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Award of Merit — Award of Achievement — Honorary Life Membership — Award for Excellence in Arboriculture Education — President’s Award — John G. Martin Award — Award of Arboricultural Research — Award for Excellence in Arboriculture Do you know someone who stands out in our industry? Be sure to check out the Southern Chapter’s online awards page. You’ll find an impressive list of honorees, award criteria descriptions, and a link to the nomination form.
Message from the President Fall temperatures are finally upon most of the South. I hope that you are able to get outside to enjoy the beautiful days. I want to take a moment to thank the Chapter’s board members and staff for all they do for this organization. The Southern Chapter is a volunteer-based organization, and its volunteers participate because they care about the field of arboriculture, its future, and its practitioners. Volunteering takes dedication and can sometimes involves thankless tasks. But volunteers do what they do, as Forest Service founder Gifford Pinchot said, for the greatest good. If you are interested in becoming involved with Southern Chapter, please contact Skip Kincaid to discuss the many possibilities. We welcome your help! And speaking of volunteers, our Chapter board members have been busy working on strategic planning. Obviously, a strategic plan is not very useful without first gathering input from Chapter members. Thank you to all who
by Jason Gordon
completed the survey last month. The survey results will help the Board consider immediate improvements as well as pinpoint what the Chapter is doing right to address members’ needs. We will put those findings into action to better serve our membership. I’ll let our Executive Director provide an update on the 2021 Atlanta conference, but we’ve got some great speakers lined up for you and the venue is awesome. We are again holding “speed talks,” which are eightminute presentations related to arboriculture/ urban forestry. We encourage submissions focusing on practice case studies and new technology. We also encourage students to submit abstracts on any research, practice, or outreach they may be working on. Information and abstract submission can be found on the Chapter website. Two final reminders. Please pass along word of the Southern Chapter scholarship. The application is currently available here. Also, please send in your newsletter articles to newsletter@isasouthern.org. Don’t worry too much about your writing skills; our amazing editor Sarah Mitchell will make it look great! As always, stay safe and healthy.
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Southern Chapter Update & Report by Skip Kincaid, Southern Chapter Executive Director
While the current news cycle is anything but boring, many arborists are focusing on trees and how much they impact us and those around us. Many of us can say that trees are the major focus of our livelihood. We plant them, prune them, assess them, diagnose problems, prescribe treatments, and we remove them. Some of us research what makes them—and us—tick. Hurricanes seem to be at the forefront of the southern U.S. tree world these days. I have had the opportunity to talk with many of you who are dealing with the destruction of what we can all agree are too many hurricanes! I hear from the public as well, looking for you and people like you to help them. Television personality Mike Rowe would say we have a “Dirty the folks who produce the “Raising Trees” webinar series Job,” and many of us would agree. But I think its also safe to say through Auburn that they will begin producing a once-a-month we have a “Great Job” because of the service we can provide to webinar for Spanish-speaking arborists. The new series will be those in need. Many thanks to all of you who have helped during titled Creciendo Arboles and presented entirely en Español. Southern the hurricane season. Chapter has worked closely with Beau Brodbeck, Ph.D., one of Change is happening once again at your ISA Southern the producers of the Auburn webinar series and Southern Chapter Chapter. Our strategic plan process is underway, and it will chart past president, to provide content and CEU guidance. See details the course for the next 3-5 years for our chapter. And we have about the first session in the Upcoming Events section of this a great team assembled to ensure newsletter on page 12. Future sessions will that its action items are carried also be listed on the Chapter website. out. Many of you responded to One of the surprises in the recent the recent email survey that we’re survey was that 213 of you indicated an Television personality using as one of the tools to assess interest in attending a Tree Risk Assessment what your needs are. We’re combing Qualification (TRAQ) course. While this is Mike Rowe would say through the data and reviewing a very healthy demand for this credential, all the comments you made. I our current challenge is finding venues to we have a “Dirty Job,” must admit that the results are hold the course. We relied on public facilities encouraging in that it’s apparent you in the past, but many are not available for and many of us would are well-pleased with the direction groups. Our last class was held at a hotel and of the Chapter. But that’s the extent we rented a large conference room to allow agree. But I think its also of the pat on the back. We have adequate spacing. The class was full, so we work to do. expect to see more offerings soon. Instructor safe to say we have a Increased communication with Jimmy Walters is up to the challenge of members will continue. Examples speaking through his mask! We are blessed to “Great Job” because include the BiWeekly Branch eblast have such a great instructor in this region. with current information about Lastly, mark your calendars for next of the service we can events and timely news. We will spring’s ISA Southern Chapter Annual also continue to work with local Conference and Trade Show in Atlanta. provide to those in need. and regional groups to help them The Tree Climbing Championship will be develop educational opportunities March 20-21 and the educational sessions and deliver opportunities where and trade show will be March 21-23. they don’t exist now. Your survey responses let us know COVID still presents many challenges, but we are what subject matter you want and how you want to receive determined to get our brothers and sisters together to share it. Many of you will be contacted in the coming months and some great information! The Georgia International Convention asked to volunteer your time to work with committees to Center is working hard to ensure your safety. It is located next help us deliver that material. to the Atlanta airport with very easy access. Hope to see you Another encouraging change is the recent announcement by all in Atlanta! PAGE 4
