The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast

Sara Street is the green guru of First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania. As the manager of Williamsport’s local nature preserve, Rider Park, she fills the roles of forest ecologist, wildlife biologist, environmental educator, working maintenance foreman, volunteer coordinator and more. With degrees in landscape architecture, ecological restoration, park management, and landscape technology, Sara brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role. As the steward of nearly 900 acres, she is responsible for encouraging forest health and longevity, managing invasive plants and pests (like spongey moth and hemlock elongate scale), and planting native plants to enhance the park’s biodiversity. She encourages wildlife habitat by encouraging landscape types that aren’t present at Rider Park (like a shrub-dominated savanna on the edges of the forest and meadows). Sara also maintains trails, coordinates volunteers, and shares her passion for nature and wildlife with visitors. Even when she’s not on the job, Sara spends a lot of time outside—hiking, gardening, swimming in the West Branch of the Susquehanna and Loyalsock creeks and attending soccer events with her son. “I lived and worked in northwest Washington state, and the trees there are very impressive in stature, height, and density. But the range of species pales in comparison to the richness of North Central Pennsylvania. I adore walking through the forest, looking at patterns, and identifying trees!”  

Rebecca Johnson is an ISA Certified Arborist and a true arborholic. She is addicted to helping trees and the people who care for them. Rebecca regularly provides education to fellow arborists and the general public. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Chapter of ISA as its president and is a private consulting arborist, teaching homeowners about proper tree care. Rebecca has been involved with the Certified Arborist prep courses since 2011 and was part of the cadre responsible for bringing the Certified Arborist prep class to Austin, Texas in 2015. She currently coordinates the Austin class. Rebecca was recognized with the 2020 ISA President's Award for her work with Women in Arboriculture. She is a TCIA Certified Treecare Safety Professional, Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, and holds the Texas ISA Oak Wilt and Wildfire Risk Reduction qualifications, and has a degree in Forestry from Oklahoma State University. She spends her free time looking at and admiring trees and spends quality time with her family and pets.

Ethan Olson is the owner of Walburn Run Nursery located in Brockway, Pennsylvania. His main plant focus at his nursery is on fruit and nut trees along with berried shrubs and edible herbaceous plants. Presently, Ethan spends the majority of his time growing and collecting the American chestnut (Castanea dentata). His mission is the preservation of a diverse chestnut germplasm in hopes of getting this once-great species back into the environment as a productive component of the northeastern forest ecosystem. Ethan has a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Temple University and is an avid outdoorsman.

With more than 14 years in the horticulture and arboriculture industry, Rob Shaut joined Casey Trees, an Urban Forestry non-profit, in March of 2018. He has contributed to the operational efficiency and the expansion of their scope of work. Thanks to the leadership of Rob, Stormwater Low Impact Development and Best Management Practices are now an integral part of the Casey Trees portfolio, along with tree installation, pruning, and maintenance. Previously, Rob completed the two-year Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, studied at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and received a Bachelor of Science from Clemson University in business management. He spent five years working as a project manager and garden designer for Shimizu Landscape Design, a Maryland-based design and build firm. He worked for two years as a project manager for Cotswold Gardens, a design and build firm in West Grove, Pennsylvania. Rob is a certified Arborist and Tree Risk Assessment Qualified. He is currently a member of the MAC-ISA Board of Directors and the TREE Fund Board of Directors. As the Director of Tree Operations at Casey Trees, Rob focuses on increasing canopy coverage, stormwater mitigation, heat island mitigation, and phytoremediation. Casey Trees targets lower canopied areas and equity emphasis areas around our nation’s capital.

John Perlin is a Professor and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of the newly released edition of A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization. Perlin says, “It is my hope that the new edition of A Forest Journey will make clear the imperative humanity faces because losing our forests would not merely be the end of nature, it could mean the end of us.” Originally published in 1989, the book’s comprehensive coverage of the major role forests have played in human life …….earned its recognition as a Harvard “Classic in Science and World History” and as one of Harvard’s “One Hundred Great Books.” In the new edition, Perlin cites data on how humanity has cut down half the trees on the planet in the last 12,000 years, and that deforestation continues at an alarming pace with 15 billion trees removed per year. That’s 500,000 square miles of forested land lost since the first edition of A Forest Journey was released. Perlin is also the author of three other books: A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology; From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity; and Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy. Perlin lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Sarah C. Low is a business management consultant, ecologist, and educator. Sarah has been a change-maker in municipal governments, federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations. She is the Founder of Tacoma Tree Foundation, an organization formed to help grow a greener, healthier, and more connected Tacoma. Sarah is now the principal and owner of Strategic Nature, LLC, which specializes in helping organizations and individuals make meaningful changes.

Hugh Weldon gained early knowledge of horticulture working on vegetable farms in Ireland – his home country. He earned a horticulture certificate from the practical experience he gained which led him to a supervisory position with a landscape nursery with 30 staff members. He was in the position for 5 years. Hugh then worked as a foreman in a flower and bulb nursery for two years where he continued to broaden his horticulture background. He emigrated to the U.S., for greater opportunities in the horticulture industry in 1993 and worked with an arborist learning all aspects of tree care, planting, pruning, and removal. With tree experience under his belt, Hugh worked with a company to learn numerous aspects of landscape maintenance of residential and business properties which included snow removal. In 1995 Hugh applied for a grounds position at Villanova University and continued his education earning a Horticulture Degree from Temple University. After several promotions and numerous years of work, Hugh became the Horticultural Supervisor followed by Horticultural Manager. He can now say he has been happily tending the staff and the landscape at Villanova University for over 27 years.

Mayor Tim Schultz has been a resident of Hatboro for over 20 years. Devoted to his community, Tim has served in the capacity of Borough Historian, a member of the Hatboro Tricentennial Committee, Chairman of the Hatboro Holiday Parade, and the President of the Greater Hatboro Chamber of Commerce. Mayor Schultz also joined the national Mayors for Monarchs program in 2020 dedicated to improving pollinator survival across America. Tim is also the proud owner of Bright House Creative Services, LLC, and loves being behind a camera. In addition to his photography business, Tim is a Realtor at Class Harlan Real Estate. Tim, along with his wife DJ and five children, have a passion for all things Hatboro and have dedicated themselves to improving the Borough in every way possible. Tim’s strong leadership and devotion to the Hatboro community shines through his work as President of the Greater Hatboro Chamber of Commerce and now as Mayor.

Ashley Miles is the Administrative Production Assistant at Ruppert Nurseries and has held other positions such as In-House Salesperson and Inventory Manager. Ashley has been with Ruppert since 2013. She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Ashley is also a Certified Professional Horticulturalist. Ashley is an enthusiast of the natural world. Trees have inspired her both personally and professionally and she is grateful that trees have been the focus of her career. and  Kelly Lewis is the General Manager of Ruppert Nurseries. Kelly was raised in the nursery business working at a family Garden Center from the time he was old enough to be of any help. After a two-year vocational horticulture program in high school, he started working full-time for the family business in a variety of roles and learned the business side of the horticulture industry. After years of traveling the country as a purchaser for the garden center, he decided being a grower was a better fit for the agricultural lifestyle he desired. Starting in 1994 for Ruppert Nurseries, Kelly first worked sales but quickly transitioned to managing the then relatively small tree-growing farm. Since that time, the farm has grown to over 900 acres and planted more than 250,000 trees. Kelly has always been fortunate to be able to attend countless trade shows, seminars, and educational events during his career. Including the first two-year EAGL class (Executive Academy for Growth and Leadership) where he earned a certificate in Applied Horticulture Business from Texas A&M with Dr. Charlie Hall. Kelly has served on the Northern Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association, Montgomery County Horticultural Advisory Board, and on the Board for Trees for The Future.

Jill Rose is the State Forest Pathologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Forestry since September 2019. Previously she was the Forest Health Programs Manager and State Forest Pathologist for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, Plant Industries Division for 17 years. Jill’s studies included an Associate Degree in Wildlife Technology from Penn State University from the DuBois campus and a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Sciences from the University of Idaho. Jill also holds a Master of Science degree in Plant Pathology from Washington State University.

Steve Shreiner is the president and founder of Schreiner Tree Care established in 1986. He is a Master Arborist, and Tree Risk Assessment Qualified. Steve has proven successful in developing long-standing client and vendor relationships, many of which are twenty-five-plus years strong. He also enjoys working with clients who care about their trees, landscape, and the greater community. Shreiner has served on various local arboreta, environmental education, and business boards.

Sir Tim Smit KBE (Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) studied Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University. This began a lifelong passion for regeneration and putting his passion and energy into his work. He has followed his occupations embracing his many interests from Archaeology through music to wreck diving, Rare Breed animal husbandry, and building restoration. In 1990 he ‘discovered’ and then restored ‘The Lost Gardens of Heligan’ with John Nelson and remains a director. Heligan is now one of the UK’s best-loved gardens having been named ‘Garden of the Year’ by BBC Countryfile Awards in March of 2018.  Tim’s book The Lost Gardens of Heligan won Book of the Year in 1997. Today, Tim is Executive Chair and Co-founder of the multi-award-winning Eden Project in Cornwall. Since its opening in 2001, over 23 million people have come to see a once sterile pit, turned into a cradle of life. Eden contains world-class horticulture and startling architecture symbolic of human endeavor and our dependence and unbreakable part in the systems of the natural world.

Nan Sterman is a California native, garden expert, garden designer, author, botanist, and award-winning communicator. Nan has long been dedicated to the transformation of planted landscapes from overly thirsty and resource-intensive to climate appropriate and sustainable. In addition to designing gardens, Nan works hard to connect plants to people and the planet. Some examples of that work include: · Her award-winning public TV show, A Growing Passion which Nan hosts, produces, and writes. Forty-eight episodes air on KPBS TV in San Diego, on CREATE TV, and are available online at www.AGrowingPassion.com. · Nan’s most recent book, Hot Color, Dry Garden, is a guide for creating color-filled, waterwise gardens. She’s written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, too. · In 2014, Nan founded the San Diego Gardener Facebook group, where more than 16,000 people discuss plants and gardening in Southern California. · At the beginning of the COVID quarantine, Nan co-founded Grab & Grow Gardens to support food-insecure communities during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. To date, Grab & Grow Gardens has supplied more than 26,000 starter vegetable gardens for families and seniors in need across the region. · Nan leads tours to garden adventures around the world, including Europe, South Africa, Costa Rica, and the US. · In 2022, Nan kicked off the online Garden School, targeted at passionate home gardeners. In addition to a monthly garden membership, Nan teaches online and in-person seed-starting workshops every spring. Nan’s approach to gardening dates back to the 1970s when she was involved in the first wave of the sustainability movement. She trained at the Integral Urban House in Berkeley, California, earned a botany degree from Duke University, a master’s in biology from UC Santa Barbara, and a master’s in instructional design from San Diego State University. Prior to delving into the gardening world, Nan created curricula, training programs, and educational materials for Fortune 500 companies, zoos, aquaria, and not-for-profit organizations. Her ability to take complex information and create effective educational programs is one of her greatest strengths, and a major source of her successes.

