Canopy Awards Tickets Available Now!


Tickets for the Second Annual Canopy Awards are now on sale!

Some of you might be asking: what is the Canopy Awards?

The Canopy Awards is Casey Trees’ annual blowout, held every Arbor Day Eve, where we celebrate and pay tribute to the accomplishments of those who are working to enhance and protect D.C.’s tree canopy. We also raise awareness of the importance of trees—while having fun and saying thanks.

When you attend the Canopy Awards, you do good. Each ticket purchase , sponsorship and silent auction donation  helps us raise the funds we need to plant trees across the District.

We can’t reveal all the juicy event details, but here are a few:

-   The Canopy Awards is not your typical awards event. Dress code is casual, there is no formal seating and no long ceremony

-   There will be live music, great food and an open bar

-   Once again, we’ll be celebrating Dock5 at Union Market

We will reveal more details as the event approaches.

In the meantime, don’t forget to purchase tickets. Ticket quantities are limited and last year’s event sold out.

Stay tuned to our website, social media channels and emails for upcoming Canopy Awards info!

February 26, 2015 | (0) Comments | Categories: Blog

Treelines: Week of February 25, 2015

 


 

Because urban forestry issues span a wide range of topics and are constantly a source of local, national, and international news, we think it’s important to provide you with the most up-to-date information on everything tree-related: from local and national headlines to the latest in research and technologies, to simply feel-good stories.

Look for our reoccurring Treelines every week right here on Tree Speak + updates on our social channels, Facebook and Twitter.

This week in the Treelines…

 

“To counter the likely die-off of Durham’s surviving willow oaks, officials need to figure on planting more than three times as many trees each year as they’re managing to now, an advisory board says… The report said officials need to … assume only about 80 percent of the trees they plant will survive, and hope that local efforts to control leaf-munching cankerworms actually work.”

 

“Nature’s color palette already shows effects of climate change…In parts of New England, fall colors arrive a few days later than they did 20 years ago, and the reds are more muted as autumn temperatures in the region warm. But scientists don’t know what new rhythms will arise across different regions – whether bursts of green will be brighter but short lasting, for example, or more muted but longer-lasting. Nor do they know what such changes mean for the food web; for life cycle events like migration, breeding, and nesting; for the amount of moisture that trees will suck from the soil; or for the amount of carbon dioxide stored by the plants.”

 

“In 2010, while researching the effects of climate change over the past 20 years in Mongolia, his team serendipitously stumbled across a stand of pines that has since revealed the longest-ever climate record of the region…Now, [Neil] Pederson and his colleagues are discovering that the wettest period in the country’s history, indicated by the widest series of tree rings, coincides precisely with warrior [Genghis] Khan’s rise to power. Rain may have have provided just the fuel Khan and his troops needed to create the largest land empire in human history.”

 

“The city’s long-term plan to maintain and supplement Missoula’s urban forest could include a strategy to create a sapling farm – a proposal that would enable foresters to more than quadruple the number of trees planted each year, and do so with more local control…While contract-planting would cost roughly the same as buying trees on the open market, Boza said it also brings added opportunities – including more trees. The trees would be raised using wastewater…“

 

“A Baltimore Gas and Electric plan to remove 39 trees and trim another 216 in the city’s Historic District raising the ire of some Annapolis residents…Elly Tierney, Ward One Residents Association president, said…not every effort is being made to retain as many trees as possible…Ten of the 39 trees slated for removal by BGE are listed in good condition and seven are bigger than 12 inches in diameter. Eliminating and trimming 255 trees will have a ‘significant’ impact on the city’s character, said Maria Broadbent, director of Annapolis’ Department of Neighborhood and Environmental Programs.”

 

“A developer is cutting down an oak tree thought to be more than 200 years old today in Bluemont, prompting outcries from some neighbors…‘[WSD Homes' Director of Sales, Jon] Ferris stated that even if the tree could be saved, people who would buy a nice $1.2 million home would not want such a tree in their front yard,’ [said] Mark Haynes, who has been one of the leaders of the campaign to save the tree…’A petition asking WSD and the County to attempt to save the tree has been circulated and has well over 100 signatures including many from local tree experts and neighbors.”

 

Do you enjoy Treelines? Show your appreciation and vote for Casey Trees in the City Paper’s Best of D.C. 2015! It only takes a moment to vote here!

Don’t forget to check back next week for more Treelines! Any thoughts on these articles? Post your comments or questions below or via our social media channels - Facebook.. Twitter.. thanks!

