circus.