Urban Forestry Webinar, January 11, 1pm

Integrating Experts, Communities, and Online Resources for Equitably Expanding Urban Tree Canopy Wednesday, January 11, 2016 | 1:00 - 2:15pm ET The availability of online mapping resources and "big data" on cities offers an approach to address challenges in inequitable distribution of urban tree canopy, as well as waning community engagement in tree canopy management and expansion. One of the biggest impediments to executing an effective urban forestry management plan is the integration of expert systems, such as data resources and analytics, with community-led efforts. Using the case of Portland, Oregon, this webinar will provide context for assembling city-scale programs that enable community groups, researchers, and city staff to advance urban canopy management and expansion. Angie DiSalvo will present the context for the City of Portland's urban canopy management, including a description of the structure and findings from a volunteer tree inventory, policy changes, and the challenges and opportunities for urban canopy stewardship.  Vivek Shandas will then share an overview of the expert data systems that support the expansion of tree canopy and availability of online resources that support community activism. Together they will describe an emerging partnership between city and university that fulfills legal mandates and addresses inequitable distribution of canopy, and describe processes for integrating datasets and university students in the creation of an urban tree planting strategy. This webinar is open to all. This webinar is eligible for 1.0 CEU with the International Society of Arboriculture. Check our website for updates and to watch recordings of previous webinars. Contact the Urban Forest Technology & Science Delivery Team at urban@fs.fed.us with questions, feedback, requests for special accommodations, speaker suggestions, or to be added to the mailing list. Please feel free to forward this announcement to interested parties. Please use the information below to connect to the webinar: 1. FIRST TIME USERS: MAKE SURE YOU CAN CONNECT If you have never attended an Adobe Connect meeting before, test your connection before the webinar. Go to: https://usfs.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm    2.  CONNECT TO THE WEBINAR ON YOUR SYSTEM  Go to:  https://usfs.adobeconnect.com/ucf-500/    3. AUDIO Broadcast audio through your computer or use the information below to connect via telephone conferencing:   Toll-free: 1-877-369-5243 or 1-617-668-3633 Participant code:0390301 International dial-in numbers 4.  TROUBLESHOOTING Unable to join the meeting? Call Adobe Connect at 1-800-422-3623.  Need help with telephone conferencing? Call AT&T Connect Support at 1-888-796-6118.

More on Pollinators: The Xerces Society

Pollinator Conservation

Pollinators are essential to our environment. The ecological service they provide is necessary for the reproduction of over 85% of the world’s flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species. The United States alone grows more than 100 crops that either need or benefit from pollinators, and the economic value of these native pollinators is estimated at $3 billion per year in the U.S. Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in most terrestrial ecosystems. Fruits and seeds derived from insect pollination are a major part of the diet of approximately 25% of all birds, and of mammals ranging from red-backed voles to grizzly bears. In many places, the essential service of pollination is at risk from habitat loss, pesticide use, and introduced diseases.

To learn more about the Xerces Society’s Pollinator Conservation Program, please click here to download a summary of our work. For even more information, please see our 2016 Bring Back the Pollinators Report.

Washington Post: Planet Earth

from Washington Post Speaking of Science

We’re at the controls on planet Earth, but we’re not in control

By David Grinspoon December 6

Apollo 8 Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell said from the moon, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." (NASA)

Gazing over the countless transformations in Earth’s multibillion-year history, I am struck by the unique strangeness of the present moment. We suddenly find ourselves sort of running a planet — a role we never anticipated or sought — without knowing how it should be done. We’re at the controls, but we’re not in control.

Climate change is the most obvious example, but it is one of a large number of ways in which we are modifying the planet. The scientific community is now converging on the idea that we have entered a new phase, or epoch, of Earth history — one in which the net activity of humans has become a powerful agent of geological change, equal to the other great forces of

Mushroom growth

In class we described how mushrooms and toadstools  are actually the "fruiting" or reproductive structures of a march larger fungus often hidden (underground, in a mulch pile, or beneath tree bark).

When the conditions are right for producing and releasing spores, the mushrooms appear quickly.

Strawberry seeds

Biology teachers us strawberries for DNA extraction because there are so many seeds, and because they're on the outside of the fruit.

A gecko's night vision adaptation

Arlington Regional Master Naturalists

https://armn.org/