Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum

1
Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum

• Introduces students to the facets of urban tree
  care and urban forestry, as well as meet with
  urban foresters and commercial arborists to
  discuss their professional careers.

2
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Purpose
Presents to college students

• all facets of urban forestry /tree care.

• many programs of the tree care industry.

• municipal programs as well as various tree
  agencies.

3
The program exposes students to a variety of
urban forestry initiatives in a given geographic
area of Chicago.
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Purpose
4
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Where

• The program moves around the Chicago suburbs
  (north, west, and south) as well as a good dose
  of downtown.
• Students are exposed to all types of tree care
  including some not so usual situations like the
  5/3 bank with trees growing through it.

5
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Example
5/3 Bank in Wauconda, Illinois.
6
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Measured Success

• 6 years running
• Over 200 students participating
• Great feedback collected over the years
• Results
• 50 will enter the tree care industry.
• 80 will enter the green industry.

7
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Recruiting

• Companies could visit students over dinner
• No need to travel long distances to recruit
  students.
• Students are brought to you.

8
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
The Students

• Student conferees have come from
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Ohio
• Wisconsin

9
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
The Process

• Students pay their way
• Lodged during the forum
• Registration fee covers transportation
• The students attending the forum have made a
  definite statement of their interest in urban
  trees.
• Forum sponsors provide meals and the program
  content.

10
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Places Visited

• Chicago Botanic Gardens
• Various conservatories
• Formal gardens
• Bird sanctuaries
• Universities
• Various nurseries
• Morton Arboretum
• Golf courses
• Nature centers
• Major city parks of Chicago
• Millennium Park
• etc.

11
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Places Visited

• In addition, students have viewed
• tree preservation during new construction
• old growth urban forests
• public space preservation
• constructed wetlands
• a bank expansion incorporating trees
• a green roof
• etc.

12
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Places Visited

• Students have witnessed the renovation of
  Soldier Field, seen tree care in the outdoor
  plaza of the Chicago Art Institute and on the
  Magnificent Mile, visited pocket parks in
  downtown Chicago, and witnessed a neighborhood
  street renovation as well as crane removal.

13
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Issues Visited

• The forum has taken Students to neighborhoods
  devastated by the Asian longhorn beetle and to
  those preparing for the emerald ash borer.

14
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
Statistics

• As of 2007
• 189 students have attended.
• Many are still in school, 51 (27)
• Some are lost, 22 (12)
• Some are not employed in the green industry, 21
  (11)
• Some are in traditional forest management, 8 (4)
• Of the 116 conferees that have graduated
• 49 (57) have become commercial arborists,
• 11 (13) have become municipal arborists
• 6 (7) joined state agencies
• 9 (10) have joined other parts of the green
  industry, mostly landscape and nursery related.

15
The Midwest Urban Tree Care Forum
2009 Students with Purdue Bus