Open Source GIS Workshop for Tree Managers
Your new tool to manage trees
January 28, 2019 Houston
(A few slots are left!)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been a tree mapping tool for techies until now. This one-day ISAT workshop will teach you how to download and install the free software, find and create geographic data, and use that information to solve problems in practical scenarios common to arborists and urban foresters.
Who should attend? Municipal, Commercial and Utility Arborists, Urban Foresters, Landscape Architects, Planners, Public Works and Parks Employees and anyone else who plants, manages, cares for and protects the trees in our communities.
What can I use GIS for?
- Hazard Tree Assessment
- Tree Maintenance Planning
- Client Bids/Presentations
- Tracking Patterns of Disease/Mortality
- Tree Planting Plans
- Tree Protection and Mitigation Plans, Disposition Plans and other Permit-Oriented Documents
- Vegetation Damage Assessments and Appraisals
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Wildfire Risk Assessment Qualification Course and Assessment
March 28-29, 2019 in Austin
The threat wildfire poses to residents of Texas increases everyday as more people move into once natural areas. We know that it is not a question of if a fire will start, but when.
As an ISA Certified Arborist, have you considered how your skills and experience can improve the safety and quality of tree care to protect Texans and ecosystems from wildfire? By taking the Wildfire Risk Assessment Qualification course, you will become more knowledgeable about how to evaluate and mitigate property from the threat wildfire poses.
The Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas Chapter ISA have developed this credential to introduce you to new terms and principles to incorporate into your arboriculture practice. You will explore how wildfire moves through a landscape and mitigation options you could perform or bring to the attention of your client. This course will be limited to 25 ISA Certified Arborists and we will conduct a field exercise on homes near the training center. A written exam and field test will need to be successfully passed to gain the credential. Total course time will be 16 hours, with four hours dedicated to the examination on Thursday afternoon.
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What's Up With Oak Wilt?
You can prevent it's spread
To everything there is a season, a time to plant, a time to reap - and a time to paint your oak wounds.
Do you know how oak wilt is spread and how to manage it? Can you explain it to your customers and them help them to prevent or manage this serious disease? Can they even find you to even ask?
If you would like to become Texas Oak Wilt Qualified (TOWQ) (all the older Texas Oak Wilt Certifications will expire after June 2019), keep your eye on the
ISA Texas Chapter events calendar. The TOWQ course and assessment will be offered this May and June.
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Jobs: Find One - Fill One
Looking for a new direction or location? Have a position in your organization to fill?
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Show What Drives You!
Get your Texas tree plate today
Wondering how you can support Texas trees and improve the looks of your car or truck? Texans that purchase the Texas Trees plate pay an additional $30.00 - $8.00 for TXDOT fees and $22.00 for a special Texas Trees account.
Your $22 goes to the Texas Urban Forestry Council for tree education, preservation, and planting. It's great looking and tax deductible!
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Why Hire an Arborist?
Is there a brochure for that?
The ISA consumer education brochures have been redesigned. These are great handouts to stamp your companies name on and hand to your customers.
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The Heartbeat of America |
Standing With (In) Trees
Can you stay up in a tree for 100 days?
After more than 100 days up in the air, a small group of Virginia tree sitters are all that remains between natural gas developers and the completion of a 300-mile-long pipeline. The pipeline will transport up to 2 billion cubic feet of fracked natural gas daily from the Marcellus and Utica shale basins.
The delays have pushed back the pipeline's expected completion date from late 2018 to late 2019. The company says the pipeline's expected costs have increased due to work stoppages and heavy rain, from $3.7 billion to $4.6 billion in September 2018.
BTW, there are more than 2.4 million miles of energy pipelines in the US. The Texas Railroad Commission reports that in Texas there are 466,523 miles of pipeline including 106,484 miles of natural gas distribution. To learn more about appraising trees for pipeline construction using the new 10th Edition of the Guide for Plant Appraisal, click here.
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Every year you probably say that you're
paying too much in taxes
. You're probably correct. Some of this may be because of your tax bracket, your business structure or some other factor, but it may also be because of the mistakes you're making.
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City is seeking input from Arborists
The City of Denton has asked for professional arborists' input with regard to their proposed draft conservation and landscape standards. Take a moment to click the link below and then click on "Consolidated Draft Landscape Code" to view the draft standards.
To submit your comments, you can either download the document and add comments, or simply compile your comments in a separate document. Comments can then be returned to the City of Denton via email to charles.rosendahl@cityofdenton.com.
And if you want to see a very cool map of all the trees planted in Denton since 2015
click here.
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Texas Job Growth Slowing in 2019
Texas employment will grow 1.1 percent this year, according to the Texas Employment Forecast by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
The prediction comes after incorporating December 2018's annualized employment growth of 2.5 percent.
According to Dallas Fed Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist Keith R. Phillips, Texas is beginning 2019 with increased uncertainty due to the fourth-quarter decline in oil prices, trade uncertainty, and volatility in financial markets.
"Economic conditions will likely differ across the state this year as labor constraints limit growth along the I-35 corridor and low oil prices slow growth in oil-producing regions," said Phillips.
Based on the forecast, the state will add 137,000 jobs this year. Employment in December 2019 will reach 12.8 million.
Sign up here to get the weekly RECON email newsletter from the TAMU Real Estate Center to keep up with the latest on the Texas economy and what's happening in your town.
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The Oldest Living Vegetables
Methuselah is very old and still going strong
Named after the long-lived Biblical figure "
Methuselah" (who according to canon lived to be 969 years old) was found in 1957 by Edmund Schulman. It's age, like the previously unnamed Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, was found to be 4,789 years old at the time.
Its exact location is kept a secret from the general public to prevent any risk of vandalism. But it is located somewhere in the White Mountains of Inyo County in California.
It is also in good company with various other ancient trees surrounding it. Based on the tree's age, it is estimated that Methuselah germinated around 2832 BCE, making it older than the
famous Egyptian pyramids.
That's, frankly, absolutely incredible when you think about it.
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2019 Calendar of Events
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
- June 20-21: Oak Wilt Qualification Course and Assessment, Fredericksburg, TBA
August:
September:
- Sept. 25-27: Texas Tree Conference, Trade Show, Academy, Awards and Tree School, Waco
- Sept. 27: Sept 27: Certified Arborist, Municipal Specialist and Utility Specialist Test, Waco
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