I worked for LUFA for an entire year, yet it felt like so much longer! So much happened within that time that it’s hard to put into words just how impactful LUFA has been on me. I’ve grown educationally, personally, and spiritually from my experience with the lab, which I know sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s true!

Working for the lab definitely gave me the hands-on experience that I needed to help me learn. Before starting, I knew absolutely nothing about trees. Even after taking the Openlands TreeKeepers course, the information just wouldn’t stick. But after being out in the field, my tree knowledge greatly expanded. Now, I bother my friends and family whenever we’re out, often pointing out different tree species or mentioning how I learned to distinguish different trees: did you know that swamp white oak leaves are fuzzy on the underside? I think everyone’s heard all of my field work stories by now, such as the time I was almost attacked by a squirrel, or the time the SCA crew let us drink from a fire hydrant, or the time I made Lukas stop for some ice cream on the way home, causing us to get stuck in traffic. One way or another, these stories helped me solidify new knowledge. A major reason why I was able to learn so much was because of how Jess manages the team: she’s there to help every step of the way, but really lets us be independent. This allowed me to solve problems and come up with new ideas on my own while also getting feedback to point me in the right direction.

On a personal level, I’ve grown quite a bit from the person I was a few years ago. I struggle with pretty bad social anxiety and it even took a lot from me to join LUFA in the first place. Looking back, it’s really interesting to see how nervous I was to meet the LUFA team, CommuniTree affiliates, my field partner, and talk to people in the field. But these fears were lifted right away. The LUFA team was so welcoming and supportive and quickly became my role models. The CommuniTree affiliates were not as scary as I thought they’d be; they’re just super nice tree lovers! My field partner, Lukas, also helped me, probably more than he knows, in feeling comfortable interacting with strangers and experiencing new things. I’ll never forget the first day of fieldwork where he offered me some dried grasshopper as a snack - not only was that my first time meeting Lukas, but it was my first time eating insects too!

One fieldwork story that changed my perspective and will always warm my heart involves Carmen, who was mentioned in a previous blog post. Lukas and I helped her move some mulch, and during this we had some insightful conversations regarding different life experiences. I’ll never forget what she told me: “Those who foster the greatest sense of community are those who don’t have much.” Her words helped me recognize the differences in experiences I’ve had from others and showed me first-hand just how important urban forestry, as well as any environmental discipline or movement, is for the benefit of communities.

I’ve grown spiritually in my appreciation for nature. Oddly, after going tree-by-tree out in the field, I’ve started perceiving organisms on an individual level. Each tree we inventoried, every insect Lukas held up to my face, and all the strange plants we came across widened my outlook on nature; not only is it made up of a variety of individuals, but it also exists in all different types of spaces.

​I’m so grateful to have experienced working for LUFA. I’m sure the shy, freshman-year Nicole would have been shocked to know she would go on to do something so out of her comfort zone. She would have been elated to know that she did something so cool but would also probably cringe at how cheesy future Nicole is. ;) I wish the future LUFA team, as well as the CommuniTree team and project, the best!

​Lukas and I loved hearing stories from residents. We spoke to everyone we could, but most of the time they would come up to us to ask what we were doing! These individuals clearly loved their trees; many of them told us they never forget to water, and others showed their affection by displaying decorations around their tree. These moments always made our workday so much more exciting and left us smiling for the rest of the day.

Lukas and I love talking about our fieldwork experience so we invite you to chat with us!

Please enjoy some of the photos we took during fieldwork.

This summer, we've welcomed to the LUFA team two new students who are doing fieldwork in Northwest Indiana as part of our CommuniTree research. Nicole Puka and Lukas Gilkeson (see their bios here) are conducting an inventory of some of the 8,000+ trees planted by the CommuniTree initiative. 
 
Nicole is our tree protocol expert: She spent May and June looking through the scholarly literature and existing tree inventory protocols to develop the protocol the team is using. The final protocol went through lots of revisions based on feedback from several meetings with CommuniTree partners and then testing during field work training at the beginning of July. According to the final version, at each tree CommuniTree planted, the team will document tree location and  mortality status; verify species with CommuniTree records; measure the diameter at breast height, caliper (diameter 6” from the ground), total tree height, and the height to the bottom of the tree’s crown; look for and document any evidence of pests or diseases; assess mulching, pruning, or staking (maintenance) needs; categorize planting area type and ground cover around the base of the tree; and make a variety of tree condition assessments including crown dieback, lower trunk damage, and any other visible damage. A copy of the full protocol will be available from the CommuniTree project page soon.
 