February 25, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
(0) Comments | Categories: Blog, News

Meet Tommy, the Tree Guy


By Suraj Sazawal and Emily Oaksford

“Having a great tree canopy is a major benefit to a city in terms of cooling, stormwater management, air quality. There’s so many things that a good tree canopy brings us. It needs to be a priority.”  – Tommy Wells, Feb. 3, 2015.

For years former Councilmember Tommy Wells was known by residents across the city as the Bag Bill Guy, having introduced the legislation that dramatically reduced the number of plastic bags that ended up in the Anacostia River.  But Tommy Wells is famous for being a lover of trees.  A 2013 City Paper article says Wells “can’t seem to pass [a tree] without stopping to identify it and discuss its features.”  Now, after recently expressing his support of replenishing DC’s tree canopy, we think it’s time for his nickname to get an upgrade.

While some nicknames in Washington won’t change without a fight, others can change in an instant.

So.. meet Tommy, the Tree Guy.

As the new Director of the District’s Department of the Environment (DDOE), Wells is positioned perfectly to engage with all the key stakeholders, public and private, who play a role in ensuring an abundant and healthy tree canopy for the nation’s capital.  As a long-time advocate for the environment he understands that an enhanced tree canopy can provide DC residents with many environmental, social and economic benefits.  He also knows that paying lip-service to this issue simply won’t do; it will take smart and sensible actions like strengthening existing tree protections and incentivizing private property tree plantings.

And if Tommy (the Tree Guy) is as successful with trees as he’s been with cleaning up the Anacostia, his new nickname will be well earned.

Photo Credit: Tommy Wells

February 19, 2015 | Tags:
(0) Comments | Categories: Advocacy, Blog

Treelines: Week of February 18, 2015


 

Because urban forestry issues span a wide range of topics and are constantly a source of local, national, and international news, we think it’s important to provide you with the most up-to-date information on everything tree-related: from local and national headlines to the latest in research and technologies, to simply feel-good stories.

Look for our reoccurring Treelines every week right here on Tree Speak + updates on our social channels, Facebook and Twitter.

This week in the Treelines…

 

“Monteverde’s cloudless cloud forests are a symptom of a regional change climate with ecological and economic implications, since farming patterns change and the tourism industry could be hit…The increasing temperatures in the highlands have opened the door for lowland flora and fauna – which are adapted to warmer temperatures – to move into highland ecosystems where they were not usually found before.”

 

“Unlike wildfires seen in the summer that rip through forests, endangering homes and  businesses, and leaving burned out wasteland behind, the fire The Nature Conservancy will set to this parcel will ensure the forest’s survival. ‘This habitat evolved with constant fire,’ said Latimore Smith, director of stewardship and senior restoration ecologist with The Nature Conservancy. Fire is as necessary to a healthy longleaf pine ecosystem as rain is to the rainforest. Without fire, we’ll lose these habitats and the many special species that depend on them.’”

 

“Liberia’s government must do more to award land rights to forest dwellers to protect natural resources from exploitation and encroachment of palm oil plantations…The panelists said local residents have proven to be the best managers of forest areas, and that their rights to access and use of forests must be enshrined in international legislation. They added that international actors, specifically the World Bank, should push for more stringent land rights and impose tougher standards on the palm oil industry.”

 

“The study shows that future carbon accumulation rates in the forests are sensitive to land-use changes. Choices for land use that either reduce the rate of reforestation or increase the rate of deforestation are key factors in future forest carbon accumulation, according to the study…And it’s not that there’s less forest in the study area. There’s actually a little more because the amount of agricultural land being returned to forest has slightly offset the amount of forest lost to urban development, [U.S. Forest Service scientist John] Coulston said. The biggest factor is the age of the forests. They are getting old. And old trees don’t have the same capacity to absorb carbon as younger trees because they are not growing as fast.“

 

“Russia has 19 percent of world forest reserves by surface area. But experts say the U.N. process drafting the climate change pact, due to be agreed at the end of 2015, has concentrated mainly on tropical forests. ‘Boreal forests are getting far too little attention in the U.N. climate talks,’ said Yury Safanov, a senior climate policy researcher with Moscow’s Higher School of Economics…Each year, boreal forests sequester more than 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Russian forests account for between 300 and 600 million tonnes of that, Safanov said. But a study by the Centre on the Problems of Ecology and Productivity of Forests at the Russian Academy of Sciences has warned that, due to unsustainable forest policy in Russia and negative climate impacts, new CO2 absorption by the country’s forests may drop to zero towards the mid-2040s.”

