Program and Details about CUFC's 20th Annual Conference

Conference Theme: Who Needs Healthy Trees?
Learning the Basic Needs of Trees in Urban Spaces
Join us in exploring people's needs for healthy trees and what trees need to be healthy.  This conference will focus on trees growing in our towns and neighborhoods - where people live, work and play.  Drawing on a variety of perspectives, you will hear from landscape architects to local volunteers, practicing arborists to university researchers. 

Cost to Attend: $50 before October 16th, $55 at the door. 
For further information, contact Chris Donnelly at (860) 424-3178 or chris.donnelly@ct.gov.

Quick Links Program

Keynote Speaker

Closing Speaker

Morning Breakout Sessions

Afternoon Breakout Sessions

ceu's

Directions

return to the top   Keynote Speaker Bill Finch, Mayor of the City of Bridgeport

Bridgeport, Olmsted and the Sustainability of Our Urban Forest

Bill Finch's Biography Bill Finch grew up in Trumbull and Bridgeport. Bill received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Connecticut, and while he was there served as the student representative to the University’s Board of Trustees and was elected President of the undergraduate student government.   After graduating from the University of Connecticut, he moved back to Bridgeport where he later became a City Council member for nine and a half years. While on the City Council, Bill developed a strong record of cutting taxes, helping to create new jobs, and enhancing public safety by voting to add more police officers to the force and promoting programs such as gun safety lock distribution.   He has served as member of the Grow Bridgeport Fund, the Connecticut Zoological Society, and the Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation Board of Directors. In 2000 Bill was elected State Senator for the 22nd district, representing Brdgeport, Trumbull, and Monroe. He served in the legislature as Senate Chairman of the Environment Committee and as Senate Vice Chairman of the Transportation Committee. He was also a member of the Education Committee and the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee.   As a Senator, Finch's legislative priorities included property tax reform, smart growth initiatives, education funding, expanding the Husky healthcare initiative, combating underage drinking, transportation issues, and gun control and crime prevention. Upon arriving at the Senate, Bill initiated the "Who Wants to Change the World?" Contest--an exciting, hands-on program to involve youth with government and inspire them to be active citizens. He also spearheaded an ongoing movement to recognize and preserve the works of renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.   Bill lives with his wife, Sonya, and their two boys, Atticus and Aiden. His two older sons, Peter and Christopher, both grew up in Bridgeport and attended Bridgeport public schools.   Bill was elected Mayor of Bridgeport in November 2007 with approximately 76% of the vote.

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Closing Speaker Don Smith, former CT State Forester

