Our urban forest walk in Westdale last night was a great
success! We had a fabulous turnout: 30+ citizens, including Mark McNeil and
photojournalist Barry Gray, from the Spectator! It was a beautiful sunny
evening, perfect for a nice stroll.
The group met at My Dog Joe on King St W, where the Hamilton
Naturalists’ Club Urban Forest Coordinator, Giuliana Casimirri started off the
walk with an intro to TreesCount 2014. Giuliana talked about the importance of
monitoring and managing the urban forest, and described the Neighbourwoods TM protocol being used for the study.
Certified arborist Kyle McLoughlin took the lead from there,
guiding the group on a short loop of the neighbourhood and pausing along the
way to discuss various urban forestry issues and point out interesting tree
specimens. We learned about the pros and cons of introduced vs. native species,
the dangers of monoculture, the impact of storms on different species, the
importance of pruning and maintenance, and how different infections and
pathogens compromise a tree’s health and stability. We owe Kyle a big thank you
for sharing his expertise and being such a great teacher!
Everyone was really excited and enthusiastic about the
TreesCount project. We took lots of names on our volunteer signup sheet, handed
out contact info, and shared information about the City of Hamilton Free Street
Tree program. We are still looking for volunteers to help with the inventory –
the more the merrier! Our first training session and data collection session is
planned for June 5th.
Sign up to volunteer or give your permission to have the
trees in your backyard counted using the contact form under the Count Me In
banner to the right. You can also email treescount2014@gmail.com.
--Mara
