Community Tree Care for Advanced Stewardship: Structural Pruning of Young Street Trees

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Adding a structural pruning program to your nonprofit can help in numerous ways. In 2013, Friends of Trees (FoT) launched the Community Tree Care program with an emphasis on structural training of 3- to 5-year-old street trees. This program has benefited FoT in numerous ways, including: Improving the health of the urban forest Providing educational and advancement opportunities for volunteers Improving both public and private partnerships with the City of Portland and local commercial arborists

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Community Tree Care Program

20 Years Ago

Today

Newsnet5 cleveland

Newsnet5 cleveland

Friends of TreesMission

To bring people in the Pacific Northwest together to plant, care for, and learn about city trees and to restore urban green spaces.

Grey to Green Initiative

Volunteer Roles

Neighborhood Coordinators

Crew LeadersSummer

Inspectors

Improve Structural IntegrityIncrease Tree LongevityReduce Future Maintenance Cost

What is Structural Pruning?

Tree City USA Bulletin 1 1997

Who we looked towards:

Training

Indoor Classroom Lecture

Outdoor Hands on Lecture

Pruning Priorities3 D’s: Dead, Damaged,

DiseasedSuckersCo-dominant leadersRaising branches for clearanceForm- Crossing / Rubbing branches- Thinning / Selecting scaffold

branches- Included Bark

Pruning Leader Checklist

Data Sheet

Tools

1st Year Results7 events750 street trees

pruned 30 trained

volunteers

2nd Year Goals50 trained

volunteers1200 street

trees

It’s good for your volunteersOnly offered to

our “key” volunteers

Renews interest

Gain knowledge / leadership skills

Master’s level volunteerism

“I came to the training to learn more about pruning and young tree care…and to hang out with the coolest people in the world.”

“I love how holistic this is. Seeing people out planting, while I was out pruning really felt good. It felt like we were really caring for our urban forest as a whole.”

“It’s always nice to come back and see how the trees I’ve helped plant over the years are doing – and give em a helping hand if they’re struggling”

Public Awareness

Homeowners with trees receive informational door hanger

Given education on who to call and who manages our city trees.

Better awareness of the need for future tree care

Private Commercial ArboristsPromotes business From the ROW to the yardAllows arborists to connect

City of PortlandPacific Power FoundationPortland Garden Club

Funding - Partnerships

BrandingBright vests2 Door hangersTree tagsService provided

Does additional exposure & providing a quality service translate to $$$?

Staff timeWhat trees to prune?What to do with debris?Incorporating homeownersAdditional funding

Challenges

It’s good for the treesIt’s good for your volunteers

It’s good for your organization

To recap:

Thank You

Friendsoftrees.orgJesse Batty: jesseb@friendsoftrees.orgWhitney Dorer: whitneyd@friendsoftrees.org

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