theleafletJULY 2012

Summer SchoolDiscover more about D.C.’s urban forest

CASEY TREES NEWS IN BRIEF

2 July 2012 | theleaflet

CASEY TREES NEWS

A TRIO OF NEW FACES JOIN CASEY TREES’ STAFF | Casey Trees welcomes three new staff in July. Jessica Sanders joins us as Director of Technical Services and Research after obtaining a Ph.D. in ecology and evolution from Rutgers University. Sanders, who has years of experience in the environmental sciences, notably with urban forestry research, hopes to broaden the range of research opportunities at Casey Trees. Timothy Hoagland comes on as the new Digital and Social Media Associate. He will manage Tree Speak and all of Casey Trees’ social media forums, so send him a tweet (@CaseyTrees) or post a comment on Facebook.

Until Aug. 3, 10 Washington, D.C.-area high school students will water, weed, mulch and track the condition of Casey Trees-planted trees across D.C. through the annual High School Summer Crew jobs program

Since 2002, Casey Trees’ Summer Crew members have served as caretakers for the District’s newly planted trees, ensuring they receive the recommended 25 gallons when less than 1.5 inches of rain falls in a week. Last year’s Summer Crew logged a record 6,202 “tree touches” — the number of trees crew members cared for.

Six students will join Casey Trees staff in trucks carrying 500-gallon water bladders and 300-gallon pump tanks, transporting water to Casey Trees planting sites. Using five-gallon buckets and hoses, crew members fill slow-release watering bags that can hold 25 gallons of water.

Two additional teams — each with two students and an adult Crew Chief —comprising the Water By-Cycle fleet reach trees using street bikes. Water By-Cycle, the nation’s first bicycled-powered tree watering program, will focus on neighborhoods with limited street parking. The lead bikes are attached to custom-built trailers carrying hoses that connect to city hydrants, with the permission of DC Water.

Ten D.C.-area students to water and care for District’s trees this summer

Lastly, Casey Trees’ new Community Education Coordinator is Stephanie Juchs, who recently received her Masters degree from University of Maryland at College Park. A scholar of environmental science, Juchs will use her experience to enhance Casey Trees’ continuing education opportunities. Look for new staff at future tree plantings and other volunteer events, classes and tree walks.

WATERING VIDEO DEMONSTRATES WAYS TO WATER YOUR TREES | Casey Trees posted a new watering video on YouTube. The video demonstrates the multiple ways residents can practice 25 to Stay Alive and ensure the trees on and surrounding their property survive the summer’s hot, dry weather conditions.

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EMERALD ASH BORER BEETLE CAPTURED IN MARYLAND | According to the Maryland Department of Agriculture, an emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive beetle whose larvae damage the vascular systems of ash trees, was found last week on a sticky trap in Montgomery County near Gaithersburg. Officials have suspected that the beetle has been in the county for some time and the county’s Department of Environmental Protection is withing — binding trees with willow twigs — in the USDA federal quarantine area, which has been under observation for the tree pest since 2003.

NEW CLIMATE CHANGE STUDY IDENTIFIES NEED FOR INCREASED URBAN TREE CANOPY | The City of Los Angeles released findings from a UCLA regional climate study that predicts rising temperatures

for southern California as far out as the year 2060. The city has created a website for residents to learn ways to combat climate change, where one of the first action steps for residents is to plant trees. In addition to their stormwater management benefits, trees can lower temperatures in urban environments by five to ten degrees. All groups and government agencies that plant trees in the District understand this and see the necessity: D.C. has one of the top five worst urban heat island effects in the U.S.

IN THIS ISSUE...

FROM THE DESK: TREES AND STORMS ............................................................................................... 4-5

SPOTLIGHT: CITIZEN FORESTER CHRISTY KWAN ................................................................................... 6

GIVING: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS ....................................................................................................... 7

CASEY TREES HOSTS FIRST-EVER CITIZEN FORESTER CONFERENCE ............................................... 8

Q&A WITH CITY OF TREES AUTHOR MELANIE CHOUKAS-BRADLEY .................................................... 9

LOOK FOR CASEY TREES’ WATER BY-CYCLE FLEET IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD .............................. 10

TREE OF THE MONTH BLOG SERIES FEATURES INTERACTIVE MAPS ............................................... 11

CASEY TREES’ HEADQUARTERS SEES AMAZING CHANGE IN ONE YEAR .................................... 12-13

MULTIPLE TECHNIQUES MAKE WATERING TREES EASY .................................................................... 14

ARBOR KIDS: HOW SHADE AFFECTS TEMPERATURE .......................................................................... 15

URBAN FORESTRY NEWS

4 July 2012 | theleaflet

From the Desk

MARK BUSCAINOEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The last weekend of June saw winds of unusual strength, with gusts at or above 90 miles per hour. While we have seen strong winds approaching this level before, we typically experience events of this ferocity in the form of microbursts that impact a small area with less overall destruction. By contrast, the derecho — or straight-line winds — the D.C.-area experienced on June 29 actually impacted several states and a swath of land several hundred miles wide.