Anthony Tresselt is a certified arborist, arboricultural safety consultant, trainer, and 30-year student of arboriculture and tree climbing.  He is a lead instructor with Arboriculture Canada (ArbCan) Training and Education. As a part of the amazing ArbCan team, he travels, educates, facilitates, and writes helping to spread the word about safe, efficient arboriculture. Anthony’s mission as an arborist, leader, educator, and human is to have a positive impact of growth and achievement on everyone he interacts with whether in person, through books and articles, or through online media. To quote his mentor and philosophy professor, Dr. R. Ginsburg, “Teaching is the hope I practice.” He is also a regular contributor to several arboricultural trade magazines and has two works of fiction based on trees and tree climbing novels published, Free Falling: An Arboreal Novel and Fall Factor both can be found on Amazon.

Andrew Bunting is Vice President of Horticulture and leads the utilization of planting and design to promote environmentally sound gardening practices at PHS (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society). Andrew has elevated each of the departments he oversees and has increased the brand and visibility of PHS through their respective work. Andrew received his Bachelor of Science in Plant and Soil Science from Southern Illinois University. Prior to arriving at PHS, Andrew worked at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Chanticleer Garden, and the Scott Arboretum for a tenure of 27 years. He has received the American Public Gardens Association’s Professional Citation, Chanticleer Scholarship in Professional Development, and the Certificate of Merit from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He also serves on the Board of Magnolia Society International. Andrew published his first book in 2015, The Plant Lover’s Guide to Magnolias. Andrew enjoys bird watching, travel and, of course, gardening.

Christy Rollinson is the Forest Ecologist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. As a research scientist, much of her work looks at how individual trees, forest communities, and ecosystems respond to changing weather and climate. Christy’s work involves a variety of approaches, including tree rings, phenology and citizen science, and computer modeling. Christy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and a Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Ecology from Penn State University. At The Morton Arboretum, Christy has been highly involved with science and climate change communication to a variety of professional and non-professional audiences.

Anelle Ammons is an ISA Certified Arborist® and ISA Certified Arborist Utility Specialist®. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and a Master of Horticulture Science from North Carolina State University. Anelle works as a contract Utility Arborist and spends her free time gardening, hiking, and writing children's adventure books.

At the intersection of power tools and creativity, John Mahoney found his niche – turning otherwise forgotten urban green waste into dazzling works of art. Born into a family of tree workers, arborists, and creatives, it was no mystery that Big John would find himself carving his own legacy into the Urban Forest just as his dad did before him. When he began chainsaw carving at the age of 22, John witnessed the emotional connection people had to his wood art pieces that could have otherwise so easily become mulch or firewood. Covered in sawdust and immersed in the competitive beard world, John found himself at a crossroads between one-off artistic ventures and a desire for a greater purpose. He found himself itching to raise awareness for the importance and value of urban trees as a precious bioresource, from their carbon-capturing capabilities to their unique, unrivaled beauty. This practice has turned into a mission of salvaged wood stewardship. Today he oversees Street Tree Revival, an Urban Wood Recycling program founded by West Coast Arborists, Inc. (WCA, Inc.) California’s leading tree maintenance and management company for communities who care about trees. His primary purpose is creating quality, one-of-a-kind lumber while making a lasting positive impact on our environment.

Tahia Devissher is a Banting Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Forestry. She studies how to manage forests and other greenspaces in and around cities to support human well-being and build social-ecological resilience to climate change. She is also interested in developing practical strategies to strengthen the relationship between urbanites and nature. In past work with the Stockholm Environment Institute, Tahia led research to support climate change adaptation working with local communities, NGOs, and governments in more than 20 countries across the Global South. In most of her projects, she applies interdisciplinary approaches by integrating methods from quantitative modelling to participatory mapping, and qualitative assessment. Tahia has a Ph.D. in ecosystems science from the University of Oxford.

Mike Toffan is the founder and Executive Director of Project Forest.  In October of 2020, Project Forest launched with a mission to create a community of environmentally responsible businesses with a unified mission to Rewild the Canadian Landscape One Forest At A Time.  Mike is passionate about restoring disturbed landscapes across Canada, specifically to restore ecological function to non-productive agricultural lands with Conservation groups and Indigenous communities. An outdoor enthusiast and wildlife advocate, Mike knew early in life that he wanted a job that let him explore nature. As the founder of Project Forest and a Professional Forester, he’s contributed to the reforestation of tens of thousands of hectares across Western Canada during his career. Aside from earning his Bachelor of Science in Forest Business Management, Mike also has a Technical Diploma in Forest Technology from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). His happiest moments are in the field, among the trees, where he gets to make an impactful difference every day where it matters the most, Our Environment!

Theo Hooker is a systems thinker and nature-based solutions champion based in Washington, DC. He is passionate about cultivating businesses that are both good for people and the planet while laying a roadmap for other businesses to follow. He believes that in order to create a just and sustainable future, we have to imagine a new way of interacting in the world. In 2020, he co-founded Cambium Carbon, a climate tech company that builds local supply chains across the country. Starting with urban wood, Cambium connects naturally fallen trees to primary and secondary processors (e.g. sawmills & wood shops) and then onto end buyers (e.g. furniture manufacturers, architects, designers…etc.) In his spare time, Theo trains for ultra-marathons, practices handstands, and enjoys good books.

Brice Dorwart is an ISA-certified arborist and utility specialist. He has worked for the last 11 years with Davey Resource Group, on a utility vegetation management contract with a major power company in Pennsylvania. He has volunteered extensively with the PHS TreeTenders program, helping various neighborhood clubs around the city of Philadelphia, especially with their young street-tree pruning efforts. He loves planting trees, but he also has a passion for controlling the invasive exotic tree species in preserved wooded areas near his home outside Philadelphia.

Heather Andrews is a published author, photographer, and speaker who routinely works with homeowners and businesses to create sustainable native pollinator habitats. She grew up as one of 12 grandchildren in North Carolina, and often took walks in her Granddaddy Andrews acre garden, where she learned about pollinators and increasing yield. During the growing season, you will find her in her monarch waystation, Cat-a-pillar Haven,  video blogging on her new YouTube Channel, Garden Thoughtfully. She encourages gardeners to provide wildlife habitat and fuel for native pollinators and improve vegetable yield via pollinator hedgerows/corridors.  She combines information from her career in clinical research to guide her messaging, and routinely creates actionable video content to enable gardeners to create a pollinator paradise in their own backyard. She is a two-time recipient of the “Garden of Distinction” award by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for Her Monarch Waystation, Cat-a-Pillar Haven in 2020, and for a pollinator Garden, she designed for the Historic Craighead House in collaboration with the Penn State Master Gardeners. Her award-winning photographs and articles have been featured in magazines and on Medium.

David Barmon is owner of Epilogue LLC, a small-scale sawmill business just South of Portland Oregon. He co-owned Fiddlehead LLC, a Portland, Oregon-based landscape construction company for 15 years. David has milled hundreds of thousands of board feet of lumber and installed countless edible landscapes and rain gardens in the Portland area. In a former career, David spent almost a decade as a Japanese-qualified flight attendant for United Airlines. David has been a powerful advocate for the urban lumber movement over the last decade. He has successfully leveraged private industry, non-profit organizations, and government to push for transformational changes in the urban forestry system. In addition to his hands-on experience procuring, milling, and creating value-added products from urban lumber, David draws from a broad set of skills, including writing, public speaking, lobbying, small business ownership, non-profit management, and policy work. He is currently working on his first book, Wood From the City, the Urban Lumber Handbook. David has spoken at several conferences including Wood at Work (McGill University 2017 and University of Toronto 2018), the prestigious International Living Future Conference, TEDx Kelowna, and the Mid Atlantic Urban Wood Forum (Virginia Department of Forestry). David was the 2019 keynote speaker at Australia National University’s first-ever urban lumber conference. David was named Sustainable Business Oregon’s Emerging Leader in 2013. His work and ideas have been featured in many publications such as Oregon Public Broadcasting, Green Builder, Sunset, Dwell, and Residential Architect. In 2015 David helped pass legislation through the State of Oregon to fund the world’s first urban lumber tree planting feasibility study. The study, called the Clackamas County Urban Lumber Pilot focused on how to intentionally plant, maintain and harvest urban trees for lumber. David is fascinated with the physical world and all of the amazing information our modern society is about to forget. He believes our religion, culture, cities, food, clothing, smartphones—basically everything—comes down to understanding plants and rocks.

Glenn Eck has been in the horticulture and landscape industry since 1985. He was fortunate to receive a foundation of education and training through the Longwood Gardens Professional Horticulture Program, and a student year with England’s Royal Horticultural Society. Since 1997, Glenn has been managing the grounds and urban horticulture at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is a volunteer with the PA Big Trees program, documenting Pennsylvania’s largest trees, and holds the dubious distinction of discovering Pennsylvania’s largest known Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven). When not in the garden, he prefers exploring wild places, sometimes by bicycle.

Michael Dunn is an innovative Urban Forest Manager and Consulting Arborist with a passion for progressive problem-solving of environmental issues and a vision for a sustainable future in the designed urban environment. He is eager to collaborate with community and borough planners and stakeholders to manage and optimize the urban forest infrastructure as a shared and valuable asset. Michael is able to quantify and incorporate the current and future tree canopy into long-term strategic decision-making. He is an experienced leader posed to drive positive and productive community outreach and communications.

Michael Joshin Thiele’s pioneering approach to apiculture and honeybee conservation has appeared in national and international magazines, books, and films. He has presented his work at Harvard University and New York University, consulted for the USDA, and in 2006 developed the organization Gaia Bees to advance biodynamic practices in apiculture. In 2017 he founded Apis Arborea to preserve the life and resiliency of honeybees through Wilding, that is, the restoration of natural nesting habitat, and the use of a holistic ecological and science-based framework in working with bees. He offers workshops and training in the U.S. and internationally. Michael was born and educated in Germany. He lives with his family, and an infinity of bees, in the oak woodlands of Northern California.

