THE LEAFLET

Jon Psotka, a Casey Trees volunteer and Member since 2014, is easy to spot in a crowd – an effortless style emanates. We talked to him about his connection to trees, how he got involved with Casey Trees, and what he’s looking forward to this fall.

My first experience with Casey Trees was taking your Trees 101 class in January of 2013.

I experienced a short period of unemployment after law school (during the great lawyer glut that followed the financial crash), and one of the hobbies I took up was wandering around the park near my parents’ house in Rockville with a Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Trees.

It was a frustrating way to try to learn trees, since Peterson only covers native species, and if you’ve ever been to a suburban park you know that there can be as many crepe myrtles and Austrian pines as there are oaks and walnuts. So I found Casey Trees’ tree identification classes, which were great for real-world tree identification, and at the same time discovered the great work the organization was doing in D.C.

After finding a job and moving into D.C., I kept up my support of Casey Trees, and was excited to become a Member. Membership gave me early notice and first dibs on all sorts of great programs, especially tree walks at Great Falls or in Rock Creek Park. And of course my girlfriend and I loved the Membership Appreciation Reception last year.

Casey Trees put on a great party, and we loved meeting the tree-loving community in D.C., from the newbies like us to the folks that have been involved for years. We’re excited for this year’s reception at the Anderson House, to see the folks we know and have a good time. Also, I’ve always wanted to see what the inside of that building looks like!