Casey Trees News February 2011

In this issue...2 Using trees to manage stormwater Support Casey Trees!

3 American elm pruning workshops4 Gregg Serenbetz, original volunteer New system will enhance constituent relations.

5 Spring programs and classes Come learn with Casey Trees.

6 Kids Corner Download more activities on the Arbor Kids page.

Save the DateCasey Trees’ Open House and Arbor Day celebration.Date: Saturday, April 30, 2011 Location: Brookland headquarters

More information to follow.

Casey Trees is now accepting applications for its eighth annual

High School Summer Crew jobs program, which will run from June 20 to August 12, 2011.

Selected students will travel by truck or bike in teams to sites across all eight Wards to water, weed and mulch trees that Casey Trees has planted in the last two years. When not caring for the District’s trees, crew members participate in a

series of career development activities, such as tree climbing at the U.S. National Arboretum and digital mapping at the National Zoo, profiling their experiences on Casey Trees’ blog, Tree Speak.

Applicants must be 16 years or older, be enrolled in or just graduating high school in the D.C. area, demonstrate an interest in the environment and be willing and able to work outdoors in all weather conditions with a variety of landscaping tools.

Applications must be completed online in one sitting by May 1. Crew member finalists participate field tryouts in May, when they experience the type of work they would be doing in the program, which has graduated 94 high school students since 2002.

More information regarding the program, including the online application, can be found on the Casey Trees’ Education webpage.

Best Place to VolunteerYou made Casey Trees the Best Place to Volunteer in the City Paper’s 2010 Best of DC Readers’ Poll.

Voting for the 2011 title opens online on February 16 and ends March 13. Vote often!

In addition to caring for the District’s trees, Summer Crew members participate in

other activities, such as tree climbing at the U.S. National Arboretum.

Arbor Day CelebrationsThree states celebrate Arbor Day in February. Let's join them in commemorating trees!

MississippiFriday, February 11State Tree: Southern magnolia

GeorgiaFriday, February 18State Tree: Live oak

AlabamaThe week of February 21State Tree: Longleaf pine

theleafletSummer Crew recruitment period opens for Washington, D.C.-area students

2 February 2011 | theleaflet

New legislation will impact stormwater management in D.C.

New Staff MemberScott BrownPlanning Associatesbrown@caseytrees.org202.349.1892

Scott joins Casey Trees in the Planning & Design department from Robert & Company, an engineering, architecture and planning firm in Atlanta.

He is looking forward to applying his analytical skills and public participation experience to advocacy at Casey Trees.

Casey Trees and its Planning & Design department are working

to add trees to stormwater designs to help increase the District’s tree canopy and simultaneously clean its rivers. Stormwater management has become a big issue in recent months, with the implementation of a new fee system and a dispute that ended in Congressional legislation.

Every year, one billion gallons of untreated stormwater combine with oil, dirt and trash from D.C. streets, and then mix with raw sewage to flow into our rivers. Currently, the city’s waters are unfishable, un-swimmable and hostile to diverse ecosystems that once thrived. In recent years, new environmental regulations and design standards have helped improve the quality of our waterways. The District’s sewer system, designed 300 years ago, sends both combined waste water and sewer water for treatment before entering the river. When too much rain falls, the water bypasses treatment and empties directly into the river. Increased development leads to more stormwater runoff, and simultaneously decreases the amount of trees and other vegetation, which help absorb runoff. To better manage the overrwhelmed

system, the District started charging landowners a fee for the amount of stormwater runoff produced on their property.

The federal government, which occupies about 20 percent of the District’s impervious surface area and is also tax exempt, refused to pay the fees claiming they were taxes. However stormwater fees are incurred for using the sewer system, just as an electricity bill is a fee for using electricity. In response, Congress passed a bipartisan bill in December (S.3481), requiring the federal government to pay the sewer fees. Newly embraced design principles incorporating plants to absorb stormwater before it runs into the sewers are finding their way into local development projects with greater frequency.

Directing stormwater runoff to irrigate landscapes helps conserve energy and save potable water. Casey Trees’ two rain gardens at our new headquarters are examples of this type of design. For more information, check out our new headquarters webpage.

In less than a decade, Casey Trees has planted more than 10,000

trees, educated thousands of adults and children on the value of urban forests, developed cutting edge online mapping tools, and partnered with elected officials, developers and community groups to implement best construction practices that protect existing trees and add new ones.

Although we have accomplished a lot, much more work remains. We need your help.

By financially supporting Casey Trees’ tree planting and education initiatives, you are solidifying your commitment to making the District a greener place to live, work, and play. To make a tax-deductible donation of any amount, visit us online or mail your gift to our office.

You or your company or organization can also sponsor one of the 47 Community Tree Planting events scheduled this spring, underwrite a High School Summer Crew job participant or support Water By-Cycle, our carbon-neutral tree care program.

If you have questions, email development@caseytrees.org or call 202.349.1894.

Access points in the curbside along 12th Street NE allow stormwater to infiltrate bioretention planters and pass into Casey Trees’ rain garden.

Sponsor Casey Trees programs and events

theleaflet | February 2011 3

PRUNING ELMSIn January, nearly 30 Citizen Foresters and Casey

Trees staff attended two tree care workshops at Dangerfield Islan, where they learned how to properly prune American elms. The classes were held in conjunction with the American Elm Restoration program and taught by U.S. National Park Service horticulturist Barry Stahl.

Stahl grows the classic American elm species (Ulmus americana), the Jefferson and Washington elms and the disease-resistant cultivars Valley Forge, Princeton and New Harmony, propagated from elm cuttings.

Winter is the ideal season for pruning because the trees are dormant, as well as the insects and diseases that take advantage of open wounds. Pruners tended to young trees — generally 10 to 12 feet tall — nipping out dead and broken branches, removing branches that were too low and establishing strong central leaders, or stems.

Stahl teaches six steps of pruning:

• Remove broken, diseased and dying branches.• Select or create a central leader and cut back or

remove competing branches.• Select and establish the lowest permanent branch

(depends on the tree’s location).• Select scaffold branches and remove

competing branches and plan for proper spacing

• Select temporary branches below the lowest permanent

branch.• Before you make a cut,

connect with the tree, feeling the ground around it and touching its bark, reassuring the tree that pruning is good for it.

View more photos of the pruning workshops on

Facebook and read more about our American Elm Restoration

Program at Casey Trees’ blog, Tree Speak.

You can say Gregg Serenbetz has planted his volunteer roots with

Casey Trees.

Gregg was one of the first Casey Trees volunteers, participating in the street-tree survey in 2002. He enjoyed his experience and became a Citizen Forester when Casey Trees began planting trees the following year. As he planted more frequently

and became familiar with other CFs and the Casey Trees staff, he decided to try his hand as a Lead Citizen Forester.

Plantings have provided him an opportunity

to see different neighborhoods across the District, and when he passes a tree he has planted, he gets a feeling of satisfaction.

4 February 2011 | theleaflet

Citizen Forester spotlight: Gregg Serenbetz“Volunteering with Casey Trees has been one of the best things I have ever been involved with,” Serenbetz said. “I know I’m doing something beneficial in the long run — helping to re-tree D.C. Every tree I plant will provide exponential benefits in the years to come.”

He has enjoyed building relationships with his fellow CFs and Casey Trees staff, whom he refers to as his “tree cult” when he discusses his volunteering with friends and family. These friendships, and the bonds he makes with the communities he plants in, deepen his devotion and interest in planting trees.

“The incredible warmth and appreciation community groups often display towards Casey Trees and the volunteers during events still surprises and encourages me,” he said.

Serenbetz said he was at the top of one category among his fellow Citizen Foresters: he’s the muddiest.

If you have recently registered for a Casey Trees class or made a

donation online you may have noticed a few enhancements to our website.

For the past four months, Casey Trees has been consolidating our constituent information into Convio, a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and launching an online marketing component to provide you with better and more personal service.

Registrants will no longer be directed to a secondary website to register for classes or volunteer events and will be able to update their registration status and manage event reminders with just a few clicks.

Another feature is customized messaging and more accurate distributions. As contact records are

updated, we will be able to share with you news and events that match your interests, take place in your neighborhood or directly impact you or the trees in your Ward and ANC. And now that we can update contact information and mark personal preferences, you will receive news and invitations from Casey Trees when and where you want.

Consolidating all of our constituents’ history into a shared organizational database will create a central location for Casey Trees staff to quickly check for answers to questions you may have regarding a class you have signed up for or tree rebate you may have submitted.

Rest assured, we do not share any personal contact information with third parties.

We hope you enjoy the website improvements and ask for your patience as we continue to update contact records and familiarize ourselves with the outreach tools intended to enhance your experience with Casey Trees.

“One constant throughout all of the plantings I’ve done is that somehow I usually always end up with dirt on my face,” he said. “I’m not sure if that’s funny or interesting, but I do take pride in it!”

Spring CTP SeasonCasey Trees received a record number of project applications and ultimately accommodating 47 planting sites representing all eight Wards. Sixteen projects are repeats and another ten are part of Casey Trees' partnership with the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Registration for the spring 2011 CTP schedule will openthe week of February 14. Planting dateswill run from March 5 to May 7.

Aiming to better serve you, the DistrictEnsure we have your correct information, outlined below:

• Correct spelling of your name.• Mailing address including Ward

and ANC, if applicable.• Preferred email accounts.• Phone numbers (home, cell, etc.)• Volunteer availability and any

credentials, talents or abilities, such as language skills, you would like to lend to the organization.

• Any additional personal or employment contact information you would like to share with us.

Contact us at friends@caseytrees.org or 202.349.1907 with any updates.