Dr. Ed Gilman is a professor emeritus from the University of Florida and is a principal at Wood Architecture, Inc. His 35 years in academia and the green industry have led him to write the Illustrated Guide to Pruning, which is now in its third edition. Ed has a long list of achievements and awards including honorary membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 2016, an author’s citation award in 1999, and an educators award in 2003. He has also received a research award in 2007, and an award of merit in 2016 from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA’s highest award). Ed’s published works over his 35 years in academia include more than 120 scientific peer-reviewed journal articles on roots, tree planting, and tree pruning. In addition to all of his academic achievements, Ed has delivered over 800 presentations to professional groups throughout the world. He now conducts training, writes specifications, and consults for companies on arboriculture-related issues. https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/instructional-videos.shtml https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/contact-us.shtml https://www.educatedclimber.com/dr-ed-gilman-teaching-series/ https://tcia.org/TCIA/News/Business/_UF_IFAS_Professor_Ed_Gilman__A_legacy_of_tree_growth.aspx https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Pruning-Edward-Gilman/dp/111130730X https://www.urban-forestry.com/assets/documents/gilman.pdf

Kevin Martin is the Head of Tree Collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, having joined in 2012. In his role, he is charged with the curation and management of Kew’s unique and historic collection of trees from around the globe for the purpose of scientific research and conservation within a UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape. Kevin has a foundation degree in arboriculture and is a TRAQ-certified tree inspector. He also sits on several boards including the Arboreta Advisory Committee for Westonbirt and Bedgebury. Kevin is also the vice chair of the arboricultural subgroup for the apprenticeship trailblazer. He is also a member of the UK Botanic Garden and Arboreta Collections Consortium (UKBGACC).

Dr. Clint Springer is an associate professor of biology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Clint is also the director of the Institute for Environmental Stewardship and the first faculty director of the Barnes Arboretum at Saint Joseph's University (formerly the Arboretum of the Barnes Foundation). Clint's research has examined the response of plant physiology and development to human-induced climate change. His more recent interests include the intersection of climate change and ornamental horticulture and arboriculture. Clint was born and raised on the Allegheny plateau in West Virginia where he attended West Virginia University for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He holds a B.A. in biology and a Ph.D. in environmental and evolutionary plant biology from WVU.

Sophie Nitoslawski is passionate about finding ways to better integrate trees and green infrastructure into the fabric of our cities. Her research centers on the intersection of smart communities and urban forest management, and she works with both private- and public-sector partners to pilot digital-based monitoring and management systems for urban ecosystems. In addition to her Ph.D. work, Sophie is involved in teaching various urban forestry and sustainability courses at University of British Columbia (UBC) and is currently a member of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Science and Research Committee.

Neil Hendrickson worked for Bartlett Tree Research Labs where he served as their Northeast Technical Specialist for over twenty years before his retirement in 2019.  Neil is a New Jersey Licensed Tree Expert and maintains his tree risk assessment qualifications. He now serves as chair of the Readington Township, New Jersey, Environmental Commission, and Tree Advisory Committee, and is a member of the Readington Open Space Advisory Board, and the Hunterdon County Shade Tree Commission. Neil is also on the Executive Board of the New Jersey Shade Tree Federation. He received his Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Cook College/Rutgers University, his Master of Science in Forest Science from the University of New Hampshire, and his Ph.D. in Silviculture and Forest Ecology from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Cliff Drouet is a Forester with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSMRE) which is a federal agency under the Department of the Interior. Cliff is working with the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative(ARRI). The program restores old surface mine sites throughout Appalachia by planting native seedlings and establishing wildlife habitats. This reforestation program was started in 2004 by OSMRE and it has evolved into a highly successful program with good seedling survivability and growth. Having native trees growing on old mine sites greatly improves air, water, and soil quality while providing wildlife habitat and recreation benefits on the site. The ARRI program partners with private landowners, federal, and state agencies, non-profits, academia, and corporations to restore old mine sites back to native forests across Appalachia. Cliff graduated from Louisiana Tech University in 1980 with a B.S. in Forest Management and he is a member of the Society of American Foresters. His professional background includes working as a Procurement Forester for 11 years in the industrial sector then he worked as a Consulting Forester for 25 years. In 2016 he began working as a Federal Forester in Kentucky. Cliff is a proud military veteran who served for 36 years and completed four combat tours. He is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with experience as an Engineer and Military Intelligence Officer.

Tom Kimmerer is a scientist, author, and photographer.  He is a consulting forest scientist, working with landowners and with other scientists and natural resource management professionals to ensure a future for the woodland pastures of Kentucky and Tennessee. He consults on sustainability issues related to forest management and wood utilization, including carbon sequestration in forests and wood products. Tom is the author of Venerable Trees – History, Biology and Conservation, and writes for American Forests, Planet Experts, and other publications. He teaches field courses on forestry, woodland pastures, and sustainability and is a conservation photographer specializing in tree and forest photography. Tom has a B.S. in Forest Biology (Botany) from SUNY ESF and a Ph.D. in both forestry and botany, with a specialization in tree physiology and biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has done research and has taught tree physiology, forest biology, and urban forestry in the United States, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and was a faculty member at the University of Kentucky. Tom was also a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Malaysia and an advisor and consultant on environmental and forestry issues for the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia, the American-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce, the Electric Power Research Institute, and LG&E-Kentucky Utilities.

As the founder, principal, and guiding influence of Viridian Landscape Studio, Tavis Dockwiller leads a team that works every day to make sure they leave more than they take – and have fun while they're doing it. Her belief in the essential and healing power of landscapes drives all of the firm's design projects and ecological master plans. A natural storyteller and gifted communicator, Tavis knows how to build consensus between diverse stakeholders and counsels clients on balancing long-term ecological resilience with memorable placemaking. Her work and ideas have helped reshape cities, transform college campuses, and improve lives for communities all over the country.

Eliza Greenman is a tree crops specialist, horticultural historian, and agroforestry practitioner living in Northern Virginia. Her passion is in uncovering our Nation's horticultural tree crops history in order to identify, find, and save a diversity of endangered tree species and cultivars from disappearing. She believes that in giving these trees a human-scale purpose, they have a much better chance of being preserved, understood, and further improved for today's changing times. In 2018, Eliza created HogTree, a farm business that works to offset livestock feed costs through diversified orchards and tree cropping systems. Today she raises pigs for charcuterie in a young, diversified orchard containing pears, apples, persimmons, chestnuts, oaks, and mulberries. Her small-batch charcuterie ships nationwide from her Hogtree website, www.hogtree.com.

Ian Hanou is a trees and technology-loving entrepreneur with 20 years of private sector experience. He earned a B.S. in Forest Management and GIS from Colorado State University and founded PlanIT Geo in 2012. Ian is a thought leader in software design and geospatial analysis for urban forestry, green infrastructure, parks, and ecosystem services. He has led hundreds of projects with clients in government, nonprofits, and the private sector. At PlanIT Geo, Ian directs overall operations, management, strategic partnerships, and vision. He plays a hands-on role in the roadmap for the TreePlotter suite of software and related technology innovation. In 2011, the Society of Municipal Arborists honored Ian with an award for innovation in tree planting prioritization using GIS.  He lives in Colorado with his wife and two children, where he has summited all 54 mountains over 14,000 feet.

Douglas Meney is the Director of Horticulture with the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), a position he has held since 2014. Mr. Meney serves as the principal Horticultural advisor to the Deputy Secretary for Overseas Operations and to the Superintendents of 26 permanent American military cemeteries and 32 federal memorials, monuments, and markers, located within 17 foreign countries. These military cemeteries and memorials, most of which commemorate the service and sacrifice of Americans who served in World War I and World War II, are among the most beautiful and meticulously maintained shrines in the world. Mr. Meney, who was born and raised in Scotland is a trained and qualified horticulturalist who has worked within the Horticultural industry for 40 years, 33 of which have been dedicated to military cemetery maintenance in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France. He holds a Foundation Degree in Horticulture from West of Scotland Agricultural College and a BA (Hons) in Leadership and Management from Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Amanda Benner is a Principal Program Manager for Vegetation Management at PECO, an Exelon Company, and lives in Philadelphia. Prior to joining the electric utility, she held non-profit leadership positions at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and was Executive Director at a community organization, UC Green. Her career includes positions in operations and project management at marketing and communications firms. Amanda has an MBA from the University of Maryland, is an ISA-certified arborist, and holds the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification.

Dan Herms is Vice President of Research and Development for The Davey Tree Expert Company.  Prior to joining Davey, Herms served on the faculty in the Department of Entomology at The Ohio State University from 1997 to 2017, serving as Department Chair from 2012 to 2016.  His research and outreach programs focus on the ecology and management of trees in forests, urban forests, and ornamental landscapes, including interactions with insects, soils, and climate. He received his B.S. in Landscape Horticulture from Ohio State University in 1982, his M.S. in Horticulture and Entomology from Ohio State University in 1984, and his Ph.D. in 1991 from Michigan State University in Entomology with a specialization in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  Major recognition for this work includes the L.C. Chadwick Award for Arboriculture Research and the Richard W. Harris Author’s Citation Award from the International Society of Arboriculture, and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Entomological Society of America.

Anthony (Tony) Aiello is Associate Director of Conservation, Plant Breeding, and Collections at Longwood Gardens, where he participates in tree conservation, plant exploration and evaluation, and collections development.  Previously he served for 22 years as the Gayle E. Maloney Director of Horticulture and Curator at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, where he managed the Morris Arboretum’s historic gardens and living collections. These positions have allowed him to travel throughout the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan to find novel plants suitable for growing in the Delaware Valley.  He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in Botany from Cornell University and a Master of Science in Horticulture from Purdue University. For many years Tony chaired the North America-China Plant Exploration Consortium (NACPEC) and participated in the American Public Gardens Association taxonomy and plant collections committees. Tony’s interests include temperate trees and shrubs – in particular oaks, maples, hollies, witch-hazels, and flowering cherries, as well as economic botany and the history of horticulture. He has written extensively about his travels, as well as his historic and plant interests.

Zhaohua (Cindy) Cheng is a Ph.D. candidate in urban forestry at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She has over five years of experience in community and youth engagement, climate change adaptation, student advising and engagement, and project management. Her Ph.D. research focuses on exploring urban forest-based solutions for climate resilience and urban livability.

