According to a 2021 CDC survey, nearly a quarter of Vermonters have some form of disability—and about 10 percent face mobility-specific challenges—yet only 1 percent of Vermont’s 7,750+ trail miles are listed as “accessible” on Trail Finder[1]. This means a significant percentage of Vermont’s residents and visitors have a challenging time accessing and enjoying our forests and open spaces.
This summer the Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation is beginning to treat a number of black ash trees on state lands with systemic insecticide to protect against the emerald ash borer.
The selection of branch arrangement is the most challenging pruning concept to understand. It is easy to understand pruning for clearance over a building, or to remove deadwood, but unlike those more common prunes, structural pruning and selecting branch arrangement is difficult to sum up. VT UCF Adam McCullough breaks down his approach to structural pruning and takes a deep dive into the topic of girdling branches in this edition of our Urban Forester's Column.
This year we're supporting tree planting projects on public libraries with the Check Out Forestry project. Hinesburg's Carpenter-Carse Library was the first to receive trees this spring.
