THE LEAFLET

Last week, Casey Trees attended the 2nd World Forum on Urban Forests. The World Forum on Urban Forests (WFUF) is a conference that is jointly developed by participating organizations and cities and occurs every 5 years. This year’s organizers were the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Arbor Day Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), the Smithsonian Foundation, the Politecnico di Milano and Italian Society of Silviculture of Forest Ecology (SISEF), and the city of Washington, DC.

The event aims at “consolidating, promoting, and implementing the outcomes of the first edition of the Forum, including the call for action and the Tree Cities of the World Program, and support cities worldwide move towards a greener and more sustainable and resilient model of urban development”.

Activities and programs for the Forum were diverse and enriching for the urban forestry community, with several parallel breakout sessions and keynote speakers, including a keynote address from Casey Trees Board Member, Brenda Richardson. Among many other roles, Brenda is the Vice-Chair of Friends of Oxon Run Park and is the Coordinator of the Anacostia Parks & Community Collaborative. Brenda led a wonderful discussion about how our urban forests can play a key role in promoting racial equity.

The Forum’s objectives align closely with our own mission to promote a greener and healthier urban environment through restoring, enhancing, and protecting the tree canopy of our nation’s capital. We even had the pleasure of sharing some of our sustainable practices with a group of individuals who signed up for a tour of the Casey Tree Farm. By attending the tour, participants were able to see where our trees begin their journey, watch the DC sawmill in action, and learn about how we manage invasive pests. Scroll down to enjoy some snapshots of the day or see the whole Flickr album here. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this year’s forum the best yet!