Lukas is our GIS database expert: He spent May and June gathering pre-existing tree location data from CommuniTree partners, including the Student Conservation Association (SCA), Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), Wildlife Habitat Council, and others, and collecting all this information into a single file of all CommuniTree tree points, and loading the data into ArcGIS Online for viewing during fieldwork in the ArcGIS Explorer app. For some planting sites where individual tree points weren’t available, Lukas compiled lists of sites with tree numbers and species information, and the team will gather precise location data on site during fieldwork. Lukas also pulled together a geodatabase of not only tree location data but existing land use/land cover data, U.S. Census data, and other social-ecological data, which will be used during postprocessing and data analysis this fall. Lukas is also the driver during field work, getting the team to and from Northwest Indiana 3-4 times per week using the DePaul Environmental Science and Studies Department van.
 
Nicole and Lukas then worked together to set up a form for tree data collection in EpiCollect5, a free spatial data collection software that allows us to set up a custom data collection form for this project. We chose to use EpiCollect over a variety of other possible data collection apps (e.g., ArcGIS/ESRI’s Survey123, iTree Eco) because we wanted a free, easy-to-customize form and application that could be turned over to CommuniTree partners for their own future use after summer data collection is over.
 
In the first week of July, we tested the protocol down at Lincoln Elementary School in East Chicago with the help of Drew Hart, the US Forest Service Chicago Natural Resources Liaison and a key CommuniTree organizer; Joe Exl of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), a CommuniTree “backbone” organization, and the four members of the Student Conservation Association (SCA) Calumet Tree Conservation Corps. The SCA crew spends most of their summer months working on tree watering, mulching, and pruning, but we’re excited that this summer they will also be helping us out on the research by doing some tree inventorying whenever they can! Thank you, SCA!
 
So what will be doing with the data that Lukas, Nicole, and the SCA gather this summer? Come this  fall, we’ll be analyzing the data to figure out what social-ecological factors might be influencing the survival of CommuniTree-planted trees. Learn more on the CommuniTree research project page here. And stay tuned for more updates throughout the summer!

My name is Annalise Nordgren. I am finishing up my senior year at DePaul University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. I transferred into DePaul in 2018, my sophomore year of college, after a year of feeling lost at my previous school. Off the bat, I became giddy with the varied opportunities the Environmental Science and Studies department offers to its students, from research opportunities to involvement in student orgs!
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I started working in the Chaudhary Ecology Lab run by Dr. Chaudhary my first year. With Dr. Chaudhary I worked on creating a spore extraction protocol to determine mycorrhizal spore viability. The following year Dr. Chaudhary received an NSF grant which allowed her to move to Berlin for a year to continue her research.

During that time, I worked with Dr. Vogt in her Lab for Urban Forestry in the Anthropocene (LUFA). Although I am no longer working on a project with Dr. Chaudhary, I still try to attend lab meetings when I am available, as the lab community she has developed is such a supportive one!

My research with Dr. Vogt allowed me to develop an interest in urban forestry and arboriculture. I am currently working on a project studying the tree damage caused by the Derecho storm in August 2020, which was responsible for the loss of over 7,000 trees in the Chicago land area.

​I have been so fortunate to find wonderful mentors in Dr. Vogt and Dr. Chaudhary, both very inspirational researchers in their fields.

At the beginning of my first year here at DePaul I became involved in the DePaul Urban Garden (DUG), which, at that point, was called Urban Farming Organization (UFO). As a fresh new volunteer, I grew to love the space and the community of students and faculty that gathers there. I have been lucky enough to serve as a board member during the garden transition, a project which has been ongoing over the past two years. DUG received a grant from the Vincentian Endowment Fund which allowed us to invest in a new garden space. See the photo gallery below with pictures!

We purchased raised bed material to construct 30 new raised beds. In creating this new space, we wanted to incorporate not only our commitment to gardening but also to give back to the community. We wanted to include a central meeting space and did so with materials mainly sourced from recycled bicycle rims. In addition to the physical changes in the space, we have redefined the goals of the organization. DUG has made a commitment to grow produce primarily intended for donation to those living with food insecurity. DUG greatly appreciates the healing properties of spending time outside and in nature. We have made it our goal to open up the space to DePaul organizations and volunteers for events, activities, and healing time.

For more information about DUG involvement please reach out to DUG at depaulurbangardeners@gmail.com.