SOUTHERN CHAPTER ISA • FALL 2020
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A working urban forest proposal for Metro Nashville by Eric Kuehler, Arborist, Metro Water Services, Nashville, TN
Nashville Metro Water Services (MWS) views trees as essential stormwater infrastructure that provides abundant stormwater volume reduction, rainfall intensity control, and improved belowground storage capacity. MWS is exploring the possibility of managing its urban forest resource as a “working forest” to maximize leaf area and water storage belowground as well as provide a sustainable resource for the future. To be clear, this concept is only being developed and may be considered in the future. Managed forests provide abundant clean water. Urban forests may not equal managed, rural forests with respect to water quality because of the amount of impervious surface cover. However, managing the urban forest to provide greater leaf surface area and belowground water storage can significantly help improve the quality of stormwater runoff. A working forest in the urban environment managed for stormwater benefits involves ensuring adequate soil health and belowground storage capacity to store stormwater runoff, maintaining appropriate canopy cover and leaf surface area, harvesting over-mature trees, and replanting after harvest. Although it may be difficult to increase soil volume in a city, strategies are being developed to help store water belowground under pavement so that trees can have access to it for growth. Nashville’s green infrastructure program has installed hundreds of infiltrative stormwater practices to help store water belowground. Ensuring adequate tree canopy cover and leaf surface area plays a large part in volume control. Managing the forest composition and identifying which tree species perform best in Nashville is key to having a dense, healthy forest canopy over the long term. Nashville used its street tree inventory to develop a “Relative Performance Index” (RPI) to identify the trees that are best for its region. Planting trees with a high RPI helps ensure a healthy tree canopy for the future. Older, over-mature trees may not always have as much leaf area as less mature trees. When these older trees start to decline it may be advantageous to replace them with more vibrant trees. Retaining historic and other trees of local significance should certainly be considered before removal. The reality is that all living things decline and die eventually. When trees in a rural forest fall there is little risk of injury to people or disruption of essential services, but this is not the case in our heavily-populated urban areas. All trees come with risk, so we need to manage our trees and the benefits they provide with public safety in mind. Nashville uses its street tree inventory to monitor the condition of its public trees PAGE 6
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and help them make the determination as to when the tree needs to be removed. Harvesting trees (and utilizing its wood) while they are still valuable to a potential end user not only improves public safety but also ensures that the carbon in the fiber remains stored for a long time and thus closes the sustainability loop. As in rural forests, the removal of trees creates gaps in the canopy and opens the forest floor to more sunlight for smaller trees in the understory to grow. To ensure adequate leaf surface area for the future, trees will need to be replanted in these gaps where larger trees were removed. By planting higher-performing tree species, MWS can provide sustainable green stormwater infrastructure practices for Nashville residents that will give increased-benefits over time. A few hurdles need to be cleared to realize the goal of having a working forest. First is getting acceptance from the public to cut trees down. Nashville residents are passionate about their trees. Education and public outreach will have to play a big role with this. The second hurdle is finding buyers for the wood resource. We will need to develop a network of potential saw mills, bio-energy generators, artisans, etc. that will be willing to accept the raw material. The Tennessee Division of Forestry is helping us establish these connections. We will also need to find a place to store logs until the buyer can pick them up. Instead of a central location, we should consider multiple locations around the county to save fuel costs for those companies cutting the trees down. Coordinating with treecare companies to haul the logs to the holding yard may also prove to be challenging. Perhaps an arrangement can be considered between the tree-care company and public works where the merchantable log is moved to a location off the street and public works picks it up for hauling to the local holding yard. The last hurdle will be to coordinate the replanting effort in the gap provided by the removed tree. Negotiation between the adjacent property owner and MWS may be needed to determine the species and number to replant. Nashville plans to build its urban forestry program and developing a working urban forest is one potential, innovative idea that may help move it forward, but it does not come without challenges. With the EAB epidemic in Nashville looming, this may be a good time to educate the public about the need for more proactive management, utilizing wood from over-mature trees, and replanting to ensure we have abundant leaf surface area in the future to reduce our stormwater runoff. Groundbreaking programs such as a working urban forest that accomplishes multiple objectives for its residents are needed to improve the standard of living, attract businesses, and invite visitors to all that Nashville has to offer.
