The Leaflet — May 2011

Casey Trees News

leaflet

the

25 to Stay Alive watering campaign kicks off

May 2011

In this issue...

2 Board profile: Dennis Chestnut

Help care for trees this summer!.

3 Letter from the Executive Director

Switching gears to summer tree maintenance.

4 Casey Trees’ Tree Report Card

Staff will discuss report May 12 in online chat.

6 Casey Trees’ blogs get new designs

Call for volunteers for final spring CTP event.

7 Open House Recap

More than 200 guests showed up for the event.

8 Programs & Classes 8 Kids Corner

Washingtonian Award

F

rom now till the end of September, Casey Trees will issue weekly tree watering recommendations as part of its 25 to Stay Alive campaign. Alerts are intended to take the guessing out of when to water trees in the District.

Trees, especially those that have been in the ground less than three years, need 25 gallons of water — equivalent to approximately a 1.5-inch rainfall event — a week to become established and thrive.

Each Monday morning, a watering recommendation will be posted on the Casey Trees homepage online and its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Precipitation and streamflow data determine the conditions — Dry, Normal or Wet — and the associated watering recommendation — Water, Additional Watering Optional or No Additional Watering Needed, respectively.

Those who make the 25 to Stay Alive

watering pledge online will receive a complimentary rain gauge to track rainfall totals at home. When less than 1.5 inches of rainfall is measured, residents know to give trees on and surrounding their property the recommended 25 gallons of water.

To make watering trees less time consuming and to ensure they receive the recommended 25 gallons of water, Casey Trees also provides free slow-release watering bags.

Each holds 25 gallons, can be filled up quickly with a garden hose and reduces wasteful runoff.

Watering bags may be picked up from Casey Trees’ offices during normal business hours.

Residents are also encouraged to mulch their trees. Applying mulch using the 3-3-3 Rule — three inches of mulch in a three-foot ring with a three-inch space around the trunk — wll help keep the soil moist and control weeds.

Casey Trees was one of four recipients of The Washingtonian’s 2011Green Awards, which honor Washington, D.C.-area individuals and groups whose work promotes environmental awareness.

Casey Tree Farm President Barbara Shea is pictured in the profile which highlights the success of the Community Tree Planting program.

The article can be found in the May issue of The Washingtonian.

Dedicate a Tree Spring is the season for many special dates and events, from Mother’s Day to graduations and weddings.

Commemorate these occasions with a tree planting.

Tree Dedications can take place on private or public property.

New Staff Member

Priscilla Bocskor Education Coordinator pbocskor@caseytrees.org 202.349.1896

After graduating in May 2010 with an M.S. in Urban Forestry from Virginia Tech, Priscilla worked as the Outreach Coordinator for Fairfax ReLeaf, a treeplanting nonprofit in Fairfax, Va. She is very excited to join Casey Trees and cannot wait to work with schools, educators and students to teach the importance of the District’s urban forest.

Board Member Spotlight

As a Board Member and Citizen Forester, Dennis Chestnut helps at all levels

D

ennis Chestnut first became involved with Casey Trees in 2006 as a Citizen Forester helping to plant trees across the District.

Three short years later, Chestnut strengthend his committment to restoring the District’s tree canopy by joining Casey Trees’ Board of Director.

S

Dennis, in his second term as a board member, is the executive director of Groundwork Anacostia River DC, a nonprofit focused on environmentally friendly development in Wards 7 and 8.

To help trees survive D.C’s harsh summer, we are recruiting individuals and groups to water and mulch Casey Trees-planted trees across the District from June through September.

As a respected member of his c o m m u n i t y, Chestnut is able to promote Casey Trees, its mission and its programs to his neighbors and various community leaders. His insight and experience have been helpful in increasing the

Summer Tree Care Volunteers needed

ummers in D.C. can bring extreme heat and dry spells making it even more critical that trees, particularly those that have been in the ground less than two years, receive the recommended 25 gallons of water per week.

If you are interested in caring for trees this summer contact Carol Herwig, Volunteer Coordinator, by email or at 202.349.1907.

There's no way someone could come away with a bad experience from any program Casey Trees offers.

number of Community Tree Planting (CTP) events east of the river and recruiting crewmembers for Casey Trees’ Tree Planting department and High School Summer Crew jobs program.

“Neighbors are looking forward to future CTPs,” he said. “They even come up and ask me when the next planting is.”

His role on the Board has also helped him p r o f e s s i o n a l l y, as he has been able to learn from the other Board members, whom he describes as “diversely talented.”

“We all have a range of expertise and it has helped me learn quite a bit functioning within the structure of Casey Trees.”

Chestnut feels his status on the Board coupled with his experience as a CF have helped him expand Casey Trees’ presence east of the river. He enjoys speaking with members of his community about the work of Casey Trees and the programs it offers District residents. He always directs people to the Casey Trees website, where they can find out information about the organization and its offerings, especially the CTP and CF programs, which he believes are the best ways to engage communities.

