Commercial Track Sessions

Field Diagnosis for Tree Climbers (1 ISA CEU)
Stephanie Adams, Forest Tree Pathologist, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL
This presentation will cover common fungi found in trees, what kind of rots they cause, and how the tree might respond to weight loading.

Cultural Management Practices of Palms (0.75 ISA CEU)
Dr. McMillan, Assistant Professor of Palm Horticulture at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Davie, FL
Pruning and Transplant Practices of Palms is discussed. This presentation covers the most frequently asked questions for landscape palm maintenance.

Identification and Treatment of Palm Nutrient Deficiencies (0.75 ISA CEU)
Dr. McMillan, Assistant Professor of Palm Horticulture at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Davie, FL
Attendees will be able to identify the most common palm nutrient deficiencies. Best management practices for maintaining palm health will be discussed.

Self Care: The Foundation of Safety (0.5 ISA CEU)
Carolina Paredes – Beast Coast Tree Climbers LLC, Zirconia, NC
Self Care is not supposed to be an emergency procedure, it is a daily practice. The best training, knowledge, decades of experience, impressive skill set, and talent is not going to help you if you have built a significant sleep deficiency, are burning out, have developed a nutritional deficiency that affects your cognitive functions and behavior, if you are ill, and/or are having a difficult time emotionally. In order to operate and perform at optimal level in our industry we must take care of ourselves. In this workshop we will learn about how Nutrition, Stress, Sleep, Emotions, and Communication all interact and affect each other. We will learn how to increase the odds in our favor using tools, resources, and real-life practical application in order to do our work safely and perform at our highest levels. Self Care is the foundation of Safety, and it begins with each and every one of us

Pruning Fruit Trees (0.75 ISA CEU)
Susan Poizner, Urban Orchardist, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
One important way we keep our fruit trees healthy and productive is by pruning them correctly every year – starting from the very day we plant our bare root fruit tree. In this workshop urban orchardist and fruit tree educator Susan Poizner will teach arborists how fruit tree pruning is different than pruning native or ornamental trees. You will learn how to use pruning to improve your fruit tree’s health, to spur vigorous growth or to slow down the growth of a larger, overgrown fruit tree. She will teach the difference between winter and summer fruit tree pruning and how pruning can help combat the common fruit tree diseases.

Lone Worker Safety: Aggressive Homeowners – Training for a Mindset of De-escalation (0.75 ISA CEU)
Liz Westberg, Growth Solutions, Edina, MN
Interacting with aggressive or hostile homeowners has long been an issue for tree workers but is becoming more common in other spheres of tree care these days as well. This presentation walks through both common and rare hostile encounters with homeowners and occupants, along with some best practices for de-escalation and leaving that situation safely.

Utility Track Sessions

A Sample of Ongoing Law and Research at Tulane Utility Vegetation Management Institute (0.75 ISA CEU)
Riley McKay, Emily Hager, Corin Nguyen-Toups, Payten Parfait, Lawrence J. Kahn Moderator, Tulane University, LA
Sub-Topics:
Treeconomics: Understanding the Financial Impacts of Vegetation Management, Riley McKay
Use of Herbicides on Utility Rights of Way: Addressing Law and Policy Concerns, Emily Hager
Making the Case for Integrated Vegetation Management on Pipeline Rights of Way, Corin Nguyen-Toups
Energy and Environment Considerations Relating to Historic Sites and Native American Tribal Lands, Payten Parfait

Increased incidence of wildfire and why we should be concerned (0.75 ISA CEU)
Geoff Kempter, Technical Services Manager, Asplundh, Grand Rapids, MI
Wildfires are natural part of many ecosystems. However, the frequency and intensity of wildfires have been increasing, and they are occurring in areas previously not thought to be at risk. The economic and environmental damages are significant. This presentation discusses how human activities, including artificial suppression, population trends, climate change, introduced species, and our own litigious culture have led to increased vulnerability to wildfire.