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The amazing circulation system of trees by Michael Denton, Evolution News and Science Today, evolutionnews.org
From a series adapted from biologist Michael Denton’s book, Fire-Maker: How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet, from Discovery Institute Press. Find the whole series here. We come now in this series to a tale that Steven Vogel in his book The Life of a Leaf calls mirabile dictu (wonderful to relate): the way water is raised to the top of a tall tree.1 Clearly, unless water can be drawn several meters up the conduits in their tree trunks, large woody trees would be impossible. Many trees are 30 meters tall and some are even 100 meters. It turns out that this is only possible because of another ensemble of fitness in nature, which arises out of the so-called colligate properties of fluids, particularly water: primarily the remarkable and counterintuitive tensile strength of liquids working together with the fantastically great surface tension of a fluid confined in a narrow tube. Simple capillarity caused by surface tension (a generic property of all fluids) can easily raise water up to 100 meters if the tube is small enough. In tubes one hundredth of a micrometer (10 nanometers), the surface tension is so strong that it can support a column of water of 3 kilometers, or two miles high.2 But because of viscosity (a measurement of internal friction), water’s resistance to flowing through such tiny conduits would be prohibitively high.3 In fact, the conduits in trees are between 0.03 and 0.3 millimeters in diameter, which is sufficiently wide to allow the sap to flow up through the tubes with minimal resistance. But as Vogel comments: “Thirty micrometers sends water only about 1.5 meters (5 feet) upward, and 300 micrometers is ten times worse: 15 centimeters, or 6 inches.”4 So How Do Trees Do It? How do trees manage to exploit capillarity to hold a column of water 100 meters high (which necessitates tiny tubes) while at the same time overcoming the viscous drag that such tiny tubes entail? As Holbrook and Zwienieki explain, plants solve the problem of the viscous or frictional cost of moving water through small tubes “by connecting the small capillaries in leaves [small enough to generate capillary forces powerful enough to hold a column 100 meters high] to larger conduits that provide a much wider transport channel that runs from the veins in the leaf down through the stem and into the roots.”5 The key point is that the critical capillary forces are not generated in the major conduits. As Holland and Zwienieki point out: “The relevant capillary dimensions are not those of the large conduits that you would see if you cut down a tree and looked inside [with diameters of 0.03-.3 mm]… Rather, the appropriate dimensions are determined by the air-water interfaces in the cell walls of the leaves, where the matrix of cellulose microfibrils is highly wettable and the spacing between them results in effective pore diameters [which function as tiny capillaries] of something like 5 to 10 nm.”6 This is the crucial point: The diameter of the pores is so small that the surface tension generated (as mentioned earlier) is able to support a water column three kilometers high, much higher than the highest tree. In other words, as the authors continue: “Trees and other plants overcome [the problem]… by generating capillary forces in small-diameter pores [at the interfaces in the leaves between the sap and the air] but transporting water between soil and leaves through larger diameter conduits. That strategy allows them to achieve greater heights than with a straight-walled microcapillary.”7 But while capillarity — given the tiny diameter of the tubes at the interface — will suffice to hold up the 100-meter column, what pulls the sap upwards from the roots through the conduits to the stems and leaves at the top of the tree? How the Suck Is Caused The answer is that the evaporation or transpiration from the air-water interfaces in the leaf cell causes the suck by inducing a negative pressure in the fluid under the tiny menisci, which is transmitted to the whole system of conduits. It is a basic law of hydraulics that pressure in one part of an enclosed hydraulic system is transmitted to all other parts. As water molecules are lost from the leaves at the top of the tree, others must enter in the roots to take their place. The continual loss of water molecules lowers what is termed the water potential in the regions below the interfaces. This lowering of potential, transmitted to the whole hydraulic network, pulls the water up the conduits to the interfaces where it is lost by evaporation to the atmosphere. Notes 1. Stephen Vogel, The Life of a Leaf (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2010), Chapter Six. 2. N. Michele Holbrook, Maciej A. Zwieniecki, “Transporting Water to the Tops of Trees,” Physics Today 61 (2008): 76–77; Vogel, Chapter Seven. 3. Holbrook, Zwieniecki. 4. Vogel, 93. 5. Holbrook, Zwienieck. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. PAGE 8
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Don’t miss out on continuing education opportunities and ISA CEUs!
