Protecting, Sustaining, Advocacy
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Greetings NCUFC Members,
Wow, talk about early spring, I don’t remember plants and trees blooming earlier than they are this year. Which is to be expected with the mild winter and abundance of rain we have had so far this year. No doubt with time change this past weekend we are springing forward, which is fine by me. I’m ready for a change and have appreciated the warmer temperatures this week, which gets me motivated to prep my garden and get out in the yard to prep it for summer.
I hope this warm weather and seasonal change also gets you motivated and inspired for what is to come. If so celebrate the official start of Spring and “Arbor Month” by joining us Saturday, March 21 in Raleigh for the
Plant the Parks
event. NCUFC is partnering with
Mother Earth Br
ewing
and the City of Raleigh for a tree planting event and beer release party. Tree planting will begin at 9:00 am at Pullen Park and Walnut Creek Wetland Center, followed up by a great opportunity to network and sample a new urban forest themed beer. Join us at 12:00 pm at Vita Vite Downtown for the release of the “Giving Tree IPA”. I look forward to seeing you there!
Jason Combs
Board Chair, NC Urban Forest Council
Division Vegetation Management Specialist, Duke Energy Progress, Inc.
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North Carolina
Urban Forest Council
P.O. Box 37416
Raleigh, NC 27627
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Plant the Parks
in Partnership with Mother Earth Brewing and City of Raleigh
April 14, 2020
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
2 locations: Pullen Park and Walnut Creek Wetland Center, Raleigh, NC
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Plant the Parks Celebration
(~featuring
Giving Tree IPA
, profits donated to the NC Legacy Tree Fund~)
in Partnership with Mother Earth Brewing
April 14, 2020
12:00 pm
Vita Vite Downtown, 313 W. Hargett St., Raleigh
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Make That Tree an Asset Not a Liability
April 14, 2020
8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Wayne County Coop. Extension, Goldsboro, NC
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2020 NC Tree Board Webinar Series
SAVE THE DATES: May 13th, July 8th, Oct. 14th
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Free Webinar (online)
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ISA Southern Chapter Annual Conference
April 18-21, 2020
Winston-Salem, NC
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Southern Urban Wood Forum - Honoring the Tree
presented by the Southern Urban Wood Network
July 22-23, 2020
Charlotte, NC
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Liz Whitmore (left), Sanford Mayor Chet Mann, and students of B.T. Bullock Elementary School celebrating Arbor Day by planting a tree.
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MARCH 2020 NCUFC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
Liz Whitmore
City of Sanford
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Although her official title is Historic Planner II, Liz Whitmore wears "many hats" in her role with the City of Sanford, NC. The City of Sanford has been recognized as a Tree City USA for the past seven years, and Liz has been instrumental in helping the community qualify for this distinction annually since the beginning. As part of the program, Liz helped the City Appearance Commission develop their first tree ordinance 12 years ago, and she has also developed a community partnership between Sanford and the local elementary school for an annual Arbor Day celebration. Liz serves as the City of Sanford's Public ARTS Coordinator, as well.
Liz has enjoyed the past eight years or so as a member of the NC Urban Forest Council. She especially likes the continuing education opportunities hosted by the Council and finds communication with the NCUFC staff to be easy and helpful.
Given the opportunity, Liz would suggest that all planners and others in her field consider planting the right tree in the right place and not be afraid to remove a tree when necessary, even though this decision is frequently unpopular. When asked about her favorite tree, Liz says that she has many. Like many of us, trees often evoke comforting memories for her of a childhood spent climbing and lounging in the branches of a special tree in the yard of her childhood home.
Liz Whitmore can be reached through through the City of Sanford's Planning Department
Staff Directory
.
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NC URBAN FOREST COUNCIL PARTNERS WITH MOTHER EARTH BREWING TO "PLANT THE PARKS"
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We have teamed up with Mother Earth Brewing Company to put on an urban tree planting event in the City of Raleigh. Starting at 9:00 am, we will be beautifying the city by planting trees in two separate locations: Pullen Park and Walnut Creek Wetland Center. Afterwards, Vita Vite Downtown will tap Mother Earth's exclusive "Giving Tree IPA" brewed in honor of this event. 100% of profits will go towards the
Legacy Tree Fund
, which provides financial assistance to communities across North Carolina for urban tree planting projects.
All volunteers MUST register in advance. Click
here
to sign up.
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TREES: CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM, HARD TO LIVE WITH THEM
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Trees are living things that naturally and eventually lose branches; yes, they do. We know and promote the assets of trees. As important as those assets are, there is also a liability side to trees.
In February, 2020, Dr. Barb Fair presented a symposium entitled ‘Southeast Trees And The Law’. The talk was on just that, trees and the law. If you were there, congratulations. If not, ask when the next one will be held. This symposium was spot on. Dr. Fair presented case studies; one from 1899! That’s right, 1899. Trees can be liabilities. Lawyers have been around for a long time! Lawyers get involved, money follows, and the legal system has discovered tree risk.
There is not enough space in this article to go into detail, but I strongly recommend that all who are involved in tree planting and maintenance in cities, HOA’s, tree service companies, etc., should attend this symposium and educate themselves.
Just six days prior to Dr. Fair’s symposium, a wind storm affected Raleigh and the local news stations went to 24 hour coverage of the resulting damage. Needless to say, trees were not considered an asset when they were pictured laying on houses, cars, or downed power lines.
In eastern North Carolina we see this damage after hurricanes. In central and western North Carolina the cause may be ice storms. But the news is still the same. Not all of this news is bad. With any liability comes opportunity. That’s life!
My take home message is become an expert, price like an expert, and get highly involved like an expert or to what I do and just grow and plant trees. Times are changing and tree related liabilities are changing too.
Thanks to Dr. Barb Fair and NCUFC for bringing this to light.
Danny VanDevender
Jericho Farms
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NC FOREST SERVICE STAFF ASSIST WITH VIRGINIA SPOTTED LANTERNFLY MITIGATION SURVEY
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Spotted Lanternfly is another one of those invasive pests that hitched a ride to the US from China (
https://www.ncagr.gov/paffairs/LookoutforSpottedLanternflythisSummer.htm). It’s specialized mouth parts pierce leaves, stems, branches and trunks feeding on sugary sap directly from the plant’s phloem. As a result, it expels large quantities of excess sugars (honeydew) on everything under the plant creating a nuisance in urban areas. More importantly, the pest damages the trees and plants it’s feeding on including some agricultural crops such as grapes. Its preferred host is Tree of Heaven (
Ailanthus
altissima). A mitigation strategy is to inventory Tree of Heaven trees and treat them with an insecticide that kills the insect. Fortunately, the pest has not been found in North Carolina.
The Virginia Department of Forestry in partnership with USDA Forest Service, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and USDA-APHIS deployed Urban Forest Strike Team (UFST) members to assist with inventorying Tree of Heaven trees in quarantined Frederick County in Northern Virginia.
Virginia requested assistance from the NC Forest Service and we sent Wake County Ranger, Chris Frey and Urban Forestry Specialist, Jennifer Rall the second week of February to assist with the inventory work. The UFSTs collected data on 12,893 Tree of Heaven trees and completed almost 2,000 acres of assessments during the deployment. These trees will be treated later this year by a hired contractor. Chris and Jennifer say they worked very hard for that week, had some fun and gained valuable knowledge and experience to bring back to NC. We are pleased to have a leg up on mitigation strategies if the pest arrives in NC and we were happy to assist our neighbors to the north.
Andy Pleninger
NC Forest Service
Urban & Community Forestry Program Head
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