Coordinator’s Corner – July

This article is by Ben Thompson, Urban and Community Forestry Program Manager. Written on July 7, 2021. Many of us are glad to have our PNW summer back now that “average” temperatures have returned, but let’s not forget just how blazing hot it got in Washington state between Sunday, June 27th and Tuesday, June 29th. …

Find Your Community’s Tree Equity Score

Last month, American Forests, a nonprofit conservation organization, published Tree Equity scores for 150,000 neighborhoods in 486 urbanized areas across the United States, including scores for Washington communities. Find Your Community’s Tree Equity Score on the National Explorer Here Each score, which can be examined by neighborhood or up to the city scale, is based …

Upcoming Webinars will Focus on New Tools Aimed at Growing Tree Canopy

Written by Hannah Kett, Cities Program Manager at The Nature Conservancy Within our cities and towns, the trees that line our streets, fill our parks and shade our streams, provide people and nature with a multitude of benefits – seen and unseen. These trees help clean the water flowing into streams, rivers and the Puget …

Timely Tree Tips: Summer Tree Care

Whenever there’s a heatwave like the one we experienced at the end of June, people are warned to stay indoors, drink plenty of fluids and watch for signs of heat stress. These are steps we instinctively take to cope with hotter than normal temperatures. Similarly to ourselves, our trees also just endured numerous days of …

Urban Forest Pest Highlight: Emerald Ash Borer

Soon the height of summer will be upon us, or as we like to call it, August Tree Check Month—the time of year when we invite everyone to be on the lookout for potential forest threats and report anything that looks suspicious. Have you ever checked your trees for signs of invasive forest pests? Summer …

Coordinator’s Corner – June

Now that the Evergreen Communities Act (ECA) has been signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee, no one is more eager than I am to implement it. Yet, this isn’t really about me. Just as there were many internal and external stakeholders who helped the ECA successfully navigate the legislative process, the same will hold …

City of College Place Completes First Tree Inventory and Management Plan

The City of College Place recently completed a $19,900 Community Forestry Assistance Grant provided by the WA DNR Urban & Community Forestry Program for the collection of tree inventory data and creation of an Urban Forest Management Plan. The project was a year-long effort made up of several phases. The first part of the work …

Sooty Bark Disease Appears on Maples in Seattle

By Rachel Brooks, forest pathologist, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, rachel.brooks@dnr.wa.gov. This article is re-published as it was originally displayed in Forest Stewardship Notes. The trunk of a sycamore maple in Seattle displays typical dark discolorations caused by C. corticale. (Photo by Rachel Brooks, Washington State Department of Natural Resources) The fungus Cryptostroma corticale, native to the …

A Tree to Try: Red Horsechestnut (Aesculus x carnea)

The attractive Aesculus × carnea (red Horsechestnut) tends to be a mystery− its origins are unconfirmed and a subject of controversy among arborists and researchers alike. Some sources claim the origins lay in 1820 Germany, while others in 1858 France, and there may be additional claims we are forgetting to mention. Regardless, most experts believe …

Coordinator’s Corner – May

This article is by Ben Thompson, Urban and Community Forestry Program Manager. Written on May 11, 2021. I come to you this month with very good news: THE EVERGREEN COMMUNITIES ACT (ECA) HAS BEEN PASSED BY THE STATE LEGISLATURE AND WAS SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE ON MONDAY, MAY 10, 2021! The bill …

Urban Trees and Student Engagement in Spokane

Information about the 2022 DNR Urban and Community Forestry Grant opportunities will be made available on our website in September here. Student planting a tree in Spokane, WA. Photo credit: Erin Bangle provided by PEI Congratulations to Pacific Education Institute (PEI), who recently completed their first WA DNR Community Engagement and Planning Grant project this April! …