I was going to post this earlier, but, well time got away from me...Tuesday night was a FW City Council Parks Committee meeting. Committee Chair Jeanne Burbidge kindly invited me to talk to the committee about the city's forest health problem. They were very generous with their time - and had a big agenda.
I gave my forest health presentation and included some information we've just assembled about Dumas Bay and Poverty Bay Parks. Both forests have "arrested succession," meaning they are dying. We have to take action to prevent this from happening!
I told the committee about our upcoming Dumas Bay Forest Health Pilot Project. We'll be initiating ivy removal efforts - focusing on Dumas Bay as it is the most threatened of our forests. We have an initial pair of grants from Boeing and King County to get the work started. Subsequently, we are looking for funds to continue the work and trying to expand to Poverty Bay Park, which is also dying.
Concurrently, I am working with city staff to try to develop plans for a long-term, comprehensive approach to forest health. That means survey and mapping of all public forests in the city, health assessment, and development of prioritized stewardship actions. I'll have more to report alter, but for now, the ball is rolling to at least get trees saved from imminent death!
Contact me if you would like to volunteer or otherwise support this effort.
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