Edward (Ned) Sibley Barnard was for 17 years senior staff editor and managing editor of Reader’s Digest General Books, where he oversaw the production of several dozen books that sold over one million copies each. From 1963 to 1967 he was project editor of a 15-volume ecology series, Our Living World of Nature, published jointly by McGraw-Hill and World Book Encyclopedia. He edited the volume on Mars in DK’s Eyewitness series and four volumes in Scholastic’s National Audubon First Field Guide series. Among his writing credits are articles for National Wildlife, International Wildlife, and Audubon, 5 children’s books on animals for Reader’s Digest, and New York City Trees for Columbia University Press. Recently he co-produced with Ken Chaya Central Park Entire, the most detailed map of Central Park available. He is keenly interested in old-growth trees and has volunteered as a tree ring technician at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory’s Tree Ring Research Laboratory. One of his recent books is Central Park Trees and Landscapes, a Guide to New York City's Masterpiece published by Columbia University Press in 2016. He also co-authored with Paul Meyer and Catriona Briger a field guide titled Philadelphia Trees published by Columbia University Press in 2017. Currently, he is producing an updated edition of Philadelphia Trees for the University of Pennsylvania Press for publication in 2023. He is also co-writing and producing a book titled Philadelphia Nature, A Field Guide to Wild Places and Wildlife in the City & the Surrounding Delaware Valley with Anne Bekker for publication by Temple University Press in 2024. Ned moved from Manhattan to Chestnut Hill in 2010 with his wife Pauline Gray.

Erica Smith Fichman has spent her career connecting people with plants.  As the Community Forestry Manager at Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, she is the project lead for the Philly Tree Plan.  Erica also supervises the amazing TreePhilly team which provides Philadelphia residents with the resources they need to plant and care for trees in their own backyard.   She is an ISA-certified arborist and the recipient of the Arbor Day Foundation's 2018 Trailblazer Award.  Erica received a B.S. in biology from Haverford College and an M.S. in environmental horticulture from the University of California, Davis.

Joe Hansen is an ISA Certified Arborist Municipal Specialist, Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ), and holds numerous certifications through the Tree Care Industry Association including Certified Tree Care Safety Professional (CTSP), and is an Approved Instructor for the TCIA’s Tree Care Academy.  In his role as Urban Forester for the City of Park Ridge, Illinois, Joe is responsible for maintaining the urban forest through the use of the City’s Urban Forest Management Plan, conducts parkway tree inspections, and building plan reviews, assists with managing contracts, and enforces the Tree Preservation Ordinance.  In addition, he serves as Chair of the Public Works Safety Committee. Outside of his duties with Park Ridge, Joe was recently elected the Municipal Director for the Illinois Arborist Association and he is also a Task Specialist for the Urban Forest Strike Team in Illinois.  The strike team conducts rapid tree assessments after storms to assist communities in need in hopes to preserve trees while assessing their risk.  He also produces a podcast called The Municipal Arborist where he and guests discuss urban forestry and industry-related topics which also provides ISA CEUs to listeners. He likes to share his experiences through training and public speaking engagements.

Steve Blaes holds degrees in sustainable horticulture and environmental science and has over 20 years of experience in the green industry. He has earned multiple green industry credentials, including the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional certification, the Landscape Contractors Association CLT in Ornamental Maintenance, and is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborist with their Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) among others. Steve has worked on a plethora of projects ranging from residential to institutional campuses in both rural and urban communities across the country. His scientific area of inquiry primarily focuses on supporting professional landscape best management practices that positively impact riparian ecologies endemic to the piedmont and coastal plain regions. He is currently working as a design and sales consultant in Maryland's Baltimore Metro area while supporting his passion projects in the Chesapeake Bay Bioregion.

Jake Handley was born in San Luis Obispo, California, and grew up in Eustis Florida where he received a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Central Florida.  After graduating from college he worked in the zip line industry for 5 years as a guide, trainer, and course builder.  He started his transition into the tree world in 2017 working for Asheville Arborists where he is currently employed. He became a certified arborist in 2019 and has written “The Times They Are a-Changin” for the Arborist magazine an article on climate change. Jake currently resides in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Dana Dentice is a Trees Program Manager and an ISA-certified arborist at PHS. She leads the Tree Tenders program (with now nearly 6000 graduates) to empower citizens to protect and expand tree canopy in communities across the Philadelphia region.  Dana collaborates with organizations and volunteers on planting 1500-2000 trees annually and engages them in follow-up stewardship programs, such as pruning clubs and the PHS Tree Checkers tree monitoring program. She enjoys sharing her expertise in arboriculture and community organizing at Tree Tenders trainings.   Dana previously served as a forestry assistant for the cities of Fitchburg and Madison, Wisconsin where she conducted public tree inventories and led open space planning. She holds a B.S. in Natural Resources and an M.S. in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jeffrey Ling is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborist, registered consulting arborist, and senior consulting arborist in the state of Indiana. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the American Society of Consulting Arborists and currently serves as its co-liaison to the Council of Tree Landscape Appraisers. In Jeffrey’s hometown of New Haven, Indiana he serves as a member of the Tree Commission. For 31 years, Jeff co-owned TreeMasters, Inc. a comprehensive arbor-care company. He specialized in Plant Health Care and Woody Plant Pathology. Jeff also served as a Testifying Expert in courts throughout the Great Lakes and the East Coast. Jeff’s current consulting firm, ARBORWISE, LTD., was founded in 1994. It focuses on horticulture issues, urban forestry concerns, and tree preservation projects.

Jan Johnsen is a principal of the award-winning Johnsen Landscapes & Pools in New York, and an admired garden designer and author. She was the 2019 recipient of the prestigious ‘Award of Distinction' from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Her firm’s website is www.johnsenlandscapes.com Trained in landscape architecture and professional horticulture, Jan has worked in Japan, Hawaii, and Kenya, among other places. She is an inspiring and popular speaker and loves to show how you can “co-create with nature” in your backyard. She taught at Columbia University for many years and still teaches at the New York Botanical Garden where she was named “Instructor of the Year”. Jan wrote ‘All About Trees’ and has followed that up with several other books. Her 2021 book, Floratopia – 110 Flower Garden Ideas for Your Yard, Patio or Balcony, (Countryman Press, an imprint of W.W. Norton) joins Gardentopia, Heaven is a Garden and The Spirit of Stone.

Dr. David Bengston is an Environmental Futurist and Social Scientist with the Strategic Foresight Group of the Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, and is located in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota where he teaches a seminar on environmental futures. Dr. Bengston has published more than 160 research publications, including papers in the Journal of Futures Research, World Futures Review, Futures, and The Futurist. He was the Chair of the North American Forest Commission’s Foresight Working Group and is a member of the World Futures Studies Federation and the Association of Professional Futurists. Dr. Bengston has worked as a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Union of Forestry Research Organization’s (IUFRO) Special Programme for Developing Countries. He was the Coordinator of the IUFRO Ecological Economics in Forestry Working Group and was an OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) Research Fellow at Seoul National University in South Korea in 2004. In the summer of 2022, he will be a visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Eastern Finland.

Nate Shampine, CERP, is Mt. Cuba Center’s Natural Lands Manager responsible for implementing land conservation practices and developing healthy and functional ecosystems. He is a graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner through the Society for Ecological Restoration. He is an adjunct professor at Temple University where he teaches Landscape Restoration to undergraduate and graduate students. He is also a certified wildland firefighter and recently traveled to Arizona and California to assist with wildfire efforts.

Brian “BK” Koehler has been the director of the Park Maintenance Institute since early 2020. BK holds degrees in Business Administration (BS), Parks and Recreation Administration (BS), and Experiential Education (MS). He is an experienced facilitator and event professional with an extensive background in teambuilding, ropes course / climbing tower construction, and outdoor adventure leadership. Before joining the Park Maintenance Institute, BK was based in Hong Kong through 2015 as an experiential educator, producer, and entrepreneur. Upon his stateside return, BK stepped into operations and facility management of the Student Union and Recreation Center at Central Washington University. BK is a native Pennsylvanian, but self-proclaimed “global citizen.” He is motivated by a thirst for experience, and driven by a desire to engage leaders that impact society. He believes in the power of positive energy, an innovative mindset, and servant leadership. In his free time, BK enjoys gardening and playing disc golf.

Linda Langelo is a Colorado State University Extension, Horticulture Agent. The five counties under her care are in Northeast Colorado. In 2020, a 100-year event called a derecho devastated the small towns of Akron and Haxtun. To help in the recovery of these towns, she sought to partner with the Colorado Forest Service Regional Education Coordinator, Donna Davis, and was able to secure funding from Colorado Tree Coalition (CTC) to reforest these communities. She received her Master’s Degree in Education Administration from Salisbury State University in Salisbury, Maryland. Graduated from the Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens after graduating from Cabrini College with a degree in English Communications, with a minor in Biology and Botany. She was a member of the Tri-Beta Honor Society.  In July 2021, she was the recipient of the Lois Woodward Paul Memorial Award. During her 40 years in horticulture, she has both implemented arboretums and overseen them. As Assistant Director of Horticulture at Salisbury State University, she helped implement a campus-wide arboretum still going strong today. She went on to be Director at Adkins Arboretum early in its implementation increasing its exposure in the local and surrounding communities and as a member of the American Public Garden Association. Currently, she writes a monthly column called the Relentless Gardener and has a Facebook Page titled Garden the Plains, and has a book awaiting publisher’s approval called “Plants Are Speaking. Are You Listening?”

Melissa Custic manages the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI). The CRTI is a collaboration of regional partners working together to improve the health, diversity, and equity of trees in the seven-county Chicago Region. Melissa works closely with colleagues of partner institutions to increase canopy cover, reduce the presence of invasive species, and works to increase the preservation of oak ecosystems in the Chicago Region. She has developed several resources and training programs aimed at improving tree selection, planting, and care, as well as targeting invasive woody removal and replacement. Melissa’s professional interests include urban forestry, urban ecology, environmental justice, tree care, climate change, and soil ecology. Melissa is also an ISA-certified arborist.

Amber Grant is a Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in the Environmental Applied Science and Management program at X* University (formerly known as Ryerson University). Her doctoral research focuses on examining environmental justice in urban forest management and decision-making in the United States. Most recently, Amber has been working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to investigate how environmental justice is being pursued and implemented in community tree-planting programs and practice. Amber has also worked with Dr. Andrew Millward and his Urban Forest Research and Ecological Disturbance Group for the last seven years conducting interdisciplinary research regarding urban forest function, ecological change, and human interactions with urban nature.

William Fuchs is the Head Gardener at Andalusia Historic House, Gardens, and Arboretum. William has worked in several positions at Andalusia over the last 22 years including 14 years as the Head Gardener. William came to Andalusia as an intern in 1998 while finishing his Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture at Temple University, Ambler campus. Before attending Temple, William received his Associate Applied Science degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Cumberland Community College. William’s interest in horticulture and gardening has been lifelong, working in various positions in the industry for over 30 years including the 7 years William managed his own design, install, and maintenance landscape company. William grew up on a small farm where a variety of crops were raised for farmer’s market stands as a side business. William is glad to be a part of this incredible community that helps promote a better place to live by planting beautiful trees and gardens.

