UCFF – Urban and Community Forestry Forums

What are the Urban and Community Forestry Forums?

The Urban and Community Forestry Forums are a peer group of seasoned and new arborists, educators, and professionals in the industry, we are the lifelong colleagues and friends you will meet along your journey. The roadblocks and problems you’re dealing with are important to everyone. Come learn with us and build the connections and resources to help you throughout your career.

The Urban and Community Forestry Forums hold monthly meetings – in the Northeast and Northwest – and cover a wide variety of topics that affect the industry. Some meetings are classroom style setting and others are in the field. A few recent examples are GIS mapping, tree planting policies, tree hazard assessment, invasive insects, and wood utilization. The speakers are usually researchers, consultants, commercial or municipal arborists, or nursery personnel. Sometimes we hear from other municipal staff such as engineers or human resource professionals. Vendors have also spoken about pertinent issues, though we try not to let the meetings become a venue for sales pitches. You do not have to work for a municipality to attend!  Anyone involved in the tree industry is welcome. Each meeting is worth 2 CEUs for attendees who are ISA certified arborists.

IAA invites you to join and see for yourself.  Better yet, call up the forester from the town next to yours, or your Park District staff, and invite them along as well. Our meeting calendar is posted on the IAA website, and you can get the announcements emailed directly to you by contacting April Toney at 877-617-8887.

Northeast Meetings are generally held on the third Thursday of each month from September through May depending on speaker availability. Locations change from time to time. 

Please contact Michael Collins at mcollins@riverside.il.us or Theresa Kyriazes at tjkyriazes@gmail.com if you have questions or suggestions/comments about future talks. Additionally, we are always looking for new communities to host the meetings and sponsors to provide refreshments or lunch.

Northwest Meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of each month from September through May depending on speaker availability. The location is the City of Moline’s Municipal Services Facility located at 3635 4^thAvenue – Moline, IL – 61265 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, UNLESS otherwise noted. Registration is between $5 – $12 and covers the cost of dinner. Receipts will be given upon request. If anyone is interested in sponsoring the meal, please let us know. In an effort to help us determine set up as well as improve the process of ordering food, please RSVP. This indicates your intention to stay for food and payment is expected at the door. If you are only interested in the talk and do not intend to participate in the dinner, the registration fee will be waived, provided you state so at the time of RSVP.  

Comments and/or suggestions about future talks are always welcome. Additionally, we are always looking for new communities to host the meetings and sponsors to provide food. Please e-mail Terry Bates at the City of Moline at tbates@moline.il.us  if you are interested or have any suggestions.