Shortly after the storm I went out to survey the damage. There were broken branches, downed limbs and trees that had been uprooted all together. To the people I spoke to, the damage was random — why did this tree fall down and not the one right next to

it? Why did that limb break off and not the others? Whatever the circumstance, the loss of the trees and property damage was stark and upsetting.

Whenever a storm of this magnitude passes through, people understandably become angry and often fearful, and we are often asked what can be done. While not every circumstance can be avoided, the good news is that steps can be taken to minimize damage to trees and damage a tree may cause to property.

Trees are structures of varying shapes and sizes, and they depend on three key elements for their stability: their type (oak, maple, etc.), where they are located and their health.

Regarding tree type, trees such as Bradford pears are prone to splitting, while others such as oaks tend to withstand summer winds and snow loads relatively unscathed. Tuliptrees are another species that are generally weak wooded and branch breakage is common.

Tree location is the second factor, and this is particularly critical in urban areas. As an old friend once told me: “trees need dirt.” The more they have, the better off they are, both for the tree’s health — more room to trap water and nutrients — and for stability. Some arborists liken tree canopies to sails, and when there is a gust of wind, the branches and trunk are put under stress. Further down, the roots anchor the entire system, so when a tree is located in a street tree pit, for example, the root system is limited by the barriers that surround it. If winds are severe and the roots compromised by space limits and other issues, failure can occur, as shown in the photo on the far right. Alternatively, if the tree is located in a yard, park or other place without the barriers of the curb and sidewalk, the roots grow to fill a larger area creating a more stable anchor for the entire tree.

Last and perhaps most critical is tree health. As I drove around the community, what looked like random damage to many was, in most cases, textbook examples of tree and limb failure brought on by decay, poor attachments and other similar problems. An example of one such tree is shown in the left photo on the next page — a willow oak located on Lincoln Road NE. This tree broke in two because of extensive trunk decay that was clearly

Trees and storms: Assessing the situation

theleaflet | July 2012 5

visible before it fell — something an arborist would have noticed, but maybe not the average citizen.

There are no easy answers, but rather basic guidelines for tree health and stability that should be followed that will minimize damage that occurs during unusual storms. Over the next few months, Casey Trees will host seminars to introduce residents to some of the concepts presented here. Please stay tuned for information on dates and times, and I hope you are able to join us.

This past Sunday, with the power out and a day of hard work cleaning up and clearing limbs and debris behind us, my neighbors and I set up a grill and some lawn chairs, everyone bringing something

from their freezer to the grill. At one point a neighbor looked up into the canopy of the shade tree we were sitting under, where the temperature was a hot but not unbearable 87 degrees, and said “I have to say, these things gave me a scare, but I can’t imagine our block without them.”

Neither can I.

Regards,

Mark BuscainoExecutive Director

The June 29 derecho in the D.C. metro area imapcted many trees.

[Right photo courtesy of Flickr user woodleywonderworks.]

6 July 2012 | theleaflet

Citizen Forester Christy Kwan sees value in D.C.’s treesA native of Los Angeles, Citizen Forester (CF) Christy Kwan, now a District resident, has lived a tree-filled life on both coasts.

The backyard of Kwan’s childhood home was filled with a miniature orchard of apricot, fig and persimmon trees, among others. And as a graduate student in Philadelphia, Kwan became interested in urban agriculture and the roles trees play in communities. She planted her first tree with her university’s environmental club.

It was Casey Trees’ Planning and Design Department that first interested Kwan, who has her Masters degree in city and regional planning, in the organization. She took a few classes, including the Tree Planting Workshop, which qualified her as a CF.

“I wanted to get involved because I had done a small amount of tree plantings in grad school,” Kwan said, “and remembered that I had a lot of fun.”

Since joining Casey Trees’ CF corps, one of Kwan’s most enjoyable aspects of the program has been meeting new people, both volunteers and other CFs. When she is on a planting team with another CF, she learns new tree planting techniques that she says helps her better lead her own teams.

