By Jeanne Mueller, Cedarburg Green
“We have 6,715 street trees as of July 2020,” reported Kevin Westphal, Cedarburg Forester. “Totaling 70,000 diameter inches, the appraised value of Cedarburg’s street trees, based on CPI, is $10.5 million,” he continued.
Since January, when Mayor O’Keefe declared 2020 the year to focus on trees, Cedarburg Green, with the help of a grant from the Wisconsin DNR, has been actively promoting trees and tree care throughout Cedarburg. With the hope of attracting attention to the City’s trees, Cedarburg Green attached price tags to a number of trees along Washington Avenue. “Trees are more than municipal objects,” said Jeanne Mueller, Cedarburg Green volunteer, “our main goals are to provide people with a sense of a tree’s economic value as well as show the many other benefits a tree provides.”
Wisconsin Arborist Association presents the 2020 Summer/Fall Seminar, seen directly from your home or office, for six days (two days per week for three weeks) between September 29 – October 15, 2020.
Cities, villages, towns, counties, tribes and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in, or conducting their project in, Wisconsin are encouraged to apply for a regular or startup 2021 Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry Grant! The grants range from $1,000 to $25,000, and grant recipients must match each grant dollar for dollar. A startup grant of up to $5,000 is available for communities that want to start or restart a community forestry program. Grants are awarded to projects that align with state and national goals for increasing the urban forest canopy and the benefits it provides. Also available this grant cycle is an additional $175,000 in federal funding to be used for ash tree removals and replacements. EAB treatment will not be funded with these additional monies. Applications can be submitted starting July 1, 2020 until October 1, 2020.
We want to give you a heads-up and urge you to fill out a survey that may be coming your way. 
After much deliberation, WI DNR Urban Forestry has decided to postpone the Community Tree Management Institute (CTMI) for one year. The health and safety of others is paramount. Due to the pandemic, it’s just not feasible to come together in person for this training. Group interaction and networking are an integral part of the CTMI experience, so we will look forward to coming together in the fall of 2021 with the start of the next CTMI class (exact dates to be determined).