Mohamed M. Hassona is the Head Horticulturist at the Qur'anic Botanic Garden, the Qatar Foundation in Ar-Rayyan, Qatar. Hassona joined the Foundation in late 2010 to provide comprehensive horticultural support, direction, and expertise to initiate activities related to the development of the Qur'anic Botanic Garden’s initiatives on agriculture, horticulture, nursery production, and tree management. With over 17-years of dynamic hands-on experience in horticulture, Hassona is responsible for all the plants in both the open spaces and greenhouses at the garden. He also manages all propagation while overseeing the curatorial information for all plants and trees. Hassona also manages all agricultural staff including coordinating work schedules and staff evaluations. Hassona has a master’s degree in science in Sustainable Agriculture & the Environment and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Sciences & Education from his university in Egypt. Hassona is an alum of the Advanced International Training Programme on Plant Breeding & Seed Production and Plant Genetic Resources from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He also contributes to the ongoing education-based conservation programs targeting the community, for food security, reforestation, and plant propagation.

Josh Behounek is the Business Development Manager with Davey Resource Group. Josh started his career as an inventory arborist working on many large-scale street tree inventories across the country. He then transferred to a Davey Residential and Commercial office in northwest Chicago, where he spent four years performing plant health care and climbing trees. In 2006, Josh transferred back to DRG, where he now leads business development activities across the country for the Environmental Consulting team. He is most passionate about helping clients proactively and sustainably manage their environmental ecosystems. As a presenter, he has done over 100 presentations at international, national, and regional conferences and workshops. Josh is an ISA Certified Arborist ® Municipal Specialist, and is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ), Josh graduated with a bachelor’s degree in forestry resource management from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. As a frequent business and pleasure traveler Josh has hugged over a dozen national champion trees and is always on the lookout for another one.

Katie Dubow is president at Garden Media Group, a women-owned and run public relations firm specializing in the home and garden industry. Author of the annual Garden Trends Report, Dubow travels the world scouting and presenting garden trends to audiences from Italy to Chicago. Dubow is a guest host on QVC for Cottage Farms, judge at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the inaugural recipient of the Emergent Communicator Award from the Association of Garden Writers, vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association, and an awarded member of the 2018 Forty Under 40 from Greenhouse Product News. Previously, she worked at CBS Studios in New York City and was a public relations & marketing manager at Monet Jewelry. Katie received a degree in communications from Northeastern University where she was also a Division I rower on the crew team. Dubow lives and gardens in West Chester, PA with her husband, two daughters, one dog, and six chickens. Find her in the garden with her children, practicing yoga or dancing to Zumba. Her goal is to convince people that brown thumbs can, in fact, be turned green. Follow along @KatieGMG and on Facebook at KatieGardenGirl

Jason Lubar has been employed at Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania as the Associate Director of Urban Forestry for over twenty years. His career has focused on educating a wide audience about trees and natural resources. He teaches professional-level arboricultural courses, presents at international conferences, and supports Morris Arboretum’s educational mission by providing a wide-range of tree-related consulting services to a diversity of clients including design firms, arborists, townships and municipalities, schools, and corporations. We have invited Jason back today in light of the recent tornados that have ravaged our Mid-Atlantic Region. This podcast is dedicated to the aftercare of trees from tornado and derecho damage.

Tom Knezick is the General Manager of Pinelands Nursery & Supply.  He became interested in the agricultural and the nursery industry as a child when he planted his first pussy willow at age 2. As 2nd generation nurseryman, his parents Don & Suzanne Knezick started the nursery in 1984. Tom’s primary focus is bringing a business-minded approach to growing, selling, and marketing native plants. Pinelands Nursery is proud to supply local ecotype trees, shrubs, grasses, forbs & seeds to the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast grown from wild-collected seed.  Most of the plants they grow are planted in ecological restoration projects from Virginia to Massachusetts, creating landscapes that attract pollinators, curb climate change, prevent flooding, and create wildlife habitat. Tom is a member of the New Jersey Nursery & Landscape Association Board of Directors, Atlantic Seed Association Executive Committee, and is Secretary of NJ Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Agriculture Professionals.  He also operates an e-commerce garden center with his wife Melissa, and recently had his first child. Tom also hosts the Native Plants Healthy Planet Podcast.

Megan Barstow is the Conservation Officer at Botanic Gardens Conservation International. She began her career as a Global Tree Search Intern, compiling species lists of trees and their country-level distributions towards the publication of BGCI's GlobalTreeSearch Database before moving into a role as a Conservation Officer within BGCI. This new role led to her producing International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Assessments for a variety of tree species including,  Global Timber Species and assessments for species protected under CITES, which is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. Also in her role at BGCI Megan works closely with partners in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Malaysia to complete the Global Tree Assessment. She is also an IUCN Red List Trainer.  Her special interest is to make assessments for the plant family Dipterocarpaceae which contains high valued trees for timber in Asia. Her work contributed to the State of the World's Trees report, for which she jointly led the communications of the report. Megan studied at the University of Bath in biology and her placement year was spent at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.

Neil Pederson is a Senior Ecologist at the Harvard Forest who studies the dynamics and long-term development of forests from individual trees to trees across regions and subcontinents. He is especially interested in the response of trees as they interact with climate and as they interact amongst themselves. Neil conducts basic and applied research to help develop ecologically-based, long-term forest management. He digs natural history, charismatic megaflora, and old-growth forests. Neil is also very curious about the growth, longevity, and ecology of broadleaf trees and forests. Neil earned an associate degree in math while playing lacrosse at SUNY-Morrisville, received his bachelor’s degree from SUNY-College of Environmental Science & Forestry, and received a Master of Science from Auburn University studying an old bottomland hardwood forest in South Carolina. After a stint as a tree-ring technician assisting on climate change research in Mongolia and Russia at the Tree-Ring Laboratory of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, he earned a Ph.D. studying forest ecology and climate change along the eastern coast of the United States at Columbia University. Before becoming a senior ecologist in the Fall of 2014 at the Harvard Forest, Neil was an assistant professor in biology at Eastern Kentucky University and a research professor at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. He currently has grants with the US Forest Service and National Science Foundation to study the impacts of extreme climate on the lives of trees in the Northeastern US and how climate might have shaped the old-growth forests we love today.

Jennifer Santoro is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment (GEV) at Villanova University, where she teaches courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Environmental Science. Jen is originally from northern New Jersey where she grew up learning about trees from her dad. She studied Environmental Science at Hamilton College and received both a Master of Forestry and Master of Environmental Management degrees from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Currently, she is finishing her Ph.D. in Natural Resources (Applied Forest Ecology) at the University of Vermont while she teaches at Villanova. Jen’s research focuses on spatial modeling of forest disturbances in the northeastern United States; she’s particularly interested in the long-term impacts of climate change and invasive pests on forest diversity. Jen strives to foster a love of maps and nature in her students, and she hopes her research will promote a greater understanding of the importance of trees and managing forests to be resilient in the face of climate change.

Allison Brown holds a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of California, Davis where her research focused on the significance of mycorrhizal fungi in tidal salt marshes. She has taught courses in Plant Pathology at Temple University – Ambler Campus and Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and she is currently teaching Biology at Delaware Valley University.  Fungi often take center stage in Allison’s lectures and have been the highlight for many guest presentations including those for Master Gardener programs, the New Jersey Mycological Association, and other mushroom clubs, as well as the American Chemical Society.  Most recently Allison gave a presentation entitled “Villains in the Garden” for the ONE Symposium at Tyler Arboretum, where she introduced her audience to the parasitic fungi commonly associated with trees. Allison also leads mushroom hikes and enjoys exploring the culinary delights of local fungi.

Susan Downing Day is a Professor of Urban Forestry in the Department of Forest Resources Management at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and Program Director for the Bachelor of Urban Forestry.  Susan’s research focuses on managing urban soils to enhance tree growth and longevity in the context of environmental challenges such as stormwater mitigation and land development impacts on soil-mediated ecosystem services. She helped shape the soils metrics for the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES®) international crediting system for sustainable design projects and developed Soil Profile Rebuilding, a rehabilitation technique to restore damaged urban soils in situ and enhance urban soil carbon storage. Her research in the water relations of tree-engineered soil systems and in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Trust has informed stormwater policy in the Chesapeake Bay region of the United States. Susan also led Urban Forestry 2020, a research-based investigation into urban forestry career paths and education. Susan has published more than 130 articles and book chapters on urban forests and urban soils and is the 2017 recipient of the L.C. Chadwick Award for Arboricultural Research. Susan holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.S. from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.

Ari Miller is the director of design at Hinge Collective, a public interest design firm that puts community engagement and public participation at the forefront of their practice. As both a landscape architect and arborist, Ari has always advocated for the integration and restoration of natural systems in urban design. Over the course of his 17-year career, Ari has worked as an arborist at Morris Arboretum, as a green roof design specialist at Roofmeadow, and has also led large-scale civic design projects at OLIN Partners. At Hinge, he uses this experience to help communities find design solutions that best support human and ecological health in their own neighborhoods through the enhancement of public space and community-led planning. Ari has also been adjunct faculty at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson University.

Bill Logan (William Bryant Logan) has spent the last five decades living with trees, as a writer, arborist, and teacher, first in coastal California and the Sierra Nevada, then for the last thirty years in the regenerating forests of New York. Logan is founder and president of the Brooklyn-based tree company Urban Arborists. His firm trains and cares for the pollards and aerial hedges in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has planned, planted, and currently cares for numerous landscapes and gardens at historic properties and urban parks in the Tri-State area. Logan lectures widely, from the Arnold Arboretum in Cambridge to the Huntington Library in Los Angeles and internationally, about the relationship between people and trees.  He has won the True Professional of Arboriculture award from the International Society of Arboriculture and the Senior Scholar award from New York State Arborists. His most recent book, Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees, has been awarded the 2021 John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing. His essay “The Things Trees Know” was excerpted from Sprout Lands before the book’s publication and published in Orion. It won the 2020 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award. Logan’s earlier books are Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, Oak: The Frame of Civilization, and Air: The Restless Shaper of the World.  Dirt inspired an award-winning documentary that was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Oak was featured in a story on CBS Sunday Morning. Logan has written for the New York Times, Orion, Emergence, Natural History, House Beautiful, House & Garden, and many other publications, winning numerous Quill and Trowel Awards from the Garden Writers of America. He is on the faculty at the New York Botanical Garden and has taught poetry in the New York City schools and nature writing at Sarah Lawrence College.