Upcoming Events & CEU Opportunities in the Southern Chapter Region Check out all the new CEU opportunities listed below. This list is kept current on the Southern Chapter website as well. Save the site to your “favorites” as an easy access portal for events and registration information. If you know of opportunities we haven’t listed, please share! Email skincaid@isasouthern.org and I’ll get it posted. While many of the face-to-face workshops and conferences have been canceled, we have worked hard to partner with organizations to be sure you get a wide range of opportunities to stay sharp. This list contains upcoming events that we are aware of. All the courses and conferences listed provide opportunities to earn ISA CEUs that help you maintain your ISA certifications. ISA is also offering no cost quizzes for articles to give you more opportunities to earn CEUs.
Expanded Complementary CEU Quizzes for ISA Members To assist ISA members who hold credentials in earning continuing education units (CEUs), ISA is now providing online quizzes from both Arborist News and Arboriculture and Urban Forestry dating back to the beginning of 2018 at no cost to members. New Detective Dendro online quizzes will also be made complimentary to ISA members as they are published throughout the year. You will receive notices as new serial publications are added to our online platform. Log in to the ISA website and log in to your MyISA account. Make your way to the page for Arborist News CEU quizzes, www. isa-arbor/store/ceuquizzes/110. Add the quiz to your cart, proceed to the checkout, and look for the content to appear on your personal dashboard under the header “My Quizzes.” Please note: CEUs for any given quiz/product may be earned only once per recertification cycle by each credential holder. Only online quizzes apply; mailed quizzes will not be accepted for CEUs. ISA will not issue refunds for previously purchased quizzes.
Webinar Developers and Hosts TREE Fund https://treefund.org/webinars TREE Fund and ISA Southern Chapter are partnering to provide webinars that feature some of the speakers from the ISA Southern Chapter Conference that was canceled. Check out the link to these and other great webinars offered by TREE Fund and its partners. Urban Forestry Today http://www.urbanforestrytoday.org/
Georgia Arborist Association https://georgiaarborist.org/All-Events A wide range of excellent topics and presenters are planned. Arborjet Webinars https://arborjet.com/training/webinars/ Aborjet provides a series of educational events covering a wide range of plant health care topics provided by experts. You can register for live broadcasts or watch recorded content as well.
Forestry Webinars http://www.forestrywebinars.net/ Urban Forest Connections USDA Forest Service https://www.fs.fed.us/research/urban-webinars/ Utility Arborist Association https://www.gotouaa.org/project/webinars/ Utility Arborist Association members can access several webinars that highlight speakers that were scheduled to appear in the Utility Track at the ISA Southern Chapter Conference. ISA CEUs are available for the live broadcasts. UAA members can access the free webinar schedule at https://www.gotouaa. org/project/webinars/. After the live events are completed, the videos are archived and available to all. ISA CEUs are not available for the archived videos. North Carolina Urban Forest Council https://www.ncufc.org/events.php A series of webinars are scheduled for broadcast this fall. A wide range of excellent topics and presenters are planned. PAGE 10
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Professional Arborists Association of Mississippi (PAAM) http://paam-ms.com/ Join PAAM for a series of webinars through this fall that will cover a variety of arboriculture topics. Each session provides 1 ISA CEU. Alabama Extension https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/ landscaping/raising-trees-webinar-series/ A series of webinars covers a wide range of topics for arborists. Check out the series HERE and see each session described in the list below. Alabama Extension and University of Georgia Extension and The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at University of Georgia These fine organizations have partnered to provide a series of webinars that will take place once a month and cover arboriculture topics en Español.