Spotlight

Are you interested in becoming a Citizen Forester? Qualifying courses begin again in September.

“I really like just meeting people and hearing why they’re interested in spending their Saturday morning with us.

“The program is a great way to meet people and give back to the community,” Kwan said. “Not only

do you get to see the physical result of your labor for years to come, but you also sometimes get to volunteer with the residents of that community.”

Though she has been a CF for less than a year — and just became a Lead CF this past spring, when she helped coordinate the Community Tree Planting event at Mayfair Mansions in Ward 7 — Kwan has a few tree planting goals, including participating in a CTP event in every Ward. With only Wards 1, 2 and 3 left for her to plant in, she is well on her way. Kwan also has her sights set on doing more to protect

D.C.’s trees.

“I would also like to become more involved with advocating for trees at public meetings. I’m a DC resident, but have yet to do more my part to become more involved in shaping the community in which I live in.”

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Giving

In case you needed a reminder that summer was on its way, the recent triple-digit weather will certainly serve as a wake-up call.. But just last month — before we started cranking the air conditioning to escape the heat — Casey Trees was outside celebrating 10 years of work in the District on what was arguably the most beautiful night of the year.

On June 4, Casey Trees invited its loyal supporters, regional partners and close friends to a Spring Eve Picnic at the historic Tudor Place House and Garden, to celebrate a decade’s worth of service to the District and its residents.

The beautiful estate was a perfect backdrop for the event, which saw attendees enjoying our take on classic picnic fare — fried green tomatoes and BBQ sliders, among other treats! — and bluegrass sounds of local band Drymill Road, making for a truly memorable night of fun and celebration.

Casey Trees celebrates 10 years of service with supporters and friendsIn addition to enjoying the live music and libations, guests had the opportunity to explore the beautiful grounds of Tudor Place, built by Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Martha Curtis Peter, and her husband in 1816. Highlighted by a gorgeous tulip poplar located at the southeast corner of the south lawn, guests took self-guided tree walks of the grounds, covering the more than 400 trees at Tudor Place — including several planted by Casey Trees!

The night was a perfect way to commemorate 10 years in retreeing the nation’s capital. To do so with all Casey Trees’ friends and supporters in attendance made the event truly an occasion to remember. In fact, the night was such a rousing success, more events are in the works — and Casey Trees would love to have you all there.

To receive an invitation to an upcoming special event, consider supporting Casey Trees’ tree planting and education initiatives today. You will be joining a fantastic group of active and concerned citizens looking to make a difference in the District and its neighborhoods. Hope to see you there!

Donations are accepted securely online or via mail. Make your donation today.

BECOME A CASEY TREES DONOR& GET INVITED TO SPECIAL EVENTS

8 July 2012 | theleaflet

Education

Urban forestry groups share insights at inaugural Citizen Forester Conference On June 4 and 5, Casey Trees hosted its first-ever Citizen Forester Conference, providing an opportunity for urban forestry organizations with citizen forester programs to share best practices.

After talking with colleagues from various organization on their citizen forester programs, Sue Erhardt, Director of Education at Casey Trees and the conference organizer, decided a conference could further help organizations enhance their volunteer programs.

“I thought that we could all move our citizen forester programs forward if we were in the same room sharing our experiences,” Erhardt said. “Learning from each other would help our individual organizations and advance urban forestry in the United States.”

More than 60 people attended the conference, representing 12 organizations from around the U.S. and five D.C.-area environmental nonprofits.

Individuals from Detroit to Dallas and Portland to Philadelphia discussed their organization’s volunteer management practices. Presenters shared why they have citizen forester programs, along with how they recruit, train and retain these volunteers.

“It was interesting to compare and contrast how programs work to accomplish similar goals,” said Keith McAleer, Volunteer Manager at Tree People in Los Angeles, Ca.

Participants agreed to continue their networking beyond the conference. Additionally, the groups involved will try to make it a reoccurring event, with groups take turns hosting, and expand to allow greater participation in the future.

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Special Q&A with local tree expert and author Melanie Choukas-BradleyMelanie Choukas-Bradley knows a lot about what makes up the District’s tree canopy. The journalist and author of City of Trees, a comprehensive guide to the species that flourish in the region, talked with Casey Trees about her research.

Q: Are there any specific reasons why you began researching the arboricultural history of the District?A: I came to D.C. with my husband many years ago and fell in love with the trees of Washington. When I attempted to identify them, I grew extremely frustrated! My Peterson field guide did not get me very far with most of the city’s trees. I found myself thinking: “Somebody ought to write a book about the trees of Washington.” After researching the extensive history of D.C.’s trees at the Library of Congress and learning about their incredible diversity from staff at the U.S. National Arboretum, I began to think that somebody could be me.