With the pandemic restricting in-person events, the DePaul Trees student group took the lead in offering online resources around seasonal tree identification, stewardship and advocacy, and virtual urban forestry events, including observance of Arbor Day in April. Recognition as a Tree Campus offers DePaul students a connection to a broader network of resources that engage them with urban forestry locally and beyond. Caring for the urban forest is also caring for people as it enhances sustainability and livability of our cities, and DePaul is proud to be a part of that work in Chicago. By celebrating these efforts on campus, we are able to promote practices and skill sets to take not only into future careers but into our personal lives as we interact with trees wherever we may be. 

To be a part of growing this work in 2021, join the DePaul Trees student group on DeHUB for email updates, check out our social media (Facebook, Instagram & Twitter), or send an email to depaultrees@gmail.com. You can also explore the trees on the Lincoln Park campus from home on our interactive tree map. See also the LUFA Trees@DePaul page.

The above post was written by DePaul Trees president, Alli Preble. Alli is currently finishing her thesis using soundscape ecology to evaluate urban park management for her MS Environmental Science degree at DePaul. Alli is also a former LUFA research assistant: in 2017, she conducted field work inventorying street trees in Dolton, IL.

New LUFA member Elene Drosos provides an update on the newest LUFA project, evaluating whether virtual street imagery can be use to assess storm damage from the August 2020 derecho storm. Elene writes:

This winter intersession, I was recruited by Annalise, Camila, and Dr. Vogt to become a research assistant in the Virtual Tree Inventory Project. For this part of the "virtual" project, however, we were actually outside in the middle of winter! My duties were to mainly take the pictures of storm damage and of species characteristics on each of the trees we surveyed. I also measured the DBH, plot area, and height of the trees, working alongside Annalise and Camila. Most of the time though, Annalise would be in charge of the clipboard for our written data, Camila would measure plot area and height, and I would be responsible for the photos that we are currently using for analyzing storm damage and identifying uncertain tree species from each surveyed transect. I used my cell phone to take pictures and was always armed with a battery pack so that we could soak up all of the little daylight in December and collect as much tree data as possible. Now that we have all of this data, we hope to analyze it virtually with the help of street view imagery.

LUFA student Camila Cortez was profiled this week in DePaul's Newline publication! Camila is working on the TreeKeepers project as her senior B.S. thesis for the B.S. Environmental Science degree and also a  McNair Scholar. Click the screen shot below to see the full article.

Guest post by former LUFA student Kaitlyn Pike. Kaitlyn graduated from DePaul in June 2020 with her M.S. in Environmental Science and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Forestry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
 
In December, my first peer-reviewed paper, “Tree preservation during construction: An evaluation of a comprehensive municipal ordinance,” was accepted for publication in the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. My paper, which evaluated the effectiveness of a tree preservation ordinance in the City of Highland Park, was my thesis research that I completed during my time in DePaul’s M.S. in Environmental Science program.
 
As we know, mature trees provide us with a plethora of benefits – from carbon sequestration and stormwater management, to improvements to our mental and physical health (Roy et al., 2012). As urban populations continue to rise, however, protecting mature trees has proven to be a challenge for towns and cities that wish to maintain or increase their tree cover. This is particularly important, as studies continue to find that unrestricted construction can negatively impact the condition and survival of trees (Koeser et al., 2013; Morgenroth et al., 2017; Guo et al., 2018, 2019). While tree preservation ordinances (i.e. rules and regulations that protect trees during construction projects) are becoming more common for public trees on public property, it is less common that these types of ordinances exist for private trees on private properties. 
 
Highland Park, IL, a city with a robust and well-funded forestry department, has had a tree preservation in place for the past few decades. Having already worked with Highland Park’s City Forester, Dr. Keith O’Herrin, on another project during my B.A. in Environmental Studies, working with the City to evaluate their tree preservation ordinance for my M.S. was a great opportunity to gain further experience designing and implementing a research project that aimed to solve a real-world problem. Working with Highland Park’s Forestry Section not only gave me invaluable experience into how forestry departments operate, but allowed me to utilize municipal and public records in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the City’s tree preservation ordinance. 
 
The results of my research found that the City of Highland Park is successfully protecting the trees on properties that undergo residential redevelopment – where existing, older homes were demolished and replaced with newer homes. This was evident through 1) a satisfactory tree preservation rate (calculated by using construction site maps to determine which trees were removed after construction occurred vs. which still remained), 2) having found no correlation between tree condition or survival and a tree’s distance from a newly built home (contrary to what previous studies had found where no ordinance was in place), and 3) having found that the soil within the critical root zones of trees was successfully maintained (by not surpassing the literature-recommended compaