LTOA seminar on Tuesday 22 May 2018

Hosted by LB Bexley

Agenda

09:30 - Tea and coffee

10:00 - Welcome from John Parker, LTOA Chair

10:05 - Update from Becky Porter, LTOA Executive Officer

10:10 - A word from our sponsors Down to Earth Trees

10:20 - Greg Packman, Arboricultural Assistant, Royal Parks, Identification and Management of Massaria Disease of Plane

11:10 - John Parker, Arboriculture and Landscape Manager, Transport for London, Two new LTOA documents: Ceratocystis – Prevention and Outbreak

11:30 - Questions

11:40 - Tea and coffee

12:00 - Andrew Hoppit, Oak Processionary Moth Project Manager, Forestry Commission, OPM – the current situation and evidence gathering for a risk based approach for future management

1220 - Craig Ruddick, Arboricultural Manager serving Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, Oak Processionary Moth – Managing the pest within a ‘core zone’ London Borough

12:40 - Questions

13:00 - Lunch

Thank you to Mark Taylor, LB Bexley for hosting the meeting and for providing tea, coffee and biscuits and Down to Earth Trees for the lunch.

Visit of a Cambridge, Massachusetts Tree Officer to Croydon

Author: Richard Edwards, Tree and Woodland Officer, LB Croydon

After contacting the London Tree Officers Association (LTOA) David Lefcourt, City Arborist/Tree Warden for Cambridge Massachusetts (home of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) paid a visit to the London Borough of Croydon. He was here to talk trees and have a tour of Croydon with Richard Edwards and Simon Levy, two of Croydon’s Tree and Woodlands Officers, along with John Parker, Chair of the LTOA.

It was David’s first time in Europe and he was in the London to follow his passion for Football, he had seen three games in the week he was here and commented that he had only seen the sun for about 12 minutes in that time but took time out from his holiday to catch up with fellow tree officers.     

It was interesting to learn the title ‘tree warden’ is used very differently in Massachusetts than it is here. Since 1899, Massachusetts General Law has mandated that all cities and towns in the Commonwealth have a tree warden who is responsible for trees on public property. The tree warden mandate is still in effect today under Massachusetts General Laws; more information can be found at http://masstreewardens.org/what-is-a-tree-warden/ but in effect they are a tree officer.

The day started visiting Elgin Road to view newly-constructed tree pits which have recently been planted with field maple, commonly known as hedge maple in America. It was interesting to learn that in Cambridge the tree pits would be twice as the size of the tree pits that are constructed in Croydon and that their services are located under the road rather than the pavement so they don’t have the same issues that we have in finding locations in the pavement. Also before putting in new pits they will also use stickers on the pavement saying “this is a great place for a tree” so people can show support for the planting.

Read more: Visit of a Cambridge, Massachusetts Tree Officer to Croydon

National Tree Officers Conference 2018

We are now looking for local authority officers that would be interested in presenting at the conference in 2018. From the feedback received in 2017 delegates advised that some topics that they would like to hear about in 2018 are Planting & species selection; Pests & Diseases; Highways engineer engagement; Contracts; Green Infrastructure; Planning conditions; and Ecosystem services. This is an indicative list and if you have another topic that you think would be of interest, feel free to let us know. If you are interested then please get in touch via e-mail outlining what your subject would be, a couple of sentences outlining what you would cover and the rough length of time you would need to present. We don’t need a long abstract or the actual presentation at this early stage.

For more information https://www.charteredforesters.org/2018/02/do-you-want-to-speak-at-the-next-national-tree-officers-conference/ 

Arboriculture in Poland – the 2017 Tree Friends Forum

John Parker, January 2018

Poland is a nation with a rich and proud tradition of public protest and activism, some of which has received recent media attention in the UK. Attempts by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to give control of judicial appointments to the government, threatening the independence of the judiciary, were met with significant public protests when first proposed in the summer of 2017. In October of the same year more than 100,000 Polish women took to the streets in response to PiS attempting to change abortion law to make the procedure entirely illegal. Further back in history, one of the most powerful examples of citizen power in the country must be the work of the Solidarity movement which was so influential in the 1989 fall of communism in Poland. All examples of ordinary people fighting against the system.

The author preparing to present at the Tree Friends Forum (photo courtesy of Jakub Józefczuk)

Read more: Arboriculture in Poland – the 2017 Tree Friends Forum