Send Us An Update

theleaflet | February 2011 5

Casey Trees' spring class schedule features diverse offerings on tree care and identification, landscaping, and planning & design.

Visiting EducatorsSustainable Sites InitiativeSteve Windhager, PhD, CEO, Santa Barbara Botanic GardenWed., Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m.

Steve Windhager will discuss the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a joint endeavor between the Wildflower Center, ASLA, and United States Botanic Garden.

Innovations in Plant Health CareBruce R. Fraedrich, PhD, Bartlett Tree Research Lab, Charlotte, N.C.Wed., Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

This presentation will provide an update on managing landscape plant heath with emphasis on invasive exotic pests and soil health management.

Designing Trees in the EnvironmentAndrew Wilson, Director of Garden Design Studies at the London College of Garden Design -and- Andrew Fisher Tomlin, Landscape Designer in the United Kingdom.Wed., March 2, 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

From a distinctly European perspective, our two lecturers will look at the pressures of incorporating trees in our urban environments, including gardens and public spaces, today and in the future; what we should be planting, and how we can meet the needs of trees in the future.

Tree WalksLincoln Cottage and Rock Creek CemeteryMelanie Choukas-BradleySat., April 16, 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Choukas-Bradley will lead a walk at President Lincoln's Civil War-era summer home and then explore historic trees at Rock Creek Cemetery. Click here for directions.

Ornamental Trees Casey Trees StaffSat., April 23, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.U.S. National Arboretum

Take a walk through the Arboretum’s dogwood, magnolia and Asian tree collections to see what flowering options are offered.

Shade Trees of D.C. Casey Trees StaffSat., May 14, 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.U.S. National Arboretum

Get to know some of the key representatives of D.C.’s urban forest. We will focus on larger trees found in our parks, streets and home landscapes.

Citizen Forester Qualifying Courses

Trees 101Casey Trees StaffSat., Feb. 12, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

This course provides a foundation in tree anatomy, identification and benefits, culminating with a street tree identification walk.

Stand Up for TreesCasey Trees StaffSat., Feb. 26, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Learn what advocacy tools are available through the District’s municipal services, hear success stories and receive advice from community leaders.

Tree PlantingCasey Trees StaffSat., March 5, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Location: Raymond A. DuFour Center, The Catholic University of America(At the intersection of Taylor Street, NE and John McCormack Road, NE)

Learn how to select and prepare a tree planting site, choose appropriate species and properly plant the tree to ensure its survival. A field component follows the class.

Want to be an ambassador of Casey Trees and teach others about trees? To be recognized as a Citizen Forester, complete one or all three of the following classes:

Programs, classes and events

Register on the Casey Trees Education webpage. Advance registration is required. Space is

limited.

All classes will be taught at the Casey Trees headquarters at 3030 12th Street NE in Brookland unless otherwise noted.

All ClassesAre

FREE!

Register Now

CLASS IS FULL

Kids Corner Tree Vocabulary

a) Having three or more veins, leaflets, or lobes radiating from one point, similar to that of a hand with the fingers extended.

b) A protective layer of organic matter such as leaves, straw, or shredded bark placed around plants to prevent the evaporation of moisture, the freezing of roots, and the growth of weeds.

c) The planting of trees on land that has lost trees due to development, fire, logging, drought, pests or disease to bring back beauty to the landscape, provide food and habitat for wildlife and to provide for recreational activities.

d) The layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above.

e) Losing all leaves at the end of the growing season.

f) A tree that grows cones.

g) Having parts or branches arranged on each side of a single stem, resembling a feather.

1) a; 2) g; 3) b; 4) d; 5) e; 6) f; 7) c

Answer Key:

6 February 2011 | theleaflet

Be an Arbor Kid!

Casey Trees’ new educational webpage, Arbor Kids, features

fun and interactive activities to get kids outdoors and learn about trees and their many environmental, social and economic benefits.

Each downloadable activity integrates geography, science and math to cultivate knowledge of the District’s urban forest. Activities can be done alone or in groups.

Downloadable activities include:

• Name that Tree! Learn how to identify some of the most common trees found in the District.

• Tree Benefits Scavenger Hunt. Challenge yourself and friends to find all the listed tree benefits in the shortest amount of time.

• How Tall Is That Tree? In four easy steps, you can determine the height of any tree.

• My Trees: A Home Inventory. Name, count and map the trees at and in front of your home.

Arbor Kids is a rich resource for educators, caregivers and parents alike. Each activity incorporates Casey Trees’ ROOTS (Restoring Our Own Trees Through Service) curriculum, developed for kindergarten to 8th grade students and available for download online as well.

Casey Trees has made it easier to introduce your kids or students to trees in their backyards, schoolyards and communities!

Match the image and word on the left with the correct description on the right.

1.Palmate

2.Pinnate

3.Mulch

5.Deciduous

7.Reforestation

4.Tree Canopy

6.Conifer