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Other Educational Events October 22, 2020 9:00am - 3:30pm Eastern 2020 IPM Symposium Greer, South Carolina Presenters: Dr. Steve Jeffers, Dr. David Coyle, Kerrie Roach A day long event provided by Clemson University Extension. Topics include IPM, chainsaw safety, and managing invasive plant species. Information and registration HERE October 28, 2020 10:00am - 11:15am Eastern Mitigating Urban Heat Islands With Trees NCUFC WEBINAR Presenters: Dave Nowak, Ph.D. and Laura Jackson Ph.D. This two-part presentation will provide information from current research on how trees are used to mitigate the effects of urban heat islands. Dr. Nowak will discuss the importance of trees in mitigating heat islands and results from various studies related to trees and heat islands. He will also discuss how tree effects on air temperature are being incorporated in the i-Tree modeling suite. Dr. Jackson will share fine-scale maps of heat islands and vegetated “cool” areas from the EPA’s work on EnviroAtlas. She will also discuss case studies in Durham, NC, and Portland, OR, where EPA helped target street tree plantings to reduce urban heat islands in low-income neighborhoods. A webinar link will be emailed to registrants the day before the workshop. Information and registration HERE. October 29, 2020 5:00pm Central Irrigating and Establishing Trees en Español Auburn/UGA - Creciendo Arboles WEBINAR Presenter: Dr. Rolando Orellana Tenemos una nueva oportunidad educativa disponible para hispanohablantes. La serie Raising Trees o Creciendo Arboles tendrá un webinar en Español cada mes. El primer webinar será presentado por Rolando Orellana sobre “Riego y establecimiento de Arboles Urbanos”. En este programa se cubrirá los requerimientos de agua en los árboles durante su establecimiento asi como emplear las buenas prácticas de manejo al regar estos árboles. Rolando Orellana trabaja como Coordinador de Riego / Agua Urbana para el Centro de Agricultura Urbana de la Universidad de Georgia en el campus de Griffin. Tiene un título en Ingeniería Agrícola de la Escuela Nacional de Agricultura de Honduras. Habra Créditos en Educación Continua del ISA. Fecha: 29 de octubre del 2020 a las 6 PM., hora del Este (Nueva York). No necesita una cuenta de Zoom para ver este seminario e línea. Pulse aquí para registrarse: HERE. November 4-5, 2020 9am – 12:30pm (Eastern) both days Georgia Tree Conference GTC 2 - half-day virtual presentations Scheduled for two 3.5 hour sessions on November 4-5, this webinar conference will address “Embracing the Challenge: Doing Our Part Today to Preserve Tomorrow’s Urban Forest.” Topics will include Climate Variability and Trees, How Climate Change is Affecting Available Tree Species, Invasives in the Urban Forest, Using Drones in Urban Forestry, Cultivating the Next Generation of Arborists and Urban Foresters, Mitigation of Urban Tree Hazards and Community Perceptions, and much more. Speakers include Dr. Kim Coder and Dr. Scott Merkle of the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Dr. David Coyle of Clemson University and many others. Information and registration: HERE PAGE 12
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November 10, 2020 10:00am – 11:15am Eastern Are Our Communities Resilient? A Glimpse into the Pertinent Research NCUFC WEBINAR Presenters: Dr. Barb Fair Dr. Fair will provide results and discussion from current research studies examining how we measure, provide, and sustain resilience from storms, landscape fragmentation, climate change and so forth in our forest ecosystems. A webinar link will be emailed to registrants the day before the workshop. Information and registration: HERE November 10, 2020 6:15 pm Eastern Requirements for Writing a Tree Prescription for a Municipality GAA WEBINAR Presenter: Robert Bretschneider, Kay Evanovich, David Shostak, David Zaparanic Register HERE. November 13, 2020 ISA Certified Arborist, Utility Arborist, and Municipal Specialist EXAM Harbison State Forest Environmental Education Center 5600 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210 Registering for an exam includes creating or logging in to your ISA account at https://www.isa-arbor.com/. Click to find the test date and location. Registration deadline: October 28, 2020. November 19, 2020 Noon (Central) Proactive Pest Management in Winter and Spring TUFC and UT WEBINAR Presenter: Dr. Frank Hale This webinar is part of the continuing webinar series by The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and University of Tennessee. This presentation will focus on strategies to prevent or mitigate insect pests in the urban forest. Info and registration TBA soon. January 21, 2020 Noon (Central) Stand Dynamics in the Old Forest State Natural Area TUFC and UT WEBINAR Presenter: Eric Bridges The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and University of Tennessee webinar series continues with a session on old-growth urban forests. Mr. Bridges will discuss fire frequency, invasive pests, and human related compaction impacts upon an old growth urban forest. Info and registration TBA soon. February 11, 2020 Noon (Central) Rethinking Trees TUFC and UT WEBINAR Presenter: Dr. Paul Ries The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and University of Tennessee webinar series continues with a look at how to maximize the benefits that trees provide in our communities. Tree board members, community leaders and those that work with them will be targeted in this presentation. Info and registration TBA soon.