“There’s no way someone could come away with a bad experience from any program Casey Trees offers.”

2

May 2011 | theleaflet

Casey Trees prepares for summer tree care As our record breaking spring 2011 Community Tree Planting season comes to close and the weather starts to warm, Casey Trees is shifting its focus from planting trees to caring for trees.

Those who are familiar with D.C.’s summers know they can be accompanied by extreme heat and little rainfall. Both are serious threats to the health of the trees our volunteers and staff tirelessly planted across the District.

To ensure the likelihood that the trees we plant each spring and fall survive, we prioritize summer tree care. For eight weeks this summer starting in June, ten high school students will serve as Summer Crew members.

They will water, weed and mulch Casey Trees-planted trees alongside our Tree Planting crew in each of the eight Wards. Some will travel by truck, others will be part of our Water By-Cycle team which reach trees by street bicycles. I am always impressed by how much these students accomplish in such a short amount of time.

In addition to caring for the trees we plant, we are encouraging residents to water trees on and surrounding their own property. To make watering trees as easy as possible, we provide the necessary tools and information free-of-charge. D.C. residents can pick up slow-release watering bags and trunk guards from our office and those who pledge to ensure their trees the recommended 25 gallons of water per week will receive a rain gauge to track rainfall totals at home.

To help you know when to water, follow our weekly watering alerts on our website’s homepage and

Facebook and Twitter accounts.

As the summer progresses, we will be sure to share with you additional watering tips particularly on how to get water to more difficult to reach locations. Until then, please keep an eye out for weekly watering recommendations and any trees that may need a little TLC from you and your neighbors.

Yours in trees,

Mark Buscaino Executive Director

Mark Buscaino Executive Director

Michaela Mary Galvin is practicing 25 to Stay Alive this summer by measuring rainfall totals at home using her Casey Trees’ rain gauge.

Make the 25 to Stay Alive pledge and receive a complimentary rain gauge in the mail.

Pledge here.

theleaflet | May 2011

3

Casey Trees’ Third Annual

TREE REPORT CARD

C

The only independent evaluation of the District’s trees.

Overall Grade

4

for

2010

Tree Metrics Awareness......... A+

A measure of the general level of participation in, and knowledge of, tree-related issues.

Coverage........... B+

A measure of how much tree canopy cover there is within the 69 miles of land that make up D.C.

Health. ............. B-

A measure of the percentage of the total population of trees in Excellent or Good condition.

Planting............ A+

A measure of how many trees are planted each year.

Protection......... F

A measure of the effectiveness of the Urban Forest Preservation Act of 2002.

May 2011 | theleaflet

D.C. FALLS SHORT

Failure of Urban Forest Preservation Act faulted for drop to a C on Third Annual Tree Report Card

C

asey Trees’ Third Annual Tree Report Card, the only independent assessment of D.C.’s trees on both public and private lands, gives the nation’s capital a C for 2010, a drop from 2009’s grade of B-. The Report Card uses five tree metrics — awareness, coverage, health, planting and protection — to generate the overall grade for tree-related activities performed the previous year.

The lower grade is due in large part to the F assigned to tree protection, which measures the effectiveness of the Urban Forest Preservation Act (UFPA) of 2002. The UFPA and its Tree Fund were created to replace large trees that are removed because of development and related activities. Our findings show that the UFPA is not achieving its goals because of poor oversight and use of Tree Fund dollars for purposes unrelated to those stipulated in the UFPA. Chief among the issues cited for the failing grade was the redirecting of $539,000 from the Tree Fund to the General Fund in FY11 to offset budget shortfalls and the lack of records to show if 10,000 trees that should have been planted since 2002 are alive or were even planted.

Learn more!

May’s Tree Talk Thursday will focus on the Tree Report Card and why D.C. got a C grade. Casey Trees’ Executive Director Mark Buscaino will answer your questions.

Thursday, May 12, 2011 12:00 p.m. -1:00 p.m.

Free!

Sign up to receive a reminder at www.caseytrees.org/treetalkthursdays.

The Tree Report Card recommends the Gray Administration reevaluate how the UFPA is administered and potentially shift that role to an agency that is better suited to the tasks outlined in the Act. Positive marks were earned for tree planting and awareness which measure the number of trees planted and general level of knowledge and participation in tree-related issues, respectively. Both received an A+. Of note, for the first time since the District announced its Urban Tree Canopy Goal of 40 percent by 2035 — requiring that 8,600 trees be planted each year by all sources, public and private — the goal was exceeded with 8,632 trees planted.

Grades for health (B-) and coverage (B+) remain unchanged from 2009.

Changes to the 2010 Tree Report Card First, the tree protection grade is now derived from two metrics critical to the protection and replacement of large canopy trees in accordance with UFPA: • •

Accounting for Special Tree removals, replacement plantings and money received into the Tree Fund Locations and survival rates of trees planted as replacements.

