Dr. Kelby Fite is a national leader in the use of biochar to improve tree health. Kelby is an Arboricultural Researcher at Bartlett Tree Laboratory in Charlotte, North Carolina — a 350 acre private arboretum, diagnostic laboratory, and exceptional applied research center. His specialties are root biology and urban soil renovation. Kelby has a PhD…. More
In 1982, I was in China studying landscape architecture and architecture at the University of Nanjing. The central Chinese government had recently announced they would recommit to a nationwide multi-billion tree planting program, originally initiated in 1978. By then the Cultural Revolution was over, Mao Zedong was dead, the Gang of 4 had been jailed, and… More
Landscape architects, architects, and engineers have many tools available to them in the design of healthy long-lived trees, and no single one of them can guarantee the establishment or long-term success of the trees. These tools need to be applied within a larger understanding of general principles of arboriculture, soil, and urban conditions in order… More
Part 1 of this series described quantifying tree and soil stormwater benefits for tree benefit calculators and for stormwater credits. Today we’ll be going more in depth on single event stormwater models. This will simply be an introduction to various methods to quantify the stormwater benefits of tree stormwater control measures (Tree SCMs) and is… More
Most urban sites have some amount of mineral soil in place when the time comes to install plant material, yet these soils are often assumed – erroneously – to be unsuitable. Historically there have been two approaches to this situation. The default option is to ignore the problem, or make minor modifications such as digging… More
Trees and soil have the potential to provide significant stormwater benefits. Trees are also valued for many other benefits, and are already part of virtually all development. They can be integrated even into the densest urban areas – and many cities have tree requirement ordinances, so trees are not only desired, but also mandatory. It… More
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 3 years, you know that California is having a major drought. According to the Institute for Public Policy, the three-year period between 2011 and 2014 were the driest on record since record keeping began in 1895, made worse by record high temperatures in 2014. It’s… More
Research shows that tree stormwater control measures (SCMs) provide excellent stormwater benefits. With trees, however, come leaves – and leaf litter that falls on impervious street surfaces can actually add unwanted nutrients to stormwater runoff (leaf litter provides many benefits on pervious surfaces). The contribution of leaf litter to nutrients in stormwater runoff is more… More
OpenTreeMaps are collaborative, crowd-sourced projects where citizens help inventory urban trees, learn about the environmental benefits trees provide and explore nature in their city. Kelaine Ravdin, owner of Urban Ecos, has worked as the project lead on OpenTreeMap projects across California, including Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Kelaine’s work blends a deep… More
In February I had the opportunity to speak with David Dockter, an arborist with the Department of Planning and Community Environment and Public Works in the city of Palo Alto, CA. As someone expert in trees who works within the building permit and planning department role. Dave has a unique perspective on working with developers… More
Humans have been managing plants for thousands of years – watering, saving seeds, protecting plants from herbivores. We began learning about horticulture initially through observation. Some of our observations were correct, such as which plants needed lots of sun and which could grow in the shade. Others, such as adding sugar to the soil for… More
Regular readers may have followed our articles on the monitoring results of the two Silva Cell systems in Wilmington, North Carolina by Dr. Bill Hunt’s lab. Jonathan Page is an Extension Engineer in Dr. Hunt’s lab and was involved in the data collection, analysis, and writing for this project. He holds a B.S. degree in Civil… More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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