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EAB-Resistant Ash? by Skip Kincaid, Southern Chapter Executive Director
By now, most arborists are aware of the impact that emerald ash borer (EAB) is having on urban forests and natural stands of ash. Hundreds of millions of ash trees have been killed by this destructive insect since it was first discovered in the US in 2002. EAB is now being called the most destructive invasive pests in US history. The cost to municipalities, property owners, nurseries, and forest product industries are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Its range of destruction is nearly the entirety of the eastern and central US and extends west to Colorado and into the southern portions of several Canadian provinces. When EAB first began impacting ash trees in the U.S., researchers and urban foresters had no consensus about treatment protocols. Even now, urban foresters are varied in their response about how to manage urban ash tree populations. A broad spectrum of options exists. Some communities choose to remove all their ash trees and hopefully have the budget and capacity to replace them with a wide palette of other tree species. At the other end of the spectrum is the choice to treat all the urban ash with chemicals that are injected in the tree trunk or applied as a soil drench. And still others find a place somewhere along that spectrum as their plan of choice. Photo credit: Christopher Asaro, Virginia Department of Forestry, Bugwood.org
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SOUTHERN CHAPTER ISA • FALL 2020
Decisions about how to manage ash populations are often made with some science and a lot of input from the public, elected officials, municipal staff, and media. It’s the classic urban forester’s lament: how to best use available funds to provide the most benefits. Cut and replace? If so, replace with natives? If treatments are selected, are injections better than soil treatments? What about organic options? So many questions. One of the early questions that will arise when trying to decide the best path to follow is the question, “Will ash species continue to exist in the U.S.?” ... not only as a street tree and landscape option, but as a component in woodland environments as well. Many have wondered about the likelihood of an ash tree that has resistance to EAB. Certainly, one could be found somewhere. Researchers have recently been able to shed some light on that question and may soon have an answer. A recent article published in Science Tech Daily (found HERE) provides information about a team of scientists who have sequenced the genome of several ash species and identified the gene sequence that provides resistance to EAB. Tests and trials are underway to see how this technology can provide real-world results and allow us to introduce EAB-resistant ash into our landscapes and woodlands. It’s a very cool thought to think that we can salvage a species using this technology. I guess the next question is, “Are GMO ash trees safe?” Stay tuned! A note: If this topic piques your interest, plan to attend the ISA Southern Chapter Annual Conference and Trade Show planned for March 20-23 in Atlanta, GA. Find information HERE. Some members of this research team have agreed to present their findings on this topic!
2020-2021 Southern Chapter Officers President: Jason Gordon UGA Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources (706) 542-1011 Jason.Gordon@uga.edu Executive Director: Skip Kincaid (888) 339-8733 skincaid@isasouthern.org President Elect: Kasey Krouse City of Knoxville (865) 215-6113 kkrouse@knoxvilletn.gov Vice President/Treasurer: Nancy Beckemeyer Georgia Power Company (404) 590-9376 nsbeckem@southernco.com Chapter CoR Representative: David Vandergriff Griff Arbor|Hort (865) 705-4983 griffarbor@gmail.com Tree Climbing Championship: Scott Winningham (931) 261-1967 sawinningham@charter.net TREE Fund Liaison: (open) Past President: Jimmy Walters Urban Forest Advisors LLC (864) 992-0252 jimmy.3t@gmail.com Media Director and Editor: Sarah Mitchell (336) 409-7805 sarahmitchell@live.com Conference Planner: Connie Hilson (217) 766-1044 conference@isasouthern.org
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‘I Left the Land Better Than I Found It’ from Georgia Neighbors, a publication of the Georgia Farm Bureau, https://www.gfb.org/
There have been lots of written words and plenty of talk about the talents of Chuck Leavell. Not only is he a world-renowned keyboardist, playing regularly with the Rolling Stones and on occasion with Eric Clapton and John Mayer, he’s also become well known for his love of forestry. And that’s evident when you walk among the pines at his home in Central Georgia. “Well, you see this is my wife’s fault,” Chuck said. “Rose Lane’s family has been connected to the land, literally for generations. She inherited some land from her grandmother back in 1981 and it just became our responsibility to carry on what we saw as a heritage of stewardship of the land.” Chuck and Rose Lane Leavell own Charlane Plantation, located in Twiggs County. The property has been in Rose Lane’s family since 1792, and the Leavells have lived here since the mid-‘80s. Chuck said that caring for the land through conservation and tree farming provides a nice balance to months spent on the road as a musician. “I just believe that working the land, having a family as strong as we have, helps keep you grounded, you know. And those