Tree protection is an area with wide-ranging impacts, and it could be measured in several ways. To eliminate as much ambiguity as possible we chose two clear measures directly linked to requirements in the UFPA. Second, the awareness grade is now derived from an index created from three metrics making it more quantitative and less subjective: • • •

The percentage of 311 requests for service related to trees in comparison to the total population of 311 requests The number of volunteer hours performed for Casey Trees in comparison to local and national benchmarks for similar organizations The performance of Casey Trees’ website compared to benchmarks provided by Google Analytics for websites of similar size.

theleaflet | May 2011

5

Final spring CTP event to be largest of season, volunteers needed

C

asey Trees’ last Community Tree Planting (CTP) event of the spring 2011 will also be the biggest of the season.

The May 7 planting at Alice Deal Middle School will require a large number of volunteers to help plant nearly 60 trees.

Alice Deal is located at 3815 Fort Drive NW in Ward 3 and the planting will run from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

If you are interested in volunteering, sign up here. Interested groups of five or more people should contact Carol Herwig, volunteer coordinator, by email or at 202.349.1907.

Fall CTP application deadline approaching - June 15 Is your neighborhood, local park, school campus or housing complex in need of some trees? If so, think about applying for a spot on the CTP fall (Oct.-Dec.) schedule.

Visit our CTP page for requirements and the application form. Applications can be sent by fax, mail or email.

Thanks Starbucks!

Casey Trees would like to thank Starbucks Coffee Company again for its inkind donation of coffee for our Community Tree Planting events.

Their generous gift helps energize our staff and volunteers, making it easier to tree D.C.

Tree Speak and Trees in Cities get facelifts, new features

C

asey Trees officially launched the redesigns of its blog, Tree Speak, and Trees in Cities, formerly the Urban Tree Canopy news blog, in April.

Both blogs still feature the same great content, with Tree Speak publishing all things Casey Trees and Trees in Cities focusing on urban forestry news from around the world.

In addition to fresh new looks, both blogs include enhanced navigation features allowing readers to easily visit Casey Trees’ website and social media sites and its newest outreach tool, Tree Talk Thursdays online chat series.

6

May 2011 | theleaflet

Casey Trees

Opens Its Doors

With a beautiful spring day as a perfect backdrop, Casey Trees’ Open House drew more than 200 guests, all of whom took advantage of the informational activities and programs Casey Trees had on display. Among the highlights were remarks from Boardmember Don Edward (right) on trees and community and the interest in Casey Trees’ watering campaign, with almost 50 people pledging to give their trees the recommended 25 gallons of water per week.

View more photos from the event on Flickr.

theleaflet | May 2011

7

Programs and classes

Visit Casey Trees' Calendar of Events webpage to sign up for the following events. Those interested in the U.S. National Arboretum tree walk must register on their website. All classes and workshops are free unless noted.

Advance registration is required for all events; space is limited.

Shade Trees of D.C. Casey Trees Staff Sat., May 14, 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

U.S. National Arboretum Visitor Information Trailer

Lincoln Park Tree Walk Casey Trees Staff Sat., May 28, 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Lincoln Park, Between 11th & 13th Streets on East Capitol Street

National Mall Bike Tour of Trees Melanie Choukas-Bradley Sat., June 4, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

50 Massachusetts Avenue NE

Get to know some of the key representatives of D.C.’s urban forest. We will focus on larger trees found in our parks, streets and home landscapes.

Explore the magnificent trees in and around this popular Capitol Hill park. Outstanding characteristics and tree identification methods will be discussed along with the challenges of managing tree health in the city.

Ride along the National Mall and admire its diverse tree specimens. The tour ends with a look at the impressive collection on the Capitol Grounds. Bikes are not provided.

Kids Corner Trees are green again and that means the warmer weather will bring conditions that help trees grow after lying dormant during the winter. Find the words from the list on the right in the word search below and observe how the trees in your neighborhood are changing.

P Y L J T K A O L S M Z T S Q 8

H M C E T N P C K G Y A I Q E

W O N O G U Q W N P M S P T X

J O O O Q V P Q O G E E O L E

S R I Z I M S U I H R W K L E

X D T L R T V X T I L W M U E

R E W O L F A N A H D K T X V

R M G X A G Y N R D E J X M J

J C X Y I S R E I B Z K C V J

U N G N O D O U P L Q F X T Y

W V K T Y P U L S F L X B N G

K G O S A N T B N R L O W K E

O H I E G Y D C A U V S P D A

P Z W E L E A F R I L X Z A Z

Q B N B M N Q I T T A A J P F

BEES BUD ELM FLOWER FRUIT GINKGO LEAF MAPLE OAK PHOTOSYNTHESIS POLLINATION ROOT TRANSPIRATION

May 2011 | theleaflet