Dr. Tony Kendle is a horticulturist, educator, and researcher. He is the co-author of Urban Nature Conservation: Landscape Management in the Urban Countryside and the new book A Wonder In the Garden. Both books review the importance of urban and garden biodiversity. After working for a local government parks department, Tony studied horticulture at the University of Bath. This lead to further study and research in the University of Liverpool’s Department of Botany and Ecology. Tony was awarded a Ph.D. on the reclamation of mine spoil and the creation of new woodlands on destroyed land. This was followed by several years working as an ecological consultant, which gave him experience in the restoration of many degraded sites, from coal mines to metal mines, deserts, and even the island of St Helena in the mid-Atlantic. During this same time period, Tony also worked with Peter Thoday, horticultural teacher, and presenter of the Victorian Kitchen Garden on the BBC. Through joint consultancy, they produced management plans and tree surveys for heritage sites and healthcare properties. Tony then moved to the University of Reading where for ten years he taught Horticulture and Landscape Management in the degree and postgraduate level programs. His additional experience includes being a visiting teacher at the Royal Agricultural College and the Kew School of Horticulture. Tony’s former students have progressed to roles in many countries as greenspace managers, educators, and directors of organizations working on city greening and community health. His combined experiences led Tony to a role as a member of the founding team for the globally famous Eden Project in Cornwall – a site recognized for “reconnecting humankind with the natural world.” The Eden Project is a botanical garden that was established as part of the United Kingdom’s Millennium initiative of national inspirational projects. It was developed by the team that had earlier restored the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Rather than being a conservatory of rare plants, Eden has an educational charitable mission. The living collections demonstrate our daily dependence on plants and the places where they are grown for us. The living collections are not rarities but staples, even so, they are plants that few people ever get to see in person. Tony now works for Eden’s new company, the Eden Project International which works on developments throughout the United Kingdom and around the world.

Pandora Young is a Senior Horticulturist working in Longwood Garden's Outdoor Landscapes since 2005. The areas under her care are Peirce’s Park, a historic arboretum dating back to 1798, and Peirce’s Woods, a 7-acre art-form garden featuring plants native to the eastern United States.  She is also an instructor for Longwood’s continuing education program, teaching courses on native and edible plants.  In her home garden, the rules are: it has to be native or edible, ideally both (with the exception of Lily of the valley). She received a B.A. in Japanese studies, with a minor in Biology from Earlham College in Indiana. Public horticulture combines her passion for art, science, the great outdoors, and connecting with people from all walks of life. Our second guest is Scott Wade the Curator of the Peirce Historic Tree Collection at Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Scott is a certified arborist and has work in commercial, private, and public horticulture his entire career. He is a graduate of Penn State University with a degree in Liberal arts. Scott is the past state coordinator of the Champion Tree Program of Pennsylvania, documenting the largest of each species of tree in the state from 2006-2019.  He started at Longwood Gardens in 2009 performing tree assessments part-time and has been there ever since.

Sara Fern Fitzsimmons has worked with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) at Penn State University (PSU) since 2003, assisting chestnut growers and researchers throughout the Appalachian Mountains.  Born and raised in southern West Virginia (Hinton), Sara studied Biology at Drew University in Madison, NJ.  She then received a master’s degree in forest ecology and resource management from Duke University’s Nicholas School.  After a short stint as an editorial assistant at All About Beer Magazine, Sara returned to the forestry field, where she has been ever since. Sara hopes her research and professional work will facilitate long-term conservation and restoration of native tree species at risk from exotic pests and diseases.

John Holback’s environmental experience started as a child helping his dad cut invasive vines from the trees in the woods around their home. He learned a broad array of conservation efforts as a young adult in AmeriCorps and continued to build his skills while volunteering and working as a field coordinator with the Friends of the Wissahickon in the Wissahickon Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area of California and continues to apply his knowledge in his work in the Santa Cruz Mountains as an open space technician for Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in Los Altos, California. John is also a professional musician and a graduate from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Corey Bassett is a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where she is researching urban forest management and ecosystem services. She has worked and lived across the United States, where she has managed statewide urban and community forestry programs and performed arboricultural consulting and municipal tree care. Beyond her current research area, she is very active around issues such as establishing career and mentorship pipelines for early career professionals, setting standards for tree care for wildlife, and connecting urban forestry with related disciplines. Corey currently serves as the first Student Representative to the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Board of Directors, Public Outreach Director for the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the ISA’s Board of Directors, core member and co-author for the Tree Care for Wildlife program of the Western Chapter ISA, and co-author for the upcoming edition of the ISA Certified Arborist Study Guide. Corey is an ISA Certified Arborist and holds the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. She completed a Master’s in Environmental Studies, concentration in Environmental Biology, and B.A. in Earth Science, concentration in Environmental Science, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Jun Yang is a Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University, China. He received his Ph.D. (2004) in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from the University of California at Berkeley. His specific interests include urban ecology, urban forestry, and ecological remote sensing. He has published more than 100 scientific papers. He serves as an associate editor for Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, and serves on the editorial board of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Frontier in Sustainable Cities, Biodiversity, Landscape Architecture, and China Urban Forestry. He was a member of the Science and Research Committee of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) between 2010 and 2013.

Andrea Whitely is a garden consultant, designing and implementing new gardens, garden renovations, and garden maintenance in Perth, Australia. Andrea is probably best known publicly for her work on 720 ABC radio with Sabrina Hahn as The Soil Sisters. Sabrina and Andrea hosted the very popular call-in program answering gardening questions for four years. They traveled together around Western Australia appearing live and were particularly popular in Western Australia sharing witty repartee as well as their love of all things garden related. Andrea is a Regional Director with GardenComm International based in New York, USA. Since 2015 and prior to Covid-19 she traveled through the United States extensively attending the annual conferences and extending her trips to take in more gardens with friends. Andrea has spoken publicly at Women of the Wheatbelt in Meriden, Gidgegannup Field Day, Kalamunda Community Garden, Australian Garden History events, Nannup Flower and Garden Festival, and at a variety of corporate events in Perth. For many years, as a member of the Horticulture Media Association, Andrea appeared as a speaker at The Perth Flower and Garden Festival. Andrea has contributed to various gardening magazines including regular articles appearing in Hort Journal. The Australian Garden History Journal and HMA News as well as Our Gardens, Your Garden, Gardening Australia, and The Garden Guru papers. Her images have been published in The West Australian, and Australia’s Open Garden Scheme Guidebook, and many local newspapers around the state. Andrea has traveled and visited gardens through Europe, Asia, the UK, The Pacific, The USA, and of course every state and territory in her homeland, Australia. She has even been to visit, Highgrove, the home of HRH Prince Charles. Andrea is an award-winning blogger and is active on Social Media sites Facebook, Instagram Twitter, and Pinterest.

David Hewitt has been working with plants, animals, soils, and water for more than twenty-five years, starting when he began working on small farms in upstate New York.  He has served in a variety of roles at a number of Philadelphia institutions, including the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and a research associate in the Department of Botany at the Academy of Natural Sciences.  He was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in Washington, DC, working in agricultural policy. David has an A.S. from the Community College of Philadelphia, a B.A. in  biology from the The University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the  Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

Max Paschall is the Native Plants Coordinator at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, managing the nursery and native plant sales. He is an ISA certified arborist, fourth-generation horticulturist, and founder of Shelterwood Forest Farm - an experimental land stewardship project exploring the intersection of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and climate resiliency. His work focuses on climate change adaptation, particularly through the practice of assisted migration.

Alan M. Jones is President of Manor View Farms in Monkton, Maryland. He was born in London, England, and immigrated to the United States in 1984. Prior to attending Pershore College of Horticulture, Alan gained horticultural experience by working at The Royal Gardens, Windsor Castle, and the Savill Gardens, Valley Gardens, and Heather Garden in Windsor Great Park. After graduating from Pershore College he joined Oakover Nurseries in Ashford, Kent, England, a seedling and propagation nursery.  He joined Princeton Nurseries in 1984 after immigrating to the U.S. He became a vice president of Princeton Nurseries before leaving in 1994 to join Manor View Farm, Monkton, Maryland. Along with two partners, Alan purchased Manor View Farm in 2007. One year before the recession! Manor View Farm is a 100-acre nursery growing a wide range of B&B trees and shrubs, a propagation division selling potted shrub liners to other nurseries, as well as an extensive Landscape Distribution Center serving the landscape contractor industry in Baltimore, Washington D.C., and northern Virginia. Manor View is licensed to propagate introductions from Proven Winners, PlantHaven, Plant Nouveau, Concept Plants/Plant Tipp, and others. Manor View Farm is located in the historic and scenic My Lady’s Manor in northern Baltimore County, Maryland.

Today’s Show is a special edition highlighting the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) Philadelphia Flower Show. We have two special guests Sam Lemheney and Tim Iffel. Sam Lemheney is the Chief of Shows and Events at PHS and directs the strategy, planning, and execution of all events including the annual Philadelphia Flower Show where over 250,000 visitors from around the world experience the work completed by him, his team, and PHS every year. Sam is a judge for flower shows in Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, and has judged the floats at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. He is also an active member of the International Festivals and Events Association. Sam received his B.S. in Plant Science from the University of Delaware and has had a lifelong passion for horticulture. He began his career at The Walt Disney Company in the Land Horticulture Science Program and eventually rose to the position of Area Manager of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Our second guest is Tim Ifill who is the Associate Director of Trees at PHS, supporting communities around the region that are working together to share the incredible benefits of trees. He leads a team that works with an incredible group of volunteers, community organizations, and government agencies to establish and maintain healthy tree canopies in Philadelphia-area neighborhoods. Tim received a B.A. in linguistics from Haverford College. Prior to joining PHS, Tim served as Executive Director of Philly Fellows, a program he co-founded that built capacity for Philadelphia anti-poverty organizations and started young people on careers in public service. He started his career with the U.S. Forest Service, where he was lucky enough to serve in the National Forest, which is home to the world’s oldest living tree.

Jason Lubar has been employed at Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania as the Associate Director of Urban Forestry for over twenty years. His career has focused on educating a wide audience about trees and natural resources. He teaches professional-level arboricultural courses, presents at international conferences, and supports Morris Arboretum’s educational mission by providing a wide range of tree-related consulting services to a diversity of clients including design firms, arborists, townships and municipalities, schools, and corporations. Jason is the President of the ISA PennDel Chapter and is a Board-Certified Master Arborist, Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, and a member of the American Society of Consulting Arborists and holds the ASCA Tree and Plant Appraisal Qualification. He also is on the Executive Board and is treasurer of Pennsylvania’s Urban and Community Forestry Council.