 

“Hand-planting seeds is often slow and expensive and the delivery of dry seeds by air results in low uptake rates. [CEO of BioCarbon Engineering, Lauren] Fletcher and his team aim to strike a balance between these two methods. By planting germinated seeds using precision agriculture techniques the team aims to increase uptake rates…In contrast to two human planters, who would manage to plant up to 3,000 seeds per day, Fletcher says that his drones would aim to plant up to 36,000 seeds a day, as well as access areas people find hard to penetrate.“

 

Do you enjoy Treelines? Show your appreciation and vote for Casey Trees in the City Paper’s Best of D.C. 2015! It only takes a moment to vote here!

Don’t forget to check back next week for more Treelines! Any thoughts on these articles? Post your comments or questions below or via our social media channels - Facebook.. Twitter.. thanks!

February 18, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
(0) Comments | Categories: Blog, News

Our Spring ’15 School & Community Tree Planting Schedule

Our spring School and Community Tree Planting (CTP) schedule is finally here!

This season — from March 7 to May 16 — we will plant over 650 trees at 22 sites across the District.

Two major plantings include:

Armed Forces Retire Home (AFRH) CTP on April 11

The AFRH planting will add almost 60 trees to the 272-acre campus

Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School on May 9

As D.C’s only green-focused school CTP, this planting Will add 30 trees to previously impervious parts of the school grounds.

Interested individuals who want to volunteer in a CTP can use our handy interactive map below.

Keep in mind that space is limited, so register today! Groups who are interested in volunteering can apply here.

For those looking to add more trees to their neighborhood, applications for the fall 2015 and spring 2016 CTPs are now being accepted. The deadline for those applications is May 1, 2015.

Stay tuned to Tree Talk and our social media channels for behind-the-scenes coverage of our spring CTP plantings!

February 12, 2015 | (0) Comments | Categories: Blog

A Preview of Canopy Connections

Are you an industry professional looking to discuss pressing urban forestry issues, learn about the latest research and connect with other practitioners interested in growing and preserving our urban forest?

If so, then Canopy Connections is the conference for you! Our one-day conference — taking place on March 23, 2015 at the Carnegie Institution for Science — will bring together five distinguished speakers to address the theme “Urban Forests for Public Good”.

Speakers and their respective session topics include:

Dr. Kathleen Wolf—Research Social Scientist, University of Washington

Keynote: Better Health from Cradle to Grave- Why We Need Nature in the City!

Mike Galvin—Director of Consulting Group, SavATree & Dr. Morgan Grove—Social Ecologist and Team Leader, USDA Forest Service’s Baltimore Field Station

Turning Wastes into Assets in the Sustainable City

Dr. Jessica Vogt—Visiting Assistant Professor of Sustainability Science, Furman University

Social Benefits of Greening: Urban Forestry in the Anthropocene

Melanie Choukas-Bradley—Author, City of Trees and A Year in Rock Creek Park

Celebrate the Canopy in the City of Trees

Tickets at the Early Bird rate of $50 per person are on sale now but this special pricing ends on February 25.

February 11, 2015 | (0) Comments | Categories: Blog

Treelines: Week of February 11, 2015


 

Because urban forestry issues span a wide range of topics and are constantly a source of local, national, and international news, we think it’s important to provide you with the most up-to-date information on everything tree-related: from local and national headlines to the latest in research and technologies, to simply feel-good stories.

Look for our reoccurring Treelines every week right here on Tree Speak + updates on our social channels, Facebook and Twitter.

This week in the Treelines…

 

“As traffic keeps getting worse, the city realized that it had to find a way to keep the noise in the area low enough to meet national laws for noise pollution. Since simple walls wouldn’t be enough, they decided to turn sections of the road into covered tunnels. The design can reduce noise in surrounding neighborhoods to almost nothing. Each new cover will stretch over a small length of highway and create a new park, with open meadows, woods, bike paths, community gardens, and tree-lined squares. In total the roofs will cover over two miles and create over 60 acres of new green space.”

 

“For thousands of years, people have exchanged seeds to grow terrific tomatoes or produce the perfect potato, but a new effort to loan and borrow seeds has created a conflict between well-meaning gardeners and state agriculture officials who feel obligated to enforce laws restricting the practice…Intended to protect farmers, the laws ensure seeds are viable, will grow the intended plant and aren’t mixed with unwanted seeds for weeds or plants. Even though most of the laws refer to ‘sales’ of seeds, that terms is defined to include exchanges – where no money changes hands.”

