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January 2023
NCUFC eNews
Protecting, Sustaining, Advocating
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UPCOMING COUNCIL EVENTS
NC Community Tree Webinar: Urban & Community Forests -- National Policies & Funding
- Presenters are incoming Chair Rachel Holmes and Board Member Danielle Watson of the Sustainable Urban Forest Coalition
- 24 January 2023, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
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NC Community Tree Webinar: Protecting Roots and Soil During Development
- Presenter Kelby Fite, Vice President and Director of Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories
- 21 February 2023, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
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UPCOMING PARTNER EVENTS
Green & Growin' 23: Sow the Seeds of Success
- Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons & Greensboro Coliseum
- 16-20 January 2023
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Structural pruning guidance
by Jeffery Kish, Bartlett Tree Experts, Assistant Division Manager
As we find ourselves deep into the winter months, there is not a better time to go out and inspect your new and recently planted trees. We feel so rewarded after we plant them and then walk away, often forgetting how important the practice is of pruning these trees are. When we view them during the growing season, we simply look at the beautiful green foliage as we walk or drive by.
If the planted trees look good, they must be healthy and ready to live a long life, right? That might be true in the short term, but are we setting the trees up for a long and prosperous life?
I have heard many leaders in arboriculture mention that caring and pruning for young trees is much like raising kids. It takes constant touches and nurturement to set trees up for success before we let them go into a life on their own.
Why is this important?
In a forest, trees compete with neighboring trees for resources. A tapered, central stem and short, strongly attached branches develop naturally as the trees grow towards light.
Conditions are much different in an urban landscape. The crown is now exposed to full sun from multiple directions, encouraging a broader more complex form. As a result, multiple stems may compete for dominance. Branches grow in close proximity to one another. Lower limbs will increase in diameter and over extend. To the untrained person, this unruly growth pattern may be attractive and appear healthy. To the trained arborist, however, this untrained crown development is reducing the tree's life and setting it up for damage during wind, ice or snow events.
Why Prune for Structure?
First of all, is that it’s much cheaper and easier to do. Most young tree pruning can be accomplished with hand pruning tools and doesn’t take much time. Secondly, structural pruning can reduce future problems caused by tree growth that interferes with people, structures, utilities and views.
Steps in Developing Tree Structure
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Identify a single dominant stem (central leader). Usually this is the straightest, tallest, largest in diameter, and most central stem. Remove or reduce other upright-growing stems that compete with this leader.
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Identify the lowest permanent branches in the tree crown. Branches below this level are temporary, yet important producers of energy for the tree. Additionally, the lower branches shade the stem and help form its taper.
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Select permanent branches that will develop from the central stem. In small-maturing trees, branches should be vertically spaced 6 to 8 inches apart. For large maturing trees, branches should be vertically spaced 18 to 24 inches apart.
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Identify interfering branches. Remove or reduce branches that become problematic for people or obstruct views, utilities and structures.
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Top image displays a tree growth without structural pruning. Bottom image displays tree growth with structural pruning. Images courtesy of Oklahoma State University Extension.
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When to prune?
For most species, pruning can be done anytime of the year. During the winter it is easier to view the branch architecture of deciduous trees. In fact, some species should only be pruned during the winter, not the spring. Winter time pruning can protect select tree species from damaging insects and pests, but avoid pruning trees that flower in early spring.
When not to prune?
In a newly planted tree, broken branches and severe structural problems can be corrected upon installment. Otherwise, pruning should be delayed until the tree is well established and has assumed a normal growth rate.
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National Audubon Society maps the wondrous routes of bird migrations
By David Gadsden and Sunny Fleming, Esri
Each summer, Melanie Smith notices the small, brown birds that take up residence in her backyard in Talkeetna, Alaska. As the program director for the Bird Migration Explorer, a trained ornithologist, and a lifelong birder, she knows that these creatures are Swainson's thrushes. But just recently, she learned that they migrate from as far as Argentina in the spring to spend the summer nesting near her home.
One the past four years, Smith and her colleagues at the National Audubon Society have been working with founding partners and hundreds of researchers to tell the complex story of bird migration using geographic information system (GIS) technology. The process required aggregating research data from hundreds of institutions and designing an accessible, beautiful, and dynamic platform.
Presented using three types of maps -- species, locations, and conservation challenges -- the Explorer combines bird banding, tracking, abundance, and genetic data with geography. Intricate illustrations of each species, a custom basemap built by Esri, and well-crafted storytelling help the Explorer appeal to multiple audiences, from conservationist and advocates to birders and the casually curious.