are the really important things in life,” he said. “It’s such a great opportunity for me to be able to go out and play with these wonderful artists, but when you come back and you’re connected to the land you realize what your priorities are, and this is certainly a priority for us.” The Leavells have a few employees who live on the property full time, and help care for it while Chuck and Rose Lane are away. “Forestry, as we know, is a long-term thing. It’s not like farming where you’ve got row crops that need tending more often, or peach trees or pecan trees. That’s one of the reasons that Rose Lane and I decided to go forward with forestry when she inherited this land,” Chuck said. “Forestry fit the bill for us in terms of, I could go tour and record and follow my musical career without having to worry about it day to day.” In the years since they’ve taken over Charlane Plantation, the Leavells have focused not only on conservation, but on growing the business of running the plantation – especially in terms of offering traditional Southern quail hunts. PAGE 16
SOUTHERN CHAPTER ISA • FALL 2020
“We started that, I guess, about 20 years ago. Little by little, it has really grown. Now, it’s mostly repeat customers, lots of corporate clients that come in, developers that are entertaining their various people that they work with; we love that. For me, it’s like bringing the audience to me instead of me having to go out on tour,” Chuck said. “Certainly, we have fast flying birds, great dogs and courteous guides. The food is incredible – Rose Lane makes sure of that. I’ll sit down and play them a few songs or tell them some rock ‘n’ roll stories from the road. That’s become one of the most enjoyable things that we do out here. It’s seasonal, so it lasts about four months and then we’re on to other things.” Music fans know those “other things” include touring and playing keyboard for the last 37 years with the Rolling Stones. When planning their tours, Chuck plays a big role in helping curate performances as musical director. “So, here’s the deal, you know you’re going to do the iconic songs. I mean, people would go away upset if you didn’t do all of those things. But what you want to do is to fill in the rest of it with some interesting material. The body of work is so incredible. I mean, hundreds of songs that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have written. You certainly can’t get them all in there, but what you try to do is get some interesting ones that the hardcore fans would recognize, but that maybe the general public would say, ‘What was that?’ ... I gladly take the responsibility because I think I have a fan’s perspective. I’m not only in the band, but I was a fan of the Stones when I was 14 years old playing that stuff at the YMCA with my first band. So, I think I have a certain perspective of what the fans would like to hear and how the set can flow,” Chuck said. For those who may not know much about Chuck outside of the Rolling Stones, it may come as a surprise to learn that he’s also a television host, producer, website co-founder and documentary subject. “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell” airs on PBS stations around the nation, as well as on the website, americasforestswithchuckleavell.com. The episodes explore individual states in the U.S., touching on outdoor issues unique to each place.
“The idea came some years ago through the fact that there’s so much misunderstanding about forestry. In my travels as a musician or also promoting forestry, you get people that don’t quite understand what sustainable forestry is all about,” he said. One of the ways Chuck has shared information about forestry and the environment is through the Mother Nature Network, a website he co-founded in 2009. More recently, he was the subject of the documentary, “Chuck Leavell: Tree Man,” by Allen Farst. The movie won the “People Choice Award” at the 2020 Sedona Film Festival and took several years to film. “There are three components to the documentary. One component, of course, is music and the career that I’ve been so fortunate to have and the different artists that I’ve worked with,” Chuck said. “The second component is forestry. The third component, and most important, is a love story. Rosie and I have been married for 46 years. We have two wonderful children and four grandchildren.” With a family rooted in Middle Georgia, despite a rigorous touring schedule and filming dates, Chuck’s thoughts remain centered around home and Charlane Plantation. “You know, sometimes it just drives me absolutely crazy. I’ll be out on tour and it’s wonderful. You get to visit these great cities and play in front of bring crowds, and play the music which is always awesome, but you know, part of my mind is back here, saying, ‘Well, did we get enough rain? Is everything OK?’ It is a constant thing, it is always on my mind. But I will say this, it is a wonderful balance to be able to do both,” he said. From playing tunes on one of his grand pianos to planting pine trees, his hope for his home is this: “That I left the land better than I found it.” The Leavells could live anywhere in the world, but they are proud to call Central Georgia their home. “I am just a die-in-the-wool Southerner, born and raised in Alabama. Rose Lane says I defected to come here to Georgia. But you know, I have roots in the South. The South has been so good to me, and there’s nowhere in the world I would rather live.”