 

“By describing relationships among heat, air moisture, and plant stress, VPD (vapor pressure deficit) underscores that even a small amount of warming in a dry atmosphere can catalyze a cascade of environmental effects, such as these wildfires. That points to a troubling future for forests in the Southwest, where scientists have ‘high confidence’ that global warming will continue heating the region, according to the 2014 National Climate Assessment…But the future of VPD isn’t limited to the Southwest. Because VPD rises exponentially with warming temperatures, anywhere hot and dry will feel a greater impact.”

 

“One of Melbourne’s signature policies in response is to use the ‘urban canopy’ to counter what’s known as the ‘urban heat island’ – that’s the phenomenon where all the roads and buildings of the inner city send temperatures soaring way above that in surrounding suburbs. The ambitious plan is to plant 30,000 trees in the central business area governed by Doyle’s Melbourne City Council, sedating the concrete jungle with a forest of natural towers…Stephen Livesely, a climate-change expert at the University of Melbourne, says desperation during the drought became self-defeating. ‘They stopped irrigating their trees, and that led to mass mortality of trees. Trees are a long-living investment and it was just short-sighted to starve and kill those trees.’”

 

“When Strickland sought out the cause for he and his friend’s discomfort, the answer quickly became clear: It was the manchineel tree. Noted for its greyish bark, shiny leaves, and small, apple-like fruits, the tree is native to Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America. And it’s not a plant to be messed with; every part of it will hurt you. In fact, the Carib Indians would tie enemy captives to the trunk of the manchineel as a form of torture…Eating the tree’s ‘forbidden’ fruit produces the worst effects, as Strickland and his friend found out.“

 

“In the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, [Gregory] Asner has designed a one-of-a-kind, ultra high-tech, airborne laboratory – inside a twin-turboprop plane. It offers a faster, more exhaustive way to map how humans have destroyed land, from the deserts of the American Southwest to the deepest depth of the Amazon. The findings have opened up a whole new field of ecological surveying – and now, 10 years into the making, Asner is attracting worldwide attention from governments bent on making better decisions about the environment. ‘If your environmental science is not policy-relevant today, we really don’t have time for it,’ he says”.

 

Do you enjoy Treelines? Show your appreciation and vote for Casey Trees in the City Paper’s Best of D.C. 2015! It only takes a moment to vote here!

Don’t forget to check back next week for more Treelines! Any thoughts on these articles? Post your comments or questions below or via our social media channels - Facebook.. Twitter.. thanks!

February 11, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
(0) Comments | Categories: Blog, News

We Celebrate Randy Lawrence’s Legacy


What was your role at Casey Trees?

Assistant Nursery Manager at the Tree Farm.

If you could describe your legacy in one word, what would it be?

Groovy.

From Brian Mayell, General Manager of the Casey Trees Farm:

“I’m grateful to Randy for the workplace he helped create on the farm where we treat each other with respect and take our work seriously. Randy is a disciplined, organized guy who could get a lot done in a day. He was remarkably productive, so he set a great example for being effective; not just busy, but effective. He took his work seriously in that sense, that he came in to get some things done, done well, and done safely. All in a day’s work, as they say.

At the same time he was good company: positive, alert to coworkers’ strengths and weaknesses, tolerant, and incapable of offense. Just a guy with a lot of self-respect and core values.

It’s gonna be hard to replace him.”

Which accomplishment are you the most proud of?

I think that a lot of progress has been made at Casey Tree Farm and it has been rewarding to be a part of that.  I recently was looking at pictures from the first planting season that I was at the Farm, it is hard to recognize in a lot of ways now.  When I started, there were about 2,000 trees in one field.  We now have approximately 10,000 trees and three nursery fields.  It is exciting to grow these trees and think about the change they will bring to DC.

What’s your favorite memory of working at Casey Trees?

I really enjoy spring at the farm as the leaves emerge, trees flower, pollinators begin to buzz, it is a great time to be in the field working with trees.  I also really enjoyed coming to a couple of volunteer events in DC to see the end result of the trees that we were growing and interact with some wonderful people.

Where are you heading next?/What are you the most excited for?

I am headed to be and Environmental Engineer for Loudoun County.  I am excited to start on a new career path, it is a bit of a different tack for me, and to learn new things.

If you could pick only one tree species to care for, for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

I wouldn’t pick one species, diversity is the cornerstone of resilient communities (forests, urban forests).  One species can’t exist without the rest.

February 6, 2015 | (0) Comments | Categories: Blog

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