Why tree risk assessment is important in public spaces and utility corridors (0.75 ISA CEU)
Skip Kincaid, Executive Director, Southern Chapter ISA, St. Louis, MO
An overview of why arborists should consider tree risk assessment as part of their jobs.

The Power of Pruning: Implementing a Successful Vegetation Management Program (0.75 ISA CEU)
Ryan Krause, Supervisor, Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Buda, TX
The goals being to improve safety, reliability and costs. To obtain this goal utilities must be willing to move from reactive maintenance to cycle program or better yet a targeted program. We will share our thoughts and ideas with you about how our cooperative did just that. We will also share how we use an advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), developed by IBM, to determine tree species and densities on our system. Using an algorithm along with satellite data they can tell us, with about 80% accuracy, how close the vegetation is to the powerlines. Using the new Geiger-mode LiDAR technology the accuracy has improved to 95% accurate. This has allowed us to see the whole system and target the most immediate threats first. Using data from the Texas A&M Forest Service, we download the current Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) information and create maps that allow us to prioritize work by wildfire risk.

Municipal Track Sessions

Physiological Responses to Flooding, CO2 and Light Intensity (0.75 ISA CEU)
Brittany Benjamin – Urban Forestry at Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA
Ms. Benjamin discusses the findings from her master’s degree thesis “Physiological responses of Japanese Magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora) to flooding, elevated CO2 level, and light intensity” as well as other effects of flooding on urban trees.

Climate Resilient Urban Landscapes for a 21st Century Texas (.75 ISA CEU)
Dr. David Creech – Director of SFA Gardens, Nacogdoches, TX
A changing climate is upon us. All international and federal agencies responsible for monitoring climate change have the same general prediction. Texas is facing hotter times, long dry stretches, punctuated by violent storms and floods, and judging from the last three years alone, epic freeze events we’ve never seen before. Finding, evaluating and promoting those woody trees and shrubs that thrive is an important goal for all of us.

Developing, writing and revising successful grant proposals (0.75 ISA CEU)
Dr. Mary M. Gardiner, Professor in the Department of Entomology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Grant writing is challenging. This presentation overviews practices that will aid in landing your next grant.

Quantifying the Effectiveness of Urban Wildland Interface Firewise Strategies (0.5 ISA CEU)
Morris C. Johnson, Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, Seattle, WA
We examine effectiveness of a series of fuel management treatments in the wildland urban interface designed to modify wildfire behavior. Our studies are designed to answer the question How large do fuel treatments in the wildland surrounding the WUI need to be? and which treatment prescriptions are most effective in reducing crown fire initiation and behavior.

Tired of going in circles? Tips for dealing with circling roots at planting (0.5 ISA CEU)
Riley Johnson, Research Technician, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Container-grown trees are a popular stock type among arborists and landscapers. However, growing trees in standard plastic nursery containers can lead to malformed root systems, namely circling roots, which can inhibit tree establishment. Over the years, several techniques have been promoted to remediate circling roots such as teasing, slicing, shaving, and bare-rooting. In this program, we will discuss the results of our trials on techniques to remediate circling roots of container-grown shade trees.

Grant Opportunities through the Texas A&M Forest Service to Bolster Urban and Community Forestry (0.5 ISA CEU)
Mac Martin, Texas A&M Forest Service, College Station, TX
Through recent investment in Urban and Community Forestry, the Texas A&M Forest Service is able to offer competitive grants to support and expand sound urban and community forestry practices across the state of Texas. This presentation will explore the different programs, categories, eligibility, and other key information that will be offered through these grant opportunities.

Texas Tree Non-profits Lightning Round (0.75 ISA CEU)
Pris Files, Galveston Island Tree Conservancy, Galveston, TX
Rachel McGregor, Texas Tree Foundation, Dallas, TX
Jaci Randall, Bexar Branches Alliance, San Antonio, TX
Natalie Roberts, Trees for Houston, Houston, TX
Four Texas tree non-profits give updates on their current programs and operations.

Spanish Track Sessions

Coming Soon!