Photo courtesy of Micky at Flicker.com N e w s l et t e r D a t e Vo lu me 1 8 , I s s u e 1
Inside this issue: • Good-byes and Hellos (page 1) • Forthcoming TCA Program Changes (page 1- 2) • TCA Survey 2012 (page 3) • Volunteer Hours Submission Form (page 4)
*Newsletter Photo Pick*
Photo courtesy of Jeff Carroll
“Rustic Snow” Afton State Park, Afton, MN For a chance for your nature photos to be included in future TCA newsletter publications, submit via email your photo along with your full name, photo title, and photo location (city, state). Email to: minntca@gmail.com
Gary Johnson, Managing Editor
http://www.mntca.org
Good-byes and Hellos Good-Bye. “I walked in the office and there they were, gone!” Okay, maybe that’s a bit exaggerated, but I really wanted to start this off with some Pennsylvania Dutch-speak. As a lot of you now know, Rebecca Koetter and Dave Hanson have both taken on new directions and are no longer part of the TCA program or the Urban Forestry and Horticulture Research Institute at the University of Minnesota. Rebecca left for personal reasons (hooray for baby daughter Hazel, too bad for us), Dave for a professional reason (great opportunity with MnDOT). They both played important roles in the evolution of the TCA program and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to work with them.
Hello! With all of the goodbyes going on, it’s nice to have some hellos. There are two new people that will be working closely with the TCA program. Valerie Price is the new volunteer coordinator for our urban and community forestry projects and programs, including the Tree Care Advisor program. Valerie graduated in December with a degree in Horticulture and a minor in Urban Forestry. She has worked with us on our community engagement/tree survey proValerie Price: jects for the past several months and TCA Volunteer is a perfect fit with the rest of our Coordinator team.
Sadly, we lost another of our own in 2011. Jay Willett, a Wisconsin resident but an active TCA in Minnesota and Wisconsin for many years passed away in 2011. I really enjoyed knowing Jay. He was always in a positive, good mood, and tended to dwell on the silver linings, at least that’s the way I remember him. A very active TCA who always let me know what was going on in Jay Willett: his world, was always open to Tree Care Advisor learning and helping others. I and distinguisheddid always resent that he was looking feller. almost thirty years my senior yet had way more hair than I have.
Along with Valerie, Jeff Carroll has segued into our volunteer programs. Jeff is an undergraduate research assistant in urban and community forestry, and has also worked with our community engagement/tree survey projects for the past several months. If you have called in to the Forest Resources Outreach phone line or emailed the same for some information, you have probably already met Jeff’s voice or electrons. Both Val- Jeff Carroll: erie and Jeff are cut from the same Undergraduate Research Assistant cloth as all of our urban forestry team: they are people-people who have the ability to work with just about anyone, translating and passing on the best and most current urban forestry information.
Forthcoming TCA Program Changes Twenty years ago, the Tree Care Advisor program was spawned. Starting with a first class of twenty volunteers, it’s grown a bit and we’ve done some good things. The value of our volunteer contributions to the state of Minnesota is approaching the $2,000,000 mark, for what that’s worth. More important to me is that we’re still here, still contributing to local, regional and state-wide urban forestry efforts, and still beating the odds. Most volunteer programs like ours don’t last this long. Longevity isn’t enough, though. Page 1