Rescheduled from April 15, 2020.

Climate change introduces a new challenge for municipalities as it has the potential to affect areas of forest cover in ways we may not yet completely understand. The recent lack of cold winters, attributed to climate change, has allowed for the mountain pine beetle to wipe out enormous areas of forest land in Canada and the United States. Prolonged drought in California lead to thousands of acres of dead and dying trees in urban and rural areas. Dead and dying trees lead to increased chance of forest fires.

Those who will benefit from attending this symposium include arborists in the municipal and private sectors, other professionals who work with trees and forests, as well as anyone interested in how climate change is impacting trees. Presenters will propose best practices for future tree selection, maintenance and management in light of climate changes.

The goal for the symposium is to lay out a foundation of ideas and experiences, and use those to develop long term action plans to combat the effects of climate change. Along the way we hope to see if we can sort out fact from fiction. By the end of the day we will have a starting point for further debate, some sense of the science available, and initial paths to work on. Our hope is that we can use this material to start focusing on what we have, what we might lose, and how we can work in urban areas to increase the resiliency of our urban forests to enhance their chances of long-term survival.