Konstanze Fabian is an ISA Certified Arborist and ASCA Consulting Arborist. She holds a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Temple University and graduated with a master's degree in environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania.  Konstanze has over twenty years of experience in the Green Industry. Native to Germany, she began her career as an urban forester working with the trees in Berlin. After moving to the U.S. Konstanze worked as an assistant greenhouse manager, and then as an estate horticulturist. Before moving to Denver in 2018 to manage the Colorado operations for Bartlett Tree Experts, she spent four years with Bartlett as a plant health care specialist and arborist representative in the greater Philadelphia area. 

Alex Smith is the owner of Division Street Landscaping, which is entirely staffed by ex-offenders. Alex started his journey while he was incarcerated. While serving a 30-year prison sentence for carjacking, assault, and handgun violations he was part of a group of guys who petitioned the warden for permission to start a horticulture program in prison. He became a Master Gardener behind bars and that program has now spread to other facilities in the state of Maryland. Now home, after serving 15 years of his 30-year sentence, he has created Urban Roots Apprenticeship a training program at the Baltimore Tree Trust where he served as the Director of Operations for five years. He has also created Division Street Academy under his own company with the goal of training guys in landscaping and entrepreneurship specifically in the landscaping industry. He also consults Workforce Development programs across the country that cater to the green job industry. He believes that there is a special kind of healing that takes place when the citizens of a community that once destroyed the community play a vital role in beautifying and maintaining those same places.

Jim Duggan leads the marketing and sales operations for Rootmaker Products Company, Inc. He oversees directing the sales organization and developing digital marketing programs to build the adoption of the Rootmaker growing technology.  Jim Duggan is responsible for the strategic leadership of the sales and marketing department within the business and contributes to the overall growth strategy. Duggan brings with him nearly 40 years of experience marketing high technology products and services to build companies through targeted growth. He has worked with both large and private companies. As RootMaker develops its next generation of disruptive products, Duggan will be instrumental in creating the company mission of expanding its vision of Landscape Scale Reforestation. In his role prior to joining RootMaker, Duggan led the growth of an aerospace distributor from $28 million in annual sales to over $95 million. He has consulted with Rootmaker for the last 10 years, and he has been instrumental in building their vision of changing the way trees are grown into a reality.

Carol Wagner is a long-time horticulturist at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania a suburb of Philadelphia. A life-long resident of Southeast Pennsylvania, she graduated from the Professional Gardener Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. She takes great pride in the history and plantings at Haverford, especially the College's great-grandchild of the Penn Treaty Elm. She recently became a founding member of the Newtown Township Shade Tree Commission.

Phil Forsyth currently serves as Co-Executive Director of the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), a non-profit that plants and supports community orchards in the City of Philadelphia.  Phil has led POP’s orchard design and development since its first plantings in 2007.  In his role, he works with POP’s board and staff to design and plant orchards, coordinate volunteers, and lead educational programs. Phil has eighteen years of experience in urban farming, gardening, and landscaping and holds a BS in Horticulture and Landscape Design from Colorado State University. In 2017, Phil received the first-ever Mary Seton Corboy Award for Public Horticulture from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Dwayne Sperber, founder, and owner of Wudeward Urban Forest Products has dedicated himself to building the urban wood industry. For nearly 20 years he has advised on the vast potential of this renewable resource. Dwayne is called on to provide urban wood utilization guidance and products for leaders across sectors including municipalities, academia, arborists, design professionals, manufacturers, and suppliers. Dwayne is an appointed member of the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council and founding member and advisor of the Urban Wood Network. (Wudeward is pronounced “Wood-word”)

Lara Roman is a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Philadelphia Field Station. She studies the temporal dynamics of urban forests, including tree mortality and growth, canopy cover change, historical development of urban forests, species composition change, and citizen science monitoring. She has led or co-authored over 40 publications, including both academic journal articles and research summaries for professional arboriculture magazines. Her studies take a participatory research approach, collaborating with practitioners for study design and implementation. She received a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science in biology, and a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has been funded by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, the TREE Fund, the Garden Club of America.

Daan Bleichrodt is on a mission to re-connect urban kids with nature worldwide. He is Chief Tree Planting Officer at the IVN environmental education and leads the Tiny Forest movement in the Netherlands. He is also a consultant and teacher for Earthwatch in the UK, Goodplanet in Belgium, and Ecosystem Restoration Camps. He currently lives in the leafy town of Den Dolder with his wife Kiki and two sons - Mees and Tijn. He has a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and a master’s degree in business administration and organizational change. Since joining IVN ten years ago, he has learned a great deal about restoring nature and restoring people’s connection to the living world.

Lori Hayes is the Director of Urban Forestry, and District Tree Crew, Districts 5, 6, 7, & 8, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and is a certified arborist through ISA (International Society of Arboriculture). She oversees many projects including the TreePhilly Program, street tree planting, and maintenance. Lori graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Science in horticulture, she is a Penn State Master Gardener, and a lifelong learner. Lori's passion for trees and the urban forest has given her the nickname The Lorax. 

Diane Ehrich owns Collins Nursery, a small retail nursery in Glenside, Pennsylvania which specializes in container-grown native plants from the Mid-Atlantic region. The nursery was founded by John Collins, a Philadelphia landscape architect, and educator.  Diane has continued to fulfill and expand John’s mission of propagating and providing native plants to homeowners, non-profits, and local townships. Diane studied art at Rhode Island School of Design and Boston University and has an MA in art education from New York University. She draws on her experience as a teacher to help educate customers about the benefits of native plants. An enthusiastic gardener, Diane went back to school at Temple University/Ambler to study horticulture in 2004 and soon after, went to work helping John in his backyard nursery. She has worked as a gardener, at a local garden center, and has done ongoing volunteer work with the Friends of High School Park, a native plant restoration project in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. In addition, Diane is a botanical artist and a member of the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators and the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Richard McCoy has over 30-years of experience in the green industry. He is the visionary behind Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc., founded in 1995. Since transitioning from conventional to organic landscape methods in 2005, McCoy Horticultural has been offering environmentally and sustainably responsible, landscape design, installations, maintenance, green infrastructure, and organic lawn care. His work at Stony Wood Garden, a 3.5-acre private woodland garden in Princeton, New Jersey, has been recognized by The Smithsonian Institute's Archives of American Gardens.

Abra Lee is a national speaker, writer, and owner of Conquer the Soil a platform that combines Black garden history and current events to raise awareness of horticulture. She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist, extension agent, airport landscape manager, and more. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University and alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals.

Max Blaustein is an Environmental Scientist with the Philadelphia Department of Parks & Recreation's Natural Lands Management team. His work has focused on the restoration and operation of a historic nursery facility in West Fairmount Park, where he propagates native plants for conservation projects that support the ecosystem function and habitat value of the 5,600 acres of natural areas within the City of Philadelphia.

Robin Rick has been a Woodlands Grave Gardener since 2016 and The Woodlands' Facility and Landscape Manager since 2018. It is with great pleasure and purpose that Robin works to care for the locally and nationally significant treasure that is The Woodlands. She brings to the  position professional experience in architecture and horticulture. After a career in architecture, she worked as a residential gardener and attended the Barnes Foundation Arboretum School where she earned a Certificate of Horticulture.  At The Woodlands Robin's responsibilities bridge the two disciplines - helping maintain the site's historically significant features  - buildings and trees - while welcoming daily use by the West Philly community and other visitors.

Jordan Foreman grew up in Central Jersey just a stone's throw from Six Mile Run.  He has always loved to hike in the woods, but it wasn't until he was a student at Rutgers University that Ecology became his passion. He was an intern at Rutgers Gardens at the University, and he interned at Central Park in New York City through college. Then, Jordan spent a year as an AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador before he discovered the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens with the help of the kind folks at the Delaware River Basin Commission. After finishing Longwood's Professional Horticulture Program, Jordan moved to Durham, North Carolina to become an Arborist for Bartlett Tree Experts. Currently, Jordan is a Foreman and Plant Healthcare Specialist for Bartlett where he continues to inspire people through his passion for plants.

Dale Hendricks has been growing and propagating plants professionally since 1975. In 1988 he co-founded North Creek Nurseries, Inc in order to propagate and grow perennials and grasses with an emphasis on natives and garden selections of natives. In 2009 he founded Green Light Plants, LLC to build carbon-friendly and regenerative landscapes; growing native, woodland, and permaculture plants, organically and joyfully. He has been honored with the American Horticulture Society’s Individual Commercial award and the Perennial Plant Association’s Young Professional Award, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society award of merit. He has taught plant propagation at Longwood Gardens and lectures widely. He served on the founding board of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and as co-chair from 2004-2007. He lives in Landenberg, Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania with his family where he gardens, propagates plants, and grows good soil.

Hasan Malik's fascination with trees has been a constant for as long as he can remember.  With a hand pruners or saw, he readily gave attention to the tree problems he encountered growing up in Northeast Philadelphia.  Hasan is an ISA Certified Arborist and has a degree in Civil Engineering from Temple University. In 2008 Hasan founded Tree Northeast.  The nonprofit organization plants street and yard trees throughout Northeast Philadelphia, engaging volunteers and residents by greening the community. To date, the organization has planted over 1000 trees and helps maintain them regularly. Tree Authority started in 2012 with the goal of providing superior tree care in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Region. The nursery began the following year in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Hasan and his wife Tasneem continue to expand the nursery, which now stocks over 200 varieties of fruit, shade, and ornamental trees, including a diverse selection of natives. The Tree Authority's goal is to give trees the best chance to survive in an urban landscape right from the nursery. The nursery uses best practices to grow strong, healthy trees with virtually no girdling roots, no transplant shock, and the trees have visible root flares. Visiting the Tree Authority in Perkasie Pennsylvania makes evident Hasan's melding of horticulture and engineering.  His innovations for container types, staking systems, irrigation techniques, and soil mixes consistently translate into healthy vigorous trees.

Michael Dunn is the founder and president of Preservation Tree and is the Consulting Municipal Arborist for West Chester Borough in Pennsylvania. He is also an Urban Forestry Consultant with LandStudies, a leading environmental firm in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  His main area of focus since 2016 has been the integration of the urban forest into urban and regional planning in Southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond. 

Steve Goin is the Director of Land and Facilities at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, the largest privately held greenspace in the city of Philadelphia. He graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor of science in wildlife and fisheries with a minor in forest science. He is an ISA Certified Arborist with 19 years of experience managing trees in a variety of settings. He spent over a decade as an Arborist working for Bartlett Tree Experts, servicing residential and commercial properties on Maryland's Eastern Shore, in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, and finally managing the Philadelphia office where he cared for trees along tight city streets and out in the expansive landscapes of the suburbs. It was during this time that he came to know the Schuylkill Center, a 340-acre nature preserve within the city of Philadelphia, protected in perpetuity under a conservation easement. He volunteered his time at the Native Plant Sales where he answered questions about trees.  