Q: Have you uncovered any interesting facts while researching the D.C.’s trees?A: So many facts! A significant number of our national leaders have been serious tree lovers. George Washington worked with Pierre L’Enfant to ensure there were plenty of green spaces and trees in the city design. Thomas Jefferson designed and executed the city’s first street tree planting on record! John Quincy Adams was known as “the tree planting Mr. Adams.” Every time I visit Cedar Hill in Anacostia, I think about how Frederick Douglass, who was born a slave, spent his last years as a nationally renowned human rights advocate living on top of a hill with a spectacular view, surrounded by trees that he dearly loved.

Q: What is your favorite thing about D.C.’s trees? Where’s your favorite tree spot?A: We need trees now more than ever, to control stormwater runoff, cool and clean the air, and mitigate climate change, among many other essential benefits. I love that trees are bringing people together through community plantings and summer watering programs, and that Casey Trees is getting children excited about the trees they plant and care for near their schools. My favorite place of to see trees is Rock Creek Park, where the trees grow tall and wild. On a summer day, the depth of the park’s canopy keeps the air cool, and the District’s official bird, the wood thrush, sings its flute-like song from the treetops.

From Rock Creek Park to Capitol Hill, Melanie Choukas-Bradley has led dozens of tree walks

over the years with Casey Trees.

JOIN MELANIE ON JULY’S TREE TALK THURSDAYS CHATMelanie Choukas-Bradley will cohost this month’s episode — Tree Spotting: Finding D.C.’s woody plant gems — of Tree Talk Thursdays, Casey Trees’ online chat series. The chat will focus on the best spots to see some of the District’s best tree specimens. Join Choukas-Bradley and Casey Trees staff at 12:00 p.m. EDT on July 12 and you could win a copy of Choukas-Bradley’s City of Trees.

10 July 2012 | theleaflet

Tree Planting

Water By-Cycle program pedals into its fourth season

Practice 25 to Stay Alive and water trees on or surrounding your property. Check out this video to find out how.

Over the next five weeks, six Casey Trees staff — two Crew Chiefs and four High School Summer Crew members — will ride street bikes daily to water, weed, mulch and track the condition Casey Trees-planted trees across the District.

The nation’s first bicycle-powered tree care program, Water By-Cycle (WBC) brings water to District trees in areas that are difficult to access by truck.

Each year, the WBC crew works with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to learn bicycle safety.

The Capitol Hill Community Foundation, an organization that supports various community enrichment projects in Capitol Hill, recently awarded Casey Trees a grant to continue its summer tree care programs along in neighborhood’s parks, schools, homes and streets.

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Each month, Casey Trees features a new tree on Tree Speak as part of the “Tree of the Month” blog series. Highlighted are our favorite trees from around the District, particularly species that make up our tree planting programs: Community Tree Planting, RiverSmart Homes and Tree Rebate.

Each post has a featured map showing the exact planting locations of trees planted by Casey Trees or other groups. Every point on the map can be clicked on to reveal the exact location, the organization that planted it and a link to launch Google Street View for that coordinate. Street View will give you a sense of what the block looks like if you want to identify the tree or want to explore the street trees virtually.

Posts also include history, habitat information, fun facts and identification details. The “Tree of the Month” blog feature is a great way to discover trees throughout the city and to learn more about the trees that Casey Trees plants.

July’s tree of the month is the honey locust, a highly adaptable species that can grow well in urban conditions. There are many honey locusts in D.C., notably on the National Gallery of Art grounds, First Street SE near Independence Avenue and at the intersection of C and 6th Streets NE.

In addition to being able to tolerate the District’s humid environment, the honey locust can sustain

road salt and adapt to compact soil.

The species’ flowers are small, but the fruits are borne in long slender pods 15 to 40 cm long with sticky and sweet bean-like seeds.

Although the honey locust does not help to make honey, the name was given to the sweet taste of the seeds, which Native Americans often ate. They were also used as a coffee substitute and can even be fermented.

Technology & Research

Tree of the Month series features interactive maps

View more tree maps and online tools from Technical Services & Research online.

12 July 2012 | theleaflet

By Lisa Morris, Planning Associate, Casey Trees | When Casey Trees moved into its permanent headquarters in Brookland, the opportunity to showcase how trees can manage stormwater presented itself.