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SOUTHERN CHAPTER ISA • FALL 2020
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Initial Insights: Community Actions Towards Reducing Urban Tree Risk by Abbie Judice, Graduate Student, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
As a student in the University of Georgia Community Forestry and Arboriculture program, I am interested in how communities can improve their capacity to minimize tree risk while supporting the known benefits that trees provide. Based on interviews in Georgia and Alabama, I have documented both effective community tree risk management characteristics as well as problems that should be addressed in future planning and practice. For example, contrary to my expectations, smaller towns with limited financial and municipal staff resources often have high awareness regarding their public trees and risk factors. Many of these communities have informally inventoried their trees and can identify individual hazard trees for frequent examination. Residents in these communities, with their close social networks, have personal access to city employees who can address tree hazards in a timely manner. In contrast, larger communities with more government personnel and regulations do not necessarily have more effective tree risk mitigation. Rather, the most effective tree risk and tree preservation programs seem to be built into the culture of the municipal organization and community itself. Canopy preservation goals are widely understood, and bottom-up practices support risk mitigation. Likewise, communities with positive attitudes towards tree management and risk tend to include a wide array of community actors. A strong community tree risk program welcomes unsolicited calls from community members about questionable trees and responds quickly and effectively to assess
requests. In addition, a strong program has healthy relationships with non-municipal organizations. Cities with resource-sharing cultures tend to report high levels of perceived efficacy and trust from their community members. This trait does not describe the local government alone, but the culture of the community, organizations, and individual departments with which they interact. Municipal arborists know that a key weakness in community tree risk mitigation is the inability to reliably assess tree risk on private property, which affects overall community risk and the maximization of community forest benefits. Municipalities that assess trees on private properties (often medium to large cities) often do not advertise this service as it could overwhelm their already busy tree maintenance schedules. Most cities, however, do not provide private property tree assessments, citing liability concerns or the responsibility of the property owner in this matter. Although property owners are liable for their own trees, many municipal or tree care representatives will acknowledge that property owners do not have the knowledge, interest, or finances to regularly check their trees for even obvious signs of damage. Creative problem solving is needed to address this dilemma and improve tree risk management on the landscape scale to lower the risk of property damage, human injury, and insurance claims. With increased urbanization throughout the United States, there are many known challenges related to climate change, air pollution, and extreme weather events that make community tree management an important aspect of a community’s resiliency. Community forests are vital to mitigating the effects of these changes but require management and maintenance to capture their benefits. Through an examination of how communities address tree hazards, arborists can better identify and celebrate practices that maximize tree benefits while minimizing risks.
2020-2021 State Directors Alabama: Gary Ickes Ickes Tree Service, Inc. (251) 945-5144 gary@ickestreeservice.com Arkansas: David Raines Raines Tree Care (479) 244-5228 david@rainestreecare.com
Mississippi: David Fulgham Fulgham’s Inc. (662) 255-5127 david@fulghamsinc.com North Carolina: Leslie Moorman NC Urban Forest Council (252) 653-6277 ncufc1@gmail.com
Georgia: Jeffrey Morgan Georgia Power Company (404) 821-8733 jgmorgan@southernco.com
Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands: (open)
Louisiana: Hallie Dozier LSU AgCenter (225) 281-3264 hdozier@agcenter.lsu.edu
South Carolina: Sara Hollar City of Columbia (803) 545-3862 Sara.Hollar@columbiasc.gov
Tennessee: Sam Adams University of Tennessee - Knoxville (865) 679-8710 smada.home@gmail.com At-Large: Perry Odom City of Tallahassee, FL (850) 891-5181 Perry.Odom@talgov.com
Southern Chapter ISA Website: www.isasouthern.org Phone: (888) 339-8733 E-mail: skincaid@isasouthern.org Skip Kincaid, Exec. Director 1609 Missouri Avenue St Louis, MO 63104