The Tree Doctor is in the House

Last week while browsing through the materials from past events, I came across a box full of Tree Tender graduate profiles. As I began reading these I was fascinated by the diversity of these individuals and their motivations for taking the course - from wanting to start their own local projects to a casual interest in the environment to just a simple passion for trees!

 

The Tree Tenders Volunteer Training Program is ideal for those who’ve always wanted to learn more about their local trees, and how to care for them. It’s a multi-day course designed for individuals who want to gain tree-related knowledge and skills. Dr. Andrew Millward is just one of hundreds of incredible graduates doing good things for their community after taking the course. He took the course back in September 2008.

 

Based mostly out of Downtown Toronto and the Beaches neighbourhood in east end, he attended Tree Tenders with the goal of taking on a naturalization project as a strategy for improving soil physical characteristics in a forested urban park.

 

Andrew Millward

 

“Between 2008 and 2009 I conducted a study that investigated the potential for parkland naturalization (this involves discontinuing maintenance activities and restricting public access) to improve soil quality in a forested portion of Kew Gardens Park, Toronto. Soil physical properties were compared from six-year-old naturalization enclosures with those found in adjacent managed parkland. Overall, the study demonstrated that parkland naturalization is a good management practice for restoration of soil physical characteristics.”

 

Taking the course helped him brush up on tree Identification, assessment of tree condition, natural history traits of urban trees, and hazards of non-native trees. And at the time of the course he was working with two undergraduate geography students to create a space-time map of the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) invasion into Glen Stewart Ravine, located in Toronto's Beaches (East End). The results helped expand our understanding of the rate at which Norway Maple can invade an urban ravine.

 

Overall Andrew’s goal was to build heightened awareness among homeowners of the importance of protecting soil quality and volume. But that’s not all. Along with being a Tree Tender, Andrew also served on the LEAF Board of Directors from 2009 to 2011. And he’s currently one of LEAF’s strategic advisors. So, obviously we’re keeping a close eye on his work!  

 

Last June, Dr. Millward’s Urban Forest Research & Ecological Disturbance (UFRED) Group at Ryerson University launched the Ontario Residential Tree Benefits Estimator (ORTBE) in collaboration with LEAF.  It’s this amazing tool that can be accessed anywhere; the estimator allows Ontarians to discover the future benefits of a newly planted tree, as well as estimate the current and accumulated benefits of an existing tree.

 

Benefits of urban trees

 

Stay tuned for more Tree Tenders grads and their stories and find out how you can make a difference in your neighbourhood by following in their footsteps – or finding your own path! The courses are open for registration now and spots are filling up fast! Check out the Tree Tenders Volunteer Training Program page on our website for details on the course schedule and how you can register.

 

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