GivingTuesday is a worldwide movement created in 2012 with a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Every year it falls on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which this year is December 2.  CaUFC envisions thriving community forests, people enjoying the benefits of trees, and informed arborists and community leaders. Support this vision with a donation on, or before, GivingTuesday.

CENTRAL COAST REGIONAL URBAN FORESTS COUNCIL

The California Urban Forests Council is working to launch a regional urban forests council in the Central Coast area, specifically including San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County. If you are an arborist, tree advocate, or tree lover, who lives or works in one or more of these counties, please take our brief, seven-question survey to help us as we launch the Central Coast Regional Urban Forests Council.

WCISA

 

 

 

The Myrtaceae is a large plant family of flowering plants, primarily woody trees and large shrubs, concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions, especially Australia and South America. Members of this family make up some of the most common and important species in the California urban forest. Examples of the many economically important members of the family include Eucalyptus (timber, pulpwood, essential oils), Psidium guajava (guava fruit), Syzygium aromaticum (cloves), and Acca sellowiana (feijoa). Dr. Matt Ritter will delve deeply into the family and help participants identify the members of the family that they commonly encounter while working with trees in the California urban forest. 

PLANIT GEO

Urban forestry saw significant developments in 2025. Join our panel of experts for a comprehensive review of the year’s most important trends, policies, and practices. We’ll explore:

URBAN FORESTRY TODAY

 

 

 

The often-touted benefits of trees - like shade - can also present management challenges. Join Dr. Christine Crago, University of Massachusetts, as she discusses the findings of a study that examines the relationship between trees, their removal, and photo-voltaic installations.

SAN DIEGO REGIONAL URBAN FORESTS COUNCIL

 

 

 

Join the San Diego Regional Urban Forests Council (SDRUFC) as we celebrate outstanding achievements in urban forestry at our annual Award Ceremony, generously hosted and sponsored by West Coast Arborists. We will be recognizing exceptional urban forestry personnel, programs, and projects that have made significant contributions to the health, sustainability, and resilience of San Diego's urban forests. Additionally, Urban Forestry Program Updates will be presented by City of San Diego, County of San Diego, and CALFIRE Regional UCF.

 

GLOBAL CONSERVATION CONSORTIUM FOR OAK (GCCO) AND SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE (SDZWA)

This event is meant to engage and inform those involved in or who may be interested in the Oaks of the Californias action plan, led by the Global Conservation Consortium for Oak (GCCO) and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) since 2021. We will meet to share updates on research and conservation work for six threatened California oak species in the U.S. and Mexico (Quercus cedrosensis, Q. dumosa, Q. engelmannii, Q. pacifica, Q. parvula var. parvula and Q. tomentella.) This will be a great opportunity to connect with old and new friends involved in California oak conservation!

The meeting will take place at the San Diego Zoo, with an optional second day consisting of a field trip to see populations of Quercus dumosa at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. See below for details:

Please use this Google form to RSVP. 

Email karinaorozco@mortonarb.org or cpowell@sdzwa.org with any questions

URBAN AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY SOCIETY

While many municipalities share common challenges, each community operates within a unique context that shapes the response to these challenges. In this webinar, we will introduce a Framework for Assessing Community Forestry Needs, a practical approach to identify the distinct characteristics, priorities, and conditions that influence local urban forestry programs — insights that are essential for developing or updating tree ordinances that serve as a strong foundation for cohesive and resilient municipal forestry efforts.

STREET TREE SEMINAR (LA/OC REGIONAL URBAN FORESTS COUNCIL

 

 

Street Tree Seminar invites you to a special gathering honoring our 2025 Scholarship Awardees and inducting our newly elected Board of Directors. Join STS as we recognize the outstanding achievements of emerging leaders in arboriculture and welcome the visionaries who will guide our organization into the future. Lunch is hosted by STS. If you would like to support future recipients in their educational endeavors, donations for the scholarship fund are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Register by Wednesday, December 17.

DAVEY RESOURCE GROUP

 

 

 

Join Davey Resource Group for Smart Tree Inventory Week, January 12-16, for a free five-day lunch and learn series exploring how artificial intelligence, LiDAR, and advanced analytics are transforming urban forestry. Hear directly from experts at Davey Resource Group, greehill, and partner cities who are already using Smart Tree Inventories to improve safety, equity, and resilience. Each session builds on the one before it, guiding you from the “why” to the “how” of Smart Tree Inventories, from capturing canopy data and identifying planting opportunities to turning insights into actionable management plans.

