The University of Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator Training (PAT) Program will offer two training sessions for forestry training (Category 2.0) in 2018. The trainings, which will each last one day and be conducted indoors, offer attendees an opportunity to review materials in the PAT training manual. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) will administer a certification exam at the end of each session. Dates and locations of the training sessions are:
- January 25, 2018 in Merrill (Lincoln County Extension Office)
- May 10, 2018 in Phillips (Price County Extension Office)
Preregistration is required. The cost to attend a training session is $30. For more information, visit UW Extension’s website.
Written by: Kyoko Scanlon, forest pathologist, Fitchburg. Kyoko.Scanlon@Wisconsin.gov; 608-275-3275
The first of three sessions was held for Wisconsin’s Community Tree Management Institute (CTMI). Twenty-six students from across the state met in Green Lake, WI October 17-18. These municipal tree managers (who lack technical and program management in arboriculture) learned the foundations of urban forestry. Through hands-on training and exercises, students learned about: canopy and measurement tools, tree benefits, awareness and support, politics and policy, leadership, partnerships, legal issues, ordinances, budgeting, tree boards and utilities. Instructors for session I included: municipal foresters, public works directors, a UW Extension agent, utility representatives, consultants and DNR staff. The variety of instructors, their perspectives and interactive components is meant to appeal to all learning styles. 
Approximately seventy people attended the event including architects, structural and civil engineers, forest products industry representatives, and researchers. Architects and engineers were targeted for this seminar due to their role in planning, designing, reviewing construction projects, and using of building materials (e.g. wood and mass timber products). 
On Wednesday, October 4
Hundreds of people from the arboriculture industry descended upon the Lussier Family Heritage Center in Madison this August for the Wisconsin Arborist Association’s (WAA) annual summer conference.