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Don Smith's Biography Employed by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection, Don held the civil service position of Director of Forest Management and the statutory title and authorities of State Forester from his appointment in 1992 until his retirement from State service on April 1st of this year. Upon graduating from the University of Maine in 1974, Don began his career in forestry as a forester with Connwood, Inc., a forestry firm headquartered in Middlefield, CT. In 1978, Don was hired by the Department of Environmental Protection and assigned as the Service Forester for Fairfield and New Haven counties. For more than 9 years, Don worked with private landowners, municipalities and conservation organizations, promoting sound, science-based management of both rural and urban forests. After those years of work in the most densely populated part of Connecticut’s "urban crescent", Don is fond of saying that he was promoting urban forestry before the term was coined. In 1987, Don joined the staff of the State Forester’s Hartford office where he actively encouraged the growth and expansion of the fledgling Urban Forestry Program. In 1989, he was able to cajole the affable and capable Fred Borman into coming into Hartford to take the reins of the Urban Forestry Program – an accomplishment that Don is very proud of. Don last spoke before this group at this meeting in 2006, when he was State Forester. He has now moved into the private sector and keeps his hand in the forestry profession by volunteering his time to provide administrative support to the fledgling Connecticut Forestlands Council. return to the top     Morning Breakout Sessions Session One - Back to Basics Chris Donnelly, Urban Forester, CT DEP Division of Forestry will speak on caring for young trees and Don Parrott, owner of Connecticut Arborists, Inc., will speak on the role of arborists in caring for young and mature trees. Chris Donnelly has worked for the CT DEP Division of Forestry for 10 years, and been the state's Urban Forestry Coordinator for the past 8 years.  He is licensed as a forester and as an arborist. Donald Parrott has been a practicing arborist for over 30 years and has worked in various capacities for a number of national tree care companies. He currently is the principal owner of Connecticut Arborists, Inc. in Monroe, CT, a firm engaged in the care of trees on residential client properties since 1995. Mr. Parrott is currently the Vice-President and a board member of the Connecticut Tree Protective Association, an arborist association in Connecticut. He is a CT licensed arborist for over 20 years, a member of the Tree Care Industry Association and the International Society of Arboriculture. Mr. Parrott received his Associate degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1976. He currently is an instructor of Arboriculture 101, a tree care course given by the Connecticut Tree Protective Association at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, CT. Session Two - Green Development Stuart Sachs, ASLA of PRE/view Landscape Architects with John Clausen, PhD, Professor, Natural Resource Management, University of Connecticut and Jane Didona, ASLA, of Didona Associates will discuss green planning and construction details used in recent projects. Jane L. Didona is the Principal with Didona Associates, Landscape Architects, LLC. She has a Masters of Science in Landscape Architecture from SUNY-ESF and is a Registered Landscape Architect in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Ms. Didona’s extensive experience provides her with practical knowledge in a variety of disciplines including site planning and horticulture, and an in-depth understanding of surveying and engineering. She combines this background with an approach that includes creative problem-solving and participative management. She has managed projects throughout the design and implementation phases for numerous commercial, retail, residential, institutional and civic clients. Session Three - Tapping New Resources Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Director, Urban Resources Initiative, Yale School of Forestry with Amy Casavina Hall of United Way of Greater New Haven, Kai M. Perry of Hill Youth Action Team, Ana Arroyo of Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, and Joel Tolman of the Common Ground High School on tapping the energy of non-traditional partners to create pocket parks and local landscapes. Amy Casavina Hall was named Director of Civic Engagement, a newly created position at United Way of Greater New Haven, in May of 2007. Amy will focus her efforts on both strengthening and broadening what civic engagement means to United Way and the Greater New Haven community. Amy brings a wealth of experience to this new position with seven years focused specifically in the nonprofit sector. Most recently, she served as the Executive Director of Mount Wachusett Community College’s Center for Democracy and Humanity. There, she established the organization as a national leader in engaging residents and students in community service. Amy brings expertise in civic engagement, social entrepreneurism and capacity building to United Way. Ms. Ana Arroyo is a Senior Philanthropic Officer at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.　 She staffs a portfolio of grants, initiatives and projects, including the Neighborhood Program Small Grants in New Haven and the Lower Naugatuck Valley, the Community Greenspace and Community Garden Partnership, and the Hill Leadership Initiative.　　 Ms. Arroyo was employed by the Foundation first as a consultant from 1991 to 1993 and later as a program officer from 1993 to the present.　　　　　 Kai M. Perry is the Program Coordinator for Hill Youth Action Team. The Hill Youth Action Team (HYAT) is a group of high school students from the Hill neighborhood in New Haven.　 The team consists of ten self- motivated leaders whose mission is to improve the Hill Community. Most recently the HYAT has been focused on making the Hill greener by planting trees in the neighborhood and by informing the community about how to recycle.　 