WESTERN CHAPTER ISA

 

 

 

Join us for a dynamic day of learning, discussion, and connection at the Western Tree Failure Database Annual Meeting. This year the annual meeting will feature leading experts in arboriculture and forest management, offering insights from decades of research and practice. Topics include tree failure case studies, arborists’ assessments of stem decay, and post-fire recovery in Los Angeles. A special session reflects on twenty-five years of discoveries in tree biomechanics, followed by “Ask the Speaker,” where attendees can engage directly with presenters. The program concludes with training for new cooperators, led by Katherine Jones, WTFD Manager, ensuring participants gain both scientific knowledge and practical skills.

PROFESSIONAL TREE CARE ASSOCIATION OF SAN DIEGO

Join PTCA-SD at the Stein Family Farm in National City for this hands-on demonstration and in the field practice to increase your skills and knowledge of deciduous fruit tree pruning.  This workshop requires your participation in pruning of these trees. Workshop Leaders: Kurt Peacock (Consulting Arborist), Dave Ephron (Arborist, One Tripp Tree Service), Matt Smith (Arborist, Smith Family Tree Service).

WESTERN CHAPTER ISA

 

 

 

Recent developments in our profession have sought to distinguish arboriculture from urban and community forestry. While arboriculture is a well-developed field of practice, urban and community forestry continues to evolve. This presentation will discuss those developments and how they may impact arborists and arboriculture.

CALIFORNIA URBAN FORESTS COUNCIL (CaUFC)

If you are an arborist, tree advocate, or tree lover, who lives or works in one or more of the Central Coast counties (San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County), please join CaUFC for one or more of our formation meetings for the “Central Coast Regional Urban Forests Council”, which will serve as one of seven regional urban forests councils under the California Urban Forests Council.

 

 

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CONSULTION ARBORISTS

Learn the essentials of being a successful Consulting Arborist AND begin the process of becoming a Registered Consulting Arborist® (RCA). The Consulting Academy topics include standards of professional practice, forensics, report writing, and legal aspects of consulting

Registration is sold out. Add your name to the waitlist: ASCA-Consultants.org

WESTERN CHAPTER ISA

 

 

Canopy, based in Palo Alto, is hiring:

Friends of the Urban Forest, based in San Francisco, is hiring:

 

Sacramento’s City Council unanimously resolved to adopt the Sacramento Urban Forest Plan Tuesday, aiming to nearly double the city’s existing tree canopy coverage by 2045.

 

 

The City of Vista, California is now home to 50 new fruit trees, thanks to a partnership between the Urban Corps of San Diego County and Garden 31. The trees were planted by local youth as part of an urban agroforestry project to cultivate land stewardship and food production in urban spaces. Supported by a grant from CAL FIRE's Urban and Community Forestry Program, a variety of fruit trees were planted, giving the youth who planted them a wide range of knowledge and skills for proper planting, care, and harvesting of fruit trees.

 

Urban forestry is one of the fastest-growing industries, yet traditional recruiting often fails to meet demand. Thanks to a $1,450,000.00 CAL FIRE Workforce Development (WFD) 2021 grant, the Southern California Mountains Foundation (SCMF) and the Urban Conservation Corps of the Inland Empire (UCCIE) created a powerful model that prepared over 50 young adults—especially those at risk—for lasting careers in urban forestry.

The project spanned three years, from 2022 to 2025, with participants earning ANSI and International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certifications. Additionally, the project focused on building social-emotional skills and employability training, ensuring graduates are better prepared to enter and succeed in the urban and community forestry workforce.

 

 

In March 2024, United for Justice, Inc. launched the Salton Sea Shores Climate and Shade Equity Project, funded by a grant from CAL FIRE and the USDA Forest Service. The Salton Sea shoreline communities, including Bombay Beach, Niland, and Salton Sea Beach, are historically marginalized, low-income, and significantly underinvested. These communities are at greater risk from climate-related health impacts due to rising temperatures and prolonged drought which accelerate the Salton Sea’s retreat, increasing the frequency and intensity of dust storms and poor air quality days. The absence of tree canopy reduces resilience to heat and contributes to urban heat island effects in areas that lack basic cooling infrastructure.

 

This project is the first community-driven tree planting project along the Salton Sea. The project aims to increase climate resilience, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and improve public health. To date, the project has planted 266 trees across four community-centered sites that serve as key gathering places for recreation, meetings, cooling centers, and public events. These sites now include tree irrigation systems and structured vegetative barriers, helping reduce residents' exposure to air pollution, provide much-needed shade, and lower ambient temperatures. The project will be completed in March 2027.

 

 

The vast majority of urban, public grade schools in California are paved-over “nature deserts” sorely lacking in trees or shade — leaving most of the state’s 5.8 million school-age children to bake in the sun during breaks from the classroom as rising global temperatures usher in more dangerous heat waves. That’s the conclusion by a team of California researchers from UCLA, UC Davis and UC Berkeley who studied changes in the tree cover at 7,262 urban public schools across the Golden State from 2018 through 2022.

 

 

California has a new tool to help protect communities and individuals from extreme heat. CalHeatScore is a public health tool to help Californians stay informed, ready, and safe when temperatures rise. The tool aims to reduce heat-related illness and save lives by translating meteorological, weather, and health data into easy-to-understand heat risk alerts. Each day, every California ZIP code receives a score from 0 to 4 (Low to Severe) on an easy-to-understand scale that communicates heightened risk of heat illness. Learning their score will help Californians better plan and prepare for extreme heat events and use the tool to find local resources, such as, cooling centers.

 

 

The Western Tree Failure Database has some good news and bad news. We have a total of 6,808 reports in the database. The bad news is that we’ve only received 27 reports so far in 2025. If everyone who reads this would submit at least one report we’d be in good shape. Don’t forget that we are offering a monetary prize for the person who submits the most reports this year.

 

 

The Tree Risk Assessment Manual, Third Edition, is now available as a companion publication for the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (ISA TRAQ) course. This edition is consistent with the third edition of the Best Management Practices (BMP)—Tree Risk Assessment publication. The terminology has been redefined to meet current industry standards, and additional or rewritten case studies have been added. Select modules have also been reorganized to improve flow and comprehension. Advanced assessment technique descriptions, guidance for calibrating assessments and ratings, and consideration for wildlife habitat sections have all been expanded. Plus, new guidance for assessing the likelihood of impact has been included. The third edition also features sidebars with key points for each module as well as additional illustrations, diagrams, and photos depicting key concepts.

 

 

The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) is excited to announce the release of Draft Guidelines for two of its climate investment programs: 

 

These investment programs seek to fund community-led development and climate resilience projects. Both programs include priority points and funding goals for Tribal, unincorporated, and rural communities. View the web announcement for more information, including proposed program changes and webinar dates. Both sets of Draft Guidelines are open for public comment from Sept. 29, 2025, through Jan. 2, 2026, at 5 p.m.

 

WCISA

 

 

Help us celebrate excellence in arboriculture by recognizing the outstanding contributions of your peers. The WCISA Awards Committee is now accepting nominations from active members for our annual awards, presented at the Western Chapter ISA Conference. These awards honor individuals and organizations that have made a meaningful impact on the urban environment through education, public outreach, and volunteerism. Nominations close December 31, 2025 — don’t miss the chance to spotlight someone’s great work!

 

Award Categories Include:

 

Click here to submit a nomination

Click here to view past award recipients

A team of researchers from Auburn University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Georgia are seeking to better understand how the US insurance industry is influencing homeowner decisions regarding yard trees.

The UCFS Industry Trends committee is monitoring the growing concern around insurance companies requiring homeowners to prune or remove trees. This issue impacts our goals to grow the urban forest and negatively impacts the public we serve each day. UCFS and TCIA are collaborating on this issue and are currently working to gather information and decide next steps. We continue to seek your feedback to gather stories and evidence so that we can fully understand the breadth of the issue.

National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

 

 

The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council is pleased to announce the National Urban and Community Forestry Ten-Year Action Plan’s public input website is open and available for public comments/suggestions related to urban and community forestry. This Action Plan for (2027-2037) serves as a guidance document for the Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program. State Urban and Community Forestry Programs also use the Action Plan as a guidance document for their Urban and Community Forestry Programs and State Forest Action Plans. Annual Action Plan accomplishments and recommendations are reported to the Secretary of Agriculture and applicable Congressional committees.

 

Voluntary comments will be accepted through June 30, 2026. If a commenter would like to provide a comment/suggestion, or for more information, please visit ActionPlan.UrbanAndCommunityForests.org.

Certified Urban and Community Forester Credential

Society of American Forester's partnership with the California Urban Forests Council sprouted the future of this credential for professionals across the map. Together we had a vision for professionals in the urban and community forestry space, and now we are making strides to offer this certification to the workforce. The "Certified Urban and Community Forester" credential promotes the holistic nature of urban and community forestry that's focused on resource conservation across the canopy intersected with the complex and dynamic infrastructure and stakeholder ecosystem. Learn more on the Society of American Foresters website and in this article, Certified Urban and Community Forester Credential Aims to Elevate the Profession and Grow SAF by Eric Wiseman, PhD.