THE LEAFLET

Continuing our theme of highlighting women in the forestry field, we sat down with Janet Miller, an arborist at the Urban Forestry Administration (UFA). Janet was a part of the entire UFA team -25 people! – who were able to tour the Casey Tree Farm out in Berryville, V.A. As you can imagine, the goals of UFA and Casey Trees align seamlessly. While they tackle the requests surrounding street trees, we coordinate with them on larger projects like our Pruning Corps, and major joint plantings like Suitland Parkway.

How did Miller get involved in forestry in the first place? A bit of a winding path. Originally from rural Virginia, she grew up surrounded by green spaces, enjoyed wandering around outdoors, and caring for her family’s many animals. Initially an Animal Science major at Virginia Tech, Miller switched to Urban Forestry and the rest is history. After stints in Ohio and Michigan, Miller ended up at UFA here in Washington, D.C. UFA is a division of the District Department of Transportation and primarily works “to manage and increase the District’s street trees to maintain healthy trees.”

For Miller, working with Casey Trees has been a valuable experience. While they were able to tour the facilities and grounds, the highlight of the Casey Tree Farm visit for Miller and UFA was the tree nursery. As an arborist, Miller said that it was beneficial to see the different methods for containing and transporting trees, and how that process can affect their root structure and the overall tree growth and health. Above all, Miller said she valued being able to see trees in their natural places of growth out in the rural land.

The visit was a building block in the relationship between our two organizations as we work together to successfully re-tree D.C.  and reach our 40% canopy goal.