News & Announcements

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Cross Training between Electric Crews and Maryland Forest Service

Since its creation by the Maryland Public Service Commission in 1999, the Maryland Electric Reliability Tree Trimming Council (MERTT) has been a forum where public agencies and electric utilities meet to discuss how to comply with regulatory requirements through best management practices.  The aim is to accomplish both management of vegetation on and off overhead electric rights-of-way and environmental stewardship which directly or indirectly affects electric reliability within the State during a storm event.  The members include representatives from the Public Service Commission, Maryland Forest Service, Maryland State Highway Administration and the electric utilities within the state including Pepco, BGE, SMECO, Potomac Edison, Delmarva Power and Choptank Cooperative.  Meetings have been held quarterly since 1999.   

Wisconsin Arborist Apprenticeship Program

The State of Wisconsin is leading the way in the green industry by providing the nation’s first Arborist Apprenticeship Program, which will include plant health care as well as tree care. Currently, there are three private tree care companies who have signed on five apprentices who are learning and developing their skills under the direct guidance of certified and skilled arborists. More employers are needed to support the program and be willing to hire apprentices. Apprenticeship is a proven method in numerous industries and the benefits greatly outweigh the commitment incurred by employees of all sizes. It provides a structured training program for developing safe, skilled and productive employees and workforce. This program brings additional benefits: providing a career pathway for individuals to join, growing individuals within the industry, getting the arborist profession recognized as a skilled trade with the U.S. Department of Labor, and helping our private businesses and municipalities find and retain qualified employees.

Bringing Trees Home

For over 15 years, through support from the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the PA Urban and Community Forestry Council (PAUCFC) has been awarding tree planting grants to communities across the state.  The reach of the program is expanding as evident of more and more first-time applicants, such as the Waynesburg Borough who received a 2017 TreeVitalize grant. Waynesburg Borough, located in the very southwestern corner of Pennsylvania is just 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, PA. Waynesburg is not an “urban” area and therefore they questioned their qualification for this type of grant so we continue to stress the term community forestry.

WV Program Promotes Tree Planting and Environmental Education in the Potomac Headwaters

Carla Hardy WV Project CommuniTree (CTree) is a program of Cacapon Institute in partnership with the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) Chesapeake Bay Program that includes WV Division of Forestry (WV DOF), WV Conservation Agency (WVCA), WV Division of Highways (WV DOH), and the Eastern Panhandle Regional Development & Planning Council (Region 9). CTree promotes tree planting and education on public land through volunteerism in the Potomac Headwaters of West Virginia. The program also focuses on enhancing and promoting awareness of watershed and riparian area needs such as storm water management, water quality issues, buffer zone planting, and soil erosion. The program is volunteer based and engages stakeholders in the process of making priority decisions within their respective communities and offers a strong educational message along with a physical planting component.

Improve tree planting survival by using a gravel bed

Many communities plant bareroot trees in the spring because that’s what is available, they’re cheap and easy to handle. The drawback to planting bareroot trees in spring is their poor survival rate. The culprit is the lack of fibrous roots to take up water and nutrients and the need to water during dry periods in the summer.
 

Helping Communities in Need New community forestry initiative takes shape in north St. Louis County

As a non-profit organization serving the 24 communities within the Normandy School District in St. Louis, Beyond Housing focuses on improving quality of life by taking a comprehensive approach to community development. They strive to make a real impact for their residents by supporting the entire fabric of what makes communities thrive: housing, education, health, job readiness, and economic development.

Asian Longhorned Beetle

In 2008, the exotic invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) was first detected in the City of Worcester, Massachusetts.  Following the detection, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established a cooperative program to eradicate ALB. To eradicate this pest, all infested trees are removed and chipped. Now, nine years later, well over 36,000 trees have been removed from public and private property, including from yards, parks, schools, and streets within the current 110 square mile regulated area that encompasses the entire City of Worcester, the second most populous city in all of New England after Boston, and four surrounding towns and portions of another one.

Restoring Canopy in Ohio’s Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication Zone

In June 2011, the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) was discovered in Clermont County, Ohio by an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) service forester responding to a landowner inquiry. Since that discovery, the ODNR Division of Forestry has worked closely with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to restore canopy lost from eradication efforts, survey high-risk sites throughout Ohio and educate the public about ALB identification and its potential impacts.

Urban wood used in local art exhibit

The cabinets in your kitchen, your dining room table, floors in your office, and even the paper you write on are all products made from wood. Usually rural wood is used to make the products, but over the past several years a shift has been made, introducing the use of wood from urban areas to make these, and other, products. For example, urban wood has successfully been used in architecture, creating bowls, staircases, tables and now art.

First Steps Toward Developing a Pennsylvania Urban Wood Exchange

Pennsylvania state law requires municipalities to compost or otherwise recycle woody waste rather than to landfill or incinerate it. In isolated incidences, arrangements are made to have logs sawn to lumber, but most often woody debris is ground into mulch. Cities are required to establish a wood waste recycling facility or to contract with a neighboring community that has one. Still, sometimes a community may resort to stockpiling large woody material on an illegal city site, or to burning residential yard waste collected along with other refuse, also illegal. In 2016 the City of Harrisburg initiated the process of securing a site on which to establish a wood waste recycling facility.