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NC Resilient Coastal Communities Program:
Phase 1 and 2 Grant Cycle
by Mackenzie Todd, Coastal Resilience Specialist, (252) 515-5434
The Division of Coastal Management invites communities and service providers to apply for participation in the second round of Phases 1 and 2 of the N.C. Resilient Coastal Communities Program grant cycle.
Phases 1 and 2 walk communities through a series of steps to ...
- assess risks and vulnerabilities specific to their location
- engage representative stakeholders
- complete a community-involved process to prioritize projects and action items to improve the resiliency of their community and critical assets.
Separate applications for community members and service provider are available online. The application deadline is 3 February 2023. An informational webinar about the application process will be held on 12 January 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Click here to register.
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Conducting inventories and forest health assessments in the urban forests of rural communities
by Alexander Martin, Co-Chair of the Canadian TREE Fund
and Director of Ironwood Urban Forestry Consulting, Inc.
If you have perused the literature on urban forest management over the past several years, you have likely noted the large increase in the application of technology. Big data approaches to urban forestry and remote sensing have provided novel methods for assessing the current composition of urban forests, providing faster methods for assessing and comparing between different years, and facilitating the development of rigorous monitoring programs.
One of the major challenges for successful and sustainable urban forest management in rural communities is limited budgets. For some communities, urban forestry is opportunistically funded, varying in annual investments depending on how much "is left over in the budget." I have worked with communities that are attempting to accomplish a breadth of management objectives with budgets ranging from $500 and $25,000 -- all municipal funds that remained available at the end of the fiscal year.
These challenges are a legitimate and pressing concern for assessing what we have -- the first step of the simplified four-step planning cycle. If we don't measure the urban forest, we cannot develop a management plan and portfolio specifically for the spatial and temporal contexts of that forest. In areas on the cusp of large-scale losses to invasive forest pests, such as Emerald ash borer (Agrilius planipennis) or Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma spp.), without forest assessment, it is difficult to forecast the potential losses (and thus financial consequences) of pest population influxes.
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Good seasons: Adapting to a changing climate with calculated planting of trees
by, Lynette Walther, Courrier-Gazette
It has been nearly a half century since the U.S. Department of Agriculture first published a map of growing zones. Those zones indicate hardiness ranges based on the average annual minimum temperature of any given spot in the nation. Each zone indicates a 10-degree band.
Those bands range from 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Zone 1 to 70 degrees F in Zone 13. The last time the hardiness zone map was updated was 10 years ago, and during that time nearly half of this country is at least half a zone warmer — thanks, no doubt, to climate change.
According to Dan Herms, Pd.D., a scientist at Davey Tree, we may need to look at a different palette of trees that can thrive in our altered landscape.
Already, forward-thinking public gardens are doing this, moving away from monoculture and choosing climate-resilient trees.
Predictions show that as the climate change crisis deepens, business and consumers will join with non-profit groups and government efforts in a global tree-planting boom.
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Planting trees can save lives, study shows
by Barcelona Institute for Global Health
In the past 30 years, the non-profit organization Friends of Trees planted trees along the streets of Portland, Oregon. Now, a new study shows that each tree planted was associated with significant reductions in non-accidental and cardiovascular mortality (of 20% and 6%, respectively, for trees planted in the preceding 15-30 years). The researchers also estimate that the annual economic benefits of planting trees greatly exceed the cost of maintaining them. The study, co-led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, together with the USDA Forest Service, was published in Environment International.
The authors took advantage of a natural experiment that took place in the city of Portland, Oregon: between 1990 and 2019, Friends of Trees planted 49,246 street trees (and kept records of where the trees were planted, and when). So, the research team looked at the number of trees planted in a given area (specifically, a census track, where approximately 4,000 people live) in the preceding 5, 10 or 15 years. They associated this information with mortality due to cardiovascular, respiratory or non-accidental causes in that same area, using data from the Oregon Health Authority.
The results show that in neighbourhoods in which more trees had been planted, mortality rates (deaths per 100,000 persons) were lower. This negative association was significant for cardiovascular and non-accidental mortality (that is, all causes excluding accidents), particularly for males and people over the age of 65.
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View The Nature Conservancy's video, "How does nature improve health". | |
Review publication NC Trees & Storms:
Readiness, Response and Recovery
December 2022 reminded all of us how unpredictable the weather can be. From rolling blackouts to fallen trees, last month tested the abilities of our state's utility companies and municipal governments to keep residents safe. These individuals succeeded, but it is still a good time to review the publications NCUFC co-created with the NC Forest Service and NC Cooperative Extension a few years ago.
The NC Trees & Storms: Readiness, Response and Recovery Initiative provides tree care professionals, municipalities and homeowners with valuable information on how to protect trees and property during hazardous storms. Click on the above link to learn more about this initiative and access its associated publications.
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