Additional projects include　administering substance abuse surveys to youth workers and participating in a diversity sensitivity training. Joel Tolman is the Director of Development and Community Engagement at Common Ground High School. Common Ground is Connecticut’s only charter school with a focus on the environment. Students actively participate in the school farm and environmental education center. They raise plants and animals, study neighborhood, social and environmental issues and examine the environment of West Rock Ridge in New Haven. return to the top Afternoon Breakout Sessions Session Four - Getting to the Root of Things Robert M. Ricard, Senior Extension Educator, Urban Forestry, UConn Department of Extension with John Volin, PhD, Professor and Head of UConn Dept of Natural Resources Mgmt, and Greg Foran, Glastonbury Tree Warden, will discuss tree root structure, function and health. Session Five - Healthy Trees Jeff Ward, PhD, Station Forester, and Sharon Douglas, PhD, Plant Pathologist, CT Agricultural Experiment Station, will share their knowledge of insects and diseases including “20 Ways to Kill a Tree”. Dr. Jeff Ward has an expertise in identification and life histories of native trees and shrubs, forest management, invasive shrub control, plantation establishment, and forest nursery operation. He is knowledgeable about the natural history of Connecticut, landscape maintenance, and methods of reducing deer browse damage.  Jeff's doctorate was earned at Purdue University (Forest Ecology) in 1987, his Masters is from The Ohio State University (Silviculture) 1983 and he has served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. Dr. Sharon M. Douglas is a plant pathologist and head of the Department of Plant Pathology & Ecology of The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. During her 27-year career at the Station, one of her primary responsibilities has been the diagnosis of plant health problems for commercial growers, plant professionals, and homeowners. She also co-directs the Molecular Plant Diagnostics Laboratory, which develops rapid, sensitive methods to detect new or re-emerging plant pathogens. Sharon is active with outreach programs through authorship of numerous fact sheets, disease management guides for arborists, and presentations for grower and professional organizations, horticultural clubs, special interest groups, and students. Session Six - Working With Local Government Joseph R. Ryzewski, Manager, United Illuminating with Tom Degnan, Senior Environmental Scientist with Burns and McDonnell and Old Lyme’s Tree Warden, Joanne DiCamillo, Chairman of Old Lyme's Tree Commission and Susan Stotts, Licensed Arborist, CT Light & Power, will talk about collaborating with municipal administrators, boards, commissions and public works departments. Tom Degnan is Senior Environmental Scientist with Burns & McDonnell, An international engineering, architecture, and consulting firm based in Kansas City, Missouri.  In this position, he is responsible for coordination of field environmental inspectors. Other aspects of this position involve managing the land clearing and the landscaping contractors, development of planting restoration protocol.  Mr. Degnan has over 17 years of experience in southern New England working with municipalities, conservation groups, fish and game clubs, and private and public landowners on forest management and environmental conservation related issues. He is also Tree Warden in the Town of Old Lyme. Susan Stotts has been on the CUFC for close to 8 years, and is currently employed by the Connecticut Light and Power Company, where she has been for slightly over a year, and where she looks forward to continuing a challenging career. Previously, she was the executive director of the Marine Commerce and Development Committee which sponsored the New London Sailfest, President of the New London County Historical Society and Secretary for the New London Ledge Lighthouse Foundation.　 In these positions, she was very involved with tourism development in the City of New London.　 She also worked for Holdridge Farm　Nursery for eight years and became a certified Connecticut Nurseryman.　 She earned her Ornamental and Turf and her Arborist licenses　during her time at Holdridge’s, before moving on to Lewis Tree Service, a company that specializes in utility　line clearance.　Susan worked at Lewis Tree Service for close to 10 years, during which time I became the company’s first woman General Foreman. Joanne DiCamillo has been a volunteer in the Town of Old Lyme for the past 28 years. Since her appointment as Chairman of the Tree Commission in 2001, she has worked jointly with the Tree Warden, town officials, the Public Works Dept., local arborists and members of the community on many different projects. She played an active role in creating a new landscape plan for the recent Town Hall Expansion; convincing town officials and the landscape architect to save the existing plantings in a temporary nursery and emphasizing the importance of adding native plants and trees in the landscape. She manages the Tree Commission’s annual budget, oversees the Roadside Trimming Program, organizes tree plantings, responds to concerns about community trees, plans Arbor Day ceremonies and writes the bids for tree maintenance. Joanne is a member of the Historic District Commission as well as the Church Corner Committee. She completed the Meskwaka Tree Program in 2001. A former President of the Duck River Garden Club, she is a lifetime member of The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut and is an active member of The Connecticut Master Gardener Association. return to the top   Continuing Education Units (ceu's) CT DEP Supervisory: 4.0 CrHrs Arborists & Cat. 2 & 3A Certified Tree Wardens: 3.50 CrHrs T Certified Forest Practitioners: C1.0 CrHrs Licensed Landscape Architects: please refer to CT DCP, Board of LAs, for current State requirements. return to the top   Directions to MountainRidge - 350 High Hill Road, Wallingford From I-91 Southbound: Take Exit 15, turn left at end of ramp onto Rte 68, at 2nd light turn left onto Research Parkway; follow Research Parkway to first stop sign, turn right onto Carpenter Lane. At next stop sign turn left onto High Hill Road. Continue straight to Mountain Ridge. From I-91 Northbound: Take Exit 15, turn right at end of ramp onto Rte 68, at 1st light turn left onto Research Parkway; follow Research Parkway to first stop sign, turn right onto Carpenter Lane. At next stop sign turn left onto High Hill Road. Continue straight to Mountain Ridge. return to the top