I’m sending a quick note to you, as the primary community partner(s) on the Care of the Urban Forest Project, with three upcoming opportunities. Please share this email with others in your municipality that have been involved with the Project (tree inventory, management or action plan, and technical tree care training) and/or with the members of your local tree committee/tree board/conservation commission.
1) One free registration to the VT Arbor Day Conference for Care of the Urban Forest Project communities: Registration is now open for the 2nd annual Vermont Arbor Day Conference; the full-day event will be held on Thursday, May 4th (the day before the official VT Arbor Day!) in Montpelier on the campus of the VT College of Fine Arts. We have a jam-packed agenda with four different tracks (municipal staff/leaders, tree care professionals, citizen volunteers, and forest health interest). There will be a mix of technical workshops, general interest sessions, and networking opportunities. We are pleased to be able to offer Care of the Urban Forest partner communities one free registration to the conference. Once you have decided who from your community will be claiming this free registration, please go to the registration website (click here) and claim your free ticket using the “Care of the Urban Forest Participant” ticket category. I ask that you please also let me know via email who will be claiming this free registration for tracking purposes. For those of you in Tree City USA communities, please note that you will also be receiving two free registrations to the conference in addition to this free ticket.
2) Vermont Tree Steward Awards: seeking nominations! We are currently seeking nominations for our 2017 Vermont Tree Steward Awards. Each year we recognize individuals and groups statewide who are true champions of our urban and community forests, but we need your help in identifying the award winners. There are four categories this year: Volunteer Group/Community, Leader, Youth/Student, and Unsung Hero. The awards ceremony will take place over lunch at the VT Arbor Day Conference (5/4; Montpelier). Please consider submitting a nomination or passing this note on to others who may be interested in submitting a nomination. Information and nomination form on our website: click here.
3) Finally, I have some exciting news. After years of trying to figure out the most efficient and user-friendly way for you to be able to update and manage your tree inventory data, we finally have it! The web-based application that we used to collect the inventory data – ArcGIS Collector – has recently added a new component to its suite of tools that will allow us to create a website specifically for each community to view, filter, manage, print, and update your tree inventory data. Opposed to just using the Excel file and letting me know of major tree updates, you will be empowered to make updates to your tree data yourselves: you’ll be able to delete trees if they are removed, filter out trees that need to be monitored, change the condition or diameter or species of a tree, upload new pictures, etc., and it will automatically update the tree data in the publicly-accessible ANR Atlas tool. To add new trees, we’ll still have to go out into the field with the iPads (but that’s fun, right?) I have been working with the ANR GIS team to set this up; we are going to pilot the tool with Middlebury and I am in the process of a creating a PDF guide for how to use the tool. Setting up each community’s specific website is a little labor-intensive, so we plan on working on a request-only basis. If you are interested in having a tree inventory management website for your community, stay tuned for more information in coming weeks; I’ll be reaching out again to gauge interest.
Contact:
ELISE
SCHADLER | Technical
Assistance Coordinator
VT Urban
& Community Forestry Program
ISA Certified
Arborist #NE-1029A
VT Licensed
Forester #148.0126497
UVM Extension
802-651-8343,
ext 508 │ www.vtcommunityforestry.org
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