Anyone who has been to 3030 12th Street has seen the bioretention planter along the street and the rain garden visitors walk through as they enter the building. Along with green roofs and a cistern, these features are part of a low-impact development (LID) design that manages 100 percent of the stormwater from the office site and 50 percent of the stormwater from 12th Street.

An assortment of trees — river birch, black gum, American elm, bald cypress, paw paw and persimmon — were planted to demonstrate how trees can play an essential role in bioretention. A little more than one year since its installation, the rain garden is thriving. It stood up to almost 18 inches of rainfall from August to September 2011, including four inches of rain Hurricane Irene dumped on the District in less than 24 hours.

Trees provide essential ecosystem services — cleaning the air, providing shade, reducing the urban heat island effect and sequestering carbon. They also provide social and psychological benefits — creating outdoor spaces for people to come together, making neighborhoods pleasant places to walk and bike, raising real estate values and bringing natural beauty into citizens’ everyday lives.

Planning & Design

Beauty with Benefits: Casey Trees’ rain garden one year laterThey are also a critical tool in keeping polluted runoff out of our rivers and streams. George Hawkins, general manager of DC Water, the agency charged with cleaning up D.C.’s pollution of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, recently attested, “Trees are the best stormwater management technology I know of.”

Casey Trees’ site is a tiny piece of the puzzle in D.C. But it shows what can happen on a small urban in-fill site and how planting trees in rain gardens can help with bioretention function, creating a space where trees can thrive. Anyone is welcome to come view the rain garden during normal business hours and read about how it works on our informational sign. If you would like more information, register for a First Fridays lunch and learn, where we host a lecture about a tree-related topic and provide tours of our rain garden, green roofs and cistern. Visit the Calendar of Events for dates and registration.

Learn more about Casey Trees’ rain garden, and other examples of bioretention planters in D.C., at a First Fridays presentation.

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Left: The rain garden shortly after planting in April 2011.Below: The trees — a mixture of river birch, American elm, black gum, paw paw and persimmon — have grown exponentially in a little more than a year (Photo from June 2012).

14 July 2012 | theleaflet

Tree Care

Various techniques make it easier to practice 25 to Stay Alive

Learn more about proper tree care by taking a class, participating in a Tree Talk Thursdays session or subscribing to the Casey Trees blog Tree Speak.

You know to give your trees 25 gallons of water per week, but how do you get the water to them? Here are some tips for moving water to trees this summer.

Remember to take care when watering trees, especially young ones. They will need the recommended 25 gallons of water a week delivered slowly and carefully. Street trees in your neighborhood may also need water as they tend to not have much permeable ground nearby to gather water for their roots. It is the responsibility of residents to take care of watering street trees near their property.

TRANSPORTING WATER

• Use a hose. If you have one of these connected to a water supply you’re in great shape. Conquer any distance by attaching hoses together.

• Get creative. Use old buckets or water cooler jugs to transport and pour water.

• Carry water in a wheelbarrow or wagon. Hand-propelled vehicles lighten any load.

• Use teamwork. If you work together, you can accomplish a lot more. Bring your friends or your family along to help you water trees.

DELIVERING THE WATER TO THE TREE

• Install a slow-release watering bag, such as Ooze Tubes. Use bags that hold the recommended 25 gallons of water. Casey Trees offers Ooze Tubes for $10 each online.

• Use a funnel. Funnels effectively pour water into watering bags and reduce waste.

• Turn a hose on a low trickle for half an hour. You can stick around or walk away, but remember to turn the water off after you are finished so that you don’t waste water or over-water the tree.

• Make your own slow-release watering device. Add holes to the bottom of a bucket and place at the base of a tree. You can fill it up and then walk away.

Ready to water your trees? Take the 25 to Stay Alive pledge and receive a complimentary rain gauge to determine whether your trees are getting enough water. Rain gauges are sent to anyone who signs the pledge and lives within 25 miles of Washington, D.C. Casey Trees issues the watering recommendation for the coming week every Monday morning on its homepage and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Funnels reduce water waste and are great for pouring water in slow-release watering bags.

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Whether you are waiting at a bus stop or having fun at summer camp, shade from trees helps make any hot, summer day feel a little bit better. Using the trees in your yard or neighborhood park, do the temperature activity below and you may be surprised by the results!

Arbor Kids

Summer neighborhood or park tree walk

1 Take an outdoor thermometer and measure the temperature under the sun.

Now, move to a nicely shaded spot and measure the temperature there. Note the difference between the sunny and shaded locations.

Another (and more fun!) way of visualizing the temperature difference is to measure the time it takes an ice cube to melt in both the sunny and shaded locations.

2

3