Aaron Greenberg is the Arboretum Manager for Laurel Hill and West Laurel Cemeteries, where he oversees gardens, grounds, and a collection of over 4,000 trees. He is also the State Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Champion Tree Program which documents the largest trees of each species in the state. Aaron is a Board Certified Master Arborist with the ISA, and Tree Risk Assessment Qualified.

Robert Wells (Bob) is a consulting arborist with 49 years of experience in the arboricultural industry. He entered the tree world as a climber with Bartlett Tree Experts in 1971 in Piscataway NJ. In 1973 he started the firm of Wells Tree & Landscape in Princeton NJ which is now in its 47th year under the leadership of his son, David Wells. Bob completed his BS from Rutgers Cook College in Plant Sciences in 1985 and a master’s in environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. He is an NJ Certified Tree, a Registered Consulting Arborist, and a Board-Certified Master Arborist In 2007 Bob joined Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania as an Associate Director with the Urban Forestry Consulting Section with Jason Lubar. They focused on both internal and external contracts involving a myriad of tree-related matters including inventory, assessment, and management of the 7,000 campus trees at the University of Pennsylvania. It was during this time that he also helped to form the School of Arboriculture at the Arboretum which brings in outside speakers and offers classes to the greater Philadelphia arboricultural community. He retired on July 1, of this year Community service has been a big part of Bob’s life and over the years he has served as the Chair of Princeton Township Shade Tree Commission, and President of the Marquand Park Foundation. Bob is now doing the occasional consulting job for his son with Wells Tree and looks forward to getting a chance to finally read all those books that have been on his bucket list.

For over two decades, Charles King Sadler has immersed himself in the design and care of landscapes throughout North American, this has resulted in his being sought after to work on prestigious public and private properties across North America and being consulted by top landscape practices domestically and from abroad. Charles began his career as a visual storyteller, in the field of illustration, with a degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, he applied his artistic vision and talent public and private commissions including contributing newspaper illustrations for publications such as the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. After working in the landscape profession for a period Charles returned to school, SUNY-ESF on the campus of Syracuse University, to pursue master’s studies in Landscape Architecture, and he started his own design firm in order to apply his philosophy of design and horticultural care within the design aesthetic. Charles is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist. For more information on King Garden, visit kinggardeninc.com

Joan Maloof is a writer, an ecologist, and a conservationist with a unique voice in today’s times. She has studied and worked with plants her entire life; her formal education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science, a Master’s degree in Environmental Science, and a Doctorate in Ecology. She is a Professor Emeritus at Salisbury University, where she taught Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies. Maloof has published numerous research articles in publications such as Ecology,  American Journal of Botany, and the International Journal of Environmental Studies. Maloof’s books include Teaching the Trees (2005), Among the Ancients(2011), Nature’s Temples: The Complex World of Old-Growth Forests (2016), and The Living Forest: A Visual Journey into the Heart of the Woods(2017). In addition to her research and writing, Maloof founded an organization with the goal of creating a network of protected forests across the US. That organization, the Old-Growth Forest Network, now has thousands of supporters. Maloof travels widely to educate others regarding the extent and condition of our forests and encourages their preservation.

Maria is a 4th generation nurseryman and proud of it! After graduating from Penn State with a BS in Horticulture, she ran the family’s 1000-acre wholesale nursery, destination attraction garden center, and new plant research and development division. She took a new path in 2009 partnering with her father to form UpShoot LLC, a boutique horticultural marketing firm focusing on sales, marketing, and licensing of new plant introductions and gardening-related products. In 2019 Maria partnered with Spring Meadow Nursery to develop the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Trees program. Maria is a freelance writer for both green industry trade journals and consumer gardening magazines. In 2015 she released her first book with co-author Pam Bennett titled Garden-Pedia: An A-Z Guide to Gardening Terms. This ASHS award-winning book is going into its second printing. Additionally, she has spoken nationally and internationally on a variety of gardening-related topics. Maria has pushed the glass greenhouse ceiling becoming the 1stfemale President of the Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association and International Ornamental Crabapple Society. She serves as the Vice-President of GardenComm: Garden Communicator’s International. She is also on the ONLA Legislative Committee. Locally she is on the Salvation Army Advisory Board in Painesville, Ohio.

Nancy Buley is Director of Communications for J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., wholesale tree growers of Boring, Oregon, where she has been “talking trees” for 26 years. A former newspaper reporter and food editor, she graduated in Technical Journalism and Horticulture from Oregon State University.  A Lifetime Honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Nancy has earned national recognition for her tree advocacy and stewardship efforts including a decade-plus service on the board of directors of Friends of Trees. A GardenComm (member) and a graduate of the Society of Municipal Arborists’ Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI), Nancy lives and gardens in Boring, beneath an ever-widening canopy of trees.

Andy Schenck, a self-professed plant nerd, is the owner of Sam Brown’s Wholesale Nursery in Malvern, PA where he has worked for 22 years. Andy received a B.S. in Ornamental horticulture from the University of Delaware and is a member of the Plant Selection Committee for the Rare Plant Auction at Longwood Gardens (Delaware Center for Horticulture). Andy’s long-lived passion for the outdoors, nature and gardening inspired his desire for life-long learning and his successful career in horticulture.

John Berryhill is the Landscape Curator for the Botanic Garden of Smith College where he has worked for just over 23 years. In that time, he has served several roles, including wildflower gardener and arborist. He served as the Chief Arborist there for 15 years and has transformed the care of Smith’s arboretum from an external, contracted operation to an internal one with a team of three certified arborists. This week, John talks about risk assessment on Smith College's campus. 

Patrick Joyce is the Nursery Manager at Longwood Gardens.  He oversees the woody plant production and procurement for the Gardens.  He earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from West Virginia University and has been working in the Nursery Industry for over 11 years.  When he isn’t working with plants he enjoys traveling, the outdoors, and being with his family.

Christopher Uhland is the Head Arborist and Owner of Harmony Hill Nursery, LLC a field production woody plant nursery in Downingtown, Chester County, PA.  He enjoys the challenge of growing trees and shrubs as well as becoming an expert on all things tree-related from propagation, production, planting, to management in the landscape.  His other areas of expertise relate to Arboriculture as he is an ISA Certified Arborist, Register Consulting Arborist, and Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturalist. Christopher has been a keynote speaker at local and regional events such as the CENTS conference in Columbus, Ohio, National Nursery Growers Business Coalition, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Green Industry Conference at Delaware Valley University. Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Ornamental Horticulture with minors in Environmental Science and Secondary Education from Delaware Valley University, and a master’s Certificate in Agriculture Business from Virginia Polytech in conjunction with Farm Credit.

Paul Meyer is the retired F. Otto Haas Executive Director of the Morris Arboretum.  During his 43-year tenure at the Arboretum (28 years as Director), Paul played a major role in the Arboretum’s restoration of its historic gardens, architecture, and vistas with notable plant collections.  He has taught Urban Horticulture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department and is a frequent contributor to horticultural publications. Paul is a leader in the field of plant exploration and evaluation.  He completed twelve expeditions to countries including China, Korea, Taiwan, Armenia, and the Republic of Georgia, where he collected plants from various sources to introduce greater genetic diversity.

The beautiful tree-lined streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin first influenced Julianne Schieffer to make trees and forests her life’s passion. Armed with Urban Forestry and Botany degrees from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, and an MS in Tree Pathology from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, she came to Pennsylvania over 30 years ago to work with people and trees. Her current position as Penn State Extension Urban Forester allows her to promote sound tree and forestry practices for communities in the 10 counties of southeastern Pennsylvania. She is a Board Certified Master Arborist, Life Member of the International Society of Arboriculture, Certified Municipal Arborist, and is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified.

Jennifer Walker is the Head Gardener at the Barnes Foundation at Saint Joseph’s University. She enjoys the challenge of managing and growing the tree canopy and other flora of this historic arboretum, as well as being engaged in the life of the university through student engagement and collaboration with faculty and staff. Her other professional areas of expertise include environmental management and civic engagement with specific attention to the effects and presence of structural inequality, community conflict, and stakeholder development. Jennifer has authored numerous publications including a manual for the EPA on vacant lot re-greening in the Rust Belt and completed landscape design and management plans in communities ranging from Akim Oda, Ghana to a coastal marine lab in rural Georgia. Ms. Walker holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Horticulture from North Carolina State University, and a master’s in landscape architecture from the University of Georgia.

John Berryhill is the Landscape Curator for the Botanic Garden of Smith College where he has worked for over 23 years. During that time, he has served several roles, including wildflower gardener and arborist. He served as Smith’s Chief Arborist for 15 years and has transformed the care of Smith’s arboretum from an external, contracted operation to an internal one with a team of three certified arborists.

Julie Snell is co-founder and principal at TEND landscape inc, a woman-owned landscape architecture firm in Philadelphia, and co-owner of Redbud Native Plant Nursery in Media, PA.  Julie is also an adjunct instructor in the Department of Architecture and Environmental Design, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University. In these different roles, she positively impacts the environment either by bridging the gap between landscape design, installation, and maintenance at TEND or performing design consultations and informal educational sessions with homeowners at Redbud, or raising awareness of urban ecology in the classroom.

Louise Clarke is a senior horticulturist employed by the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania. She is the horticultural director of Bloomfield Farm, where she curates a woody plant collection that includes more than 1200 trees and shrubs on 67 acres. Louise also tends over 5,000 square feet of vegetated roofs.

Kathy Jentz is Editor, Publisher, and Founder of Washington Gardener Magazine which is published specifically for the local metro area of Washington D.C. and its suburbs. The premier issue of the magazine was released in March/April 2005 and this year, celebrating its 15th year in publication. The content of the magazine gives real examples that you can use directly in your garden while showing how to stretch garden resources. The articles are peppered with whimsy, with a good sense of humor and wonderment. In this segment, Kathy will be talking about some of her favorite small trees for urban areas. 

Bob Gutowski Director of Education, Visitor Experience, and Outreach at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania shares his many years of tree planting as a child and right through his professional career at Morris Arboretum. He retires in September. 

Mindy Maslin founded Tree Tenders while working for PHS (Pennsylvania Horticulture Society) 30 years ago. The program has been adopted by many cities throughout the country. Mindy's unique perspective on trees comes from her early years as a social worker. Trees live in communities too!