SHARE YOUR COMMUNITY FORESTRY NEWS

The California Urban Forests Council wants to hear your Community Forestry news. Has your city/community passed a tree ordinance, adopted an urban forestry management plan, completed a tree inventory, conducted a canopy analysis, allocated new funding for tree maintenance, implemented/completed a planting campaign, hired/contracted a community forest manager, formed a tree board/commission, become a Tree City USA, or generated other community forestry news to share?  We would like to share your news item in our monthly e-news. Please share your Community Forestry news with us at info@caufc.org.

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.

URBAN FORESTRY TODAY

 

 

 

Urban trees face ever-challenging growing conditions, including invasive pests and increased storm activity. Initiatives to expand urban forests through planting continue to garner attention, as do emerging technologies. Join Dr. Dave Nowak, Retired

Senior Scientist (USDA Forest Service), as he contextualizes current research trends and highlights new directions of discovery.

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.

 

 

TREE FUND

 

 

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

TREE FUND

 

 

 

Caleb Wilson with University of Kentucky will present his research, “Increasing biological control of soft-scale insects by excluding ants from trees.”

TREE FUND

 

 

 

Dr. Richard Hauer along with Dr. Andrew Koeser and Dr. Jake Miesbauer will present their 2021 Hyland Johns Grant Program titled, “Tree Health Implications of Long-term Strategies to Treat Emerald Ash Borer: Long-term Effects on Tree Injections and Tree Tissue”

WESTERN CHAPTER ISA

 

 

SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY INITIATIVE

 

 

ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION

 

 

ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION

 

 

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CONSULTING ARBORISTS

 

City of Oakland

City of Salinas

City of Santa Monica

Cosumnes Community Services District (South Sacramento County)

Canopy, based in Palo Alto, is hiring:

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.

Arbor Day Foundation

 

 

For more than 20 years, i-Tree has provided the urban and community forestry industry with forest assessment tools to calculate the economic and environmental benefits trees provide. Due to recent changes at the USDA, funding for i-Tree is at risk of being zeroed out. The Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition (SUFC) is collecting testimonials to share with policy makers to convey its value in hopes of garnering support for continued i-Tree funding. If you've used i-Tree to support your local projects, read the official announcement from i-Tree and check out the link below to share your stories.

 

ISA Southern Chapter

 

 

The ISA Southern Chapter will begin offering this credential through courses in our region. The material and concept were developed by the Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS) and has been offered by the Texas Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISAT). Southern Chapter has begun to develop trainers that will offer this credential as a tool for arborists to provide additional expertise and knowledge to their clients.  Those ISA Certified Arborists successfully completing the two-day course and exam will earn the Wildfire Risk Reduction Qualified (WRRQ) credential from the Chapter and a list of WRRQ qualified arborists will be included on the Chapter website. The WRRQ signifies that the individual arborist was an ISA Certified Arborist when they took the course and has received special training on the reduction of wildfire risk to homes, property, and natural areas.

 

 

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.

 

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.