Experienced NCUFC Board Member Mark Foster serves the City of Asheville as the City Arborist. On a daily basis, Mark promotes healthy, structurally sound trees and manages vegetation along city streets for Asheville's traveling public by overseeing the work of two in-house tree crews, various contract crews, and a couple of roadside mowing tractor drivers. 

Mark has participated as a Board Member twice over the past 17 years. He has found that participation on the board of NCUFC has been a great opportunity to collaborate with other urban tree managers and those in related professions who intersect with urban trees. As Mark puts it, "In the built environment that list of related professions is a long one. I've gotten to meet these different folks on the board itself as well as through events hosted by NCUFC. Learning to work constructively to meet the needs of the trees and all those different folks is interesting and challenging."

Some experience-based advice Mark would like to share with tree managers is to remain dedicated yet flexible. "Understand that you aren't always going to get your way when dealing with trees around construction projects or utilities so learn to be ok with that. Do your best for the trees but allow other stakeholders to do their jobs too. In short don't be a zealot, try to meet people half way," he adds.

Currently, Mark's favorite tree is the Ginkgo biloba. If you would like to get in touch with Mark, you can reach him through the City of Asheville's Department of Public Works.

The chalk maple (Acer leucoderme) is the only one of its species on the National Register. The champion chalk maple has a circumference of 37.5 inches, height of 65.08 feet, and an average crown spread of 41 feet, totaling 113 points. Typical mature height for this species is 20-30 feet, and typical mature crown width can range from 15-25 feet. Chalk maple is a small growing, understory tree, typically found in rocky woods, river bluffs and ravines throughout the Piedmont of North Carolina. This champion tree is located at the Redlair Plant Conservation Preserve, a state-owned property in Gaston County. The preserve is owned and managed by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Plant Conservation Program. The program’s mission to conserve native plant species of North Carolina in their natural habitats now and for future generations directly aligns with why the National Register was started and continues.

The willow oak (Quercus phellos) is the second largest willow oak of the four listed on the National Register. The champion willow oak has a circumference of 337 inches, height of 90 feet, and an average crown spread of 135 feet, totaling 461 points. Typical mature height for this species is 60-75 feet, and typical mature crown width can range from 40-50 feet. Willow oak is a moderately fast-growing species, typically found in the bottomland wet areas of floodplains yet is drought tolerant. It is widely planted in urban areas as a street tree.

Jennifer Rall

Urban Forestry Specialist

N.C. Forest Service

We have added some new, additional membership benefits for membership in 2021. For more information, check out our membership page.  If you are already a member, you can renew your annual membership here.

Frank, S. D., & Just, M. G. (2020). Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects. Insects, 11(3), 142.

Authors: Steven D. Frank and Michael G. Just, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, NC State University

Summary: Climate warming can increase the abundance of insect pests and the damage they cause in forests. In part this is due to innocuous native insects that become more virulent or invasive as temperatures increase. Often called ‘sleeper species’ these pests take on traits common to exotic invasive species such as high reproduction, range expansion, and escape from biological control. Urban areas are hotter than surrounding rural areas and in some cases can be used to predict the biotic effects of warming and other environmental changes. In this paper, the authors summarize traits and examples of sleeper species then provide two case studies of scale insects, which are small sap-sucking insects, that have become important pests of urban trees due to the urban heat island effect. Oak lecanium scale is native to the US and rare in forests but becomes very abundant on urban trees as the urban heat island effect intensifies. This is due adaptations that allow it to thrive in high temperatures and heat-induced phenological mismatch from its parasitoids. Gloomy scales are also native and become abundant, damaging pests with urban warming. In this species, warming increases scale size and fecundity, increases survival, and has allowed range expansion to higher latitudes and altitudes. This species exhibits similar responses to temperature in natural forests. Managers need to prepare not just for the next exotic insect but also for native sleeper species. Cities may help identify sleeper species and their consequences.

Take-home points:

●     Native species can become invasive species as environmental conditions change and cause damage similar in magnitude to exotic invasive species.

●     A single tree species can host hundreds of herbivore species. Research in urban heat islands can help identify which ones will become invasive with climate change.

Management implications:

●     Insects that become damaging pests of urban trees, and acquire invasive traits, deserve scrutiny and research as potential sleeper species that could invade natural ecosystems.

●     Urban heat islands could allow sleeper species to develop high populations north of their natural range. As the rural climate catches up these species could move into forests.

●     Management tactics could be tested and refined on urban trees to prepare for management in forests.