Events

Celebrate Arbor Day Using Social Media (Check Out Our Suggested Posts Below)

By Patricia Lindquist, DNR Urban Forestry Communications Specialist, patricia.lindquist@wisconsin.gov, 608-843-6248

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Arbor Day Foundation has suspended their requirement to hold a public Arbor Day celebration in 2021. Communities will be able to maintain their Tree City USA designations without meeting this standard. An Arbor Day proclamation is still a requirement.

As an alternative to a public gathering, we encourage you to use social media to celebrate trees and their many benefits. Social media is an excellent tool for spreading the message that trees and tree care/management are vitally important to our communities.

Feel free to use our suggested messages here, or develop your own creative tree campaign.

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Suggestions For Alternative Arbor Day Celebrations

By Patricia Lindquist, DNR Urban Forestry Communications Specialist, patricia.lindquist@wisconsin.gov, 608-843-6248

Looking for ideas for celebrating Arbor Day during the pandemic? Here are a dozen possibilities:

  • Plan a socially distanced tree planting and include a small number of volunteers or limit to municipal staff. See this Arbor Day Foundation guide for suggestions, and be sure to comply with local guidelines from your community health authorities.
  • Host a drive-up tree or seedling giveaway. Last year, New Berlin handed out one hundred small trees with Girl Scouts in a drive-thru Arbor Day celebration. They recorded the Village President reading the proclamation as the cars drove up.

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Tips For Holding Tree Planting And Distribution Events During COVID-19

The Arbor Day Foundation has created a short guide for holding safer tree planting and distribution events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The guide includes tips for planning the event, communicating with volunteers and suggesting processes for tree distribution and planting. The guide also features additional tips for dealing with water, snacks and tools and more.

As emphasized in the guide, be sure to comply with local guidelines from your community health authorities.

To download the guide, visit the webpage here.

You can also view a short video summarizing information from the guide here.

First-Ever Virtual WAA and WDNR Urban Forestry Conference A Success!

Thank you to the more than 450 people who joined us for the first-ever virtual Wisconsin Arborist Association (WAA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry Annual Conference. The conference’s theme was “Sustaining Urban Forests to Ensure a Healthy Future,” held on February 21-23.

In collaboration with the WAA, DNR staff worked hard to transition the annual conference to a virtual format. The conference retained key elements it has become renowned for, including engaging presentations, a welcome by State Forester Heather Berklund, a well-attended exhibition “hall,” an enjoyable session of ArborMaster Trivia and the annual awards ceremony shared by the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council and the WAA awards program.

The DNR exhibition booth featured a new video by Grant Manager Chase O’Brien and Finance Specialist Nicolle Spafford and live Q&A sessions with O’Brien, Spafford, and Forest Health Specialist Bill McNee.

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Join Virtual Q&A Sessions With DNR Experts

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry program will have a virtual booth at the 2021 WAA/DNR Urban Forestry Annual Conference, Feb. 21-23, 2021. Our virtual booth will feature a new video on our grant program and live group Q&A sessions with our grant and forest health specialists.

A virtual booth could be described as a hybrid between a Zoom call and a website, with some additional features. If you’re attending the annual conference, you’ll have the opportunity to stop by our virtual booth, just as you would at an in-person meeting. Staff will be available to answer questions at set times, and there will be resources available to view and download.

A new video on our DNR Urban Forestry Grant program will be available to view in the booth throughout the conference. Created by DNR Finance Specialist Nicolle Spafford and DNR Grant Manager Chase O’Brien, the video will show you the program’s basics and inspire you to start projects of your own while seeing some successful programs across the state.

Join One Of These Live Q&A Sessions At Our Virtual Booth

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Tree City USA Virtual Conference

Connect, collaborate and learn from Tree City USA communities about ways to engage, grow and innovate your urban forestry program. This first-of-its-kind event will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 10, 17 and 24.

The registration fee is $30 and includes:

  • All content associated with the Tree City USA Conference
  • Online networking capabilities through the conference platform
  • Opportunity to engage with speakers and fellow attendees
  • Access to all conference content, networking channels and attendee/speaker engagement for six months after the conference

Learn more about the conference and register here.

Landscape And Grounds Maintenance Short Course

The UW-Madison Division of Extension in Dane, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha counties have joined together to host a Landscape and Grounds Maintenance Short Course online. The course will be held 1-4 p.m. every Wednesday in February. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

By providing up-to-date, science-based information, the course will help landscape professionals increase the economic and environmental sustainability of the landscapes they care for and their businesses.

Continuing education units for the International Society of Arboriculture and the National Association of Landscape Professionals will be available. The cost of registration is $20 per week or $50 for all four weeks.

The class will only be available during the live presentation on the specified date and time. It will NOT be available to view later. For more information and to register, please visit the webpage here.

Save the Date for the WAA/DNR Annual Urban Forestry Conference

The Wisconsin Annual Urban Forestry Conference will be held as a virtual event in 2021, with sessions on Feb. 21, 22 and 23.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff and the Wisconsin Arborist Association have developed a program to enrich arboriculture and urban forestry knowledge in the industry. The conference includes a utility track, a climbers’ corner, a virtual exhibit hall and opportunities for networking and socializing.

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Arborist Apprenticeship Webinar Aimed at Wisconsin Municipalities

The Wisconsin Arborist Apprenticeship Program is a growing way for municipalities and tree care companies to train their workforce. Learn about the program and its flexibility to fit your organization.

This presentation will be hosted by City of Milwaukee Forestry Services Manager Randy Krouse along with a panel of apprenticeship instructors, public employees and Wisconsin Bureau of Apprenticeship Representatives.  

The webinar will be held on Zoom on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 3 pm.

Register in advance for the webinar using this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7ASg4RyeRv6jhmXK2aIcHA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Spotlight on Wisconsin Forests during Forest Products Week

What do wood products research, urban wood products and school forests have in common? They are among the many engaging Wisconsin stories shared in new episodes of the national TV program America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell

While he may be best known as the keyboardist and musical director for The Rolling Stones, Chuck Leavell is also an educated and enthusiastic forestry advocate, conservationist and woodland owner and he explores Wisconsin forests in these new episodes. The two-part Wisconsin series will be featured in a virtual premeire event during Forest Products Week on Wednesday, October 21 at 6:30 p.m. 

This free, online gathering, hosted by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison, will bring together thought leaders to engage in a rousing conversation on the critical importance and value of well-managed public and private forest lands in Wisconsin. And you are invited to participate!

Registration for the virtual premiere and screening of the episodes is available online at go.wisc.edu/talesfilmseries2020. Links to attend the virtual premiere event and to view the episodes in advance will be emailed to all who register.

At the October 21 virtual premiere event, Leavell will be joined by Heather Berklund (Forestry Division Administrator with the Wisconsin DNR), Tony Ferguson (Director of the Forest Products Laboratory for the USDA Forest Service), Buddy Huffaker (Executive Director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation),  Henry Schienebeck (Executive Director of Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association) and Adena Rissman (Associate Professor at UW-Madison, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology). The panel will be moderated by James Edward Mills of the Nelson Institute at UW-Madison.  Don’t miss this chance to hear from the panelists about the importance of Wisconsin forests to the ecological, social, cultural and economic well-being of our state and local communities.

Leavell serves as the on-camera guide for the TV show, interviewing people who are passionate about the gifts we get from our woods and exploring creative solutions to complex problems impacting this important natural resource. Other topics Leavell explores in the Wisconsin episodes include ruffed grouse, the sustainable forestry practices on the Menominee Tribal forests, and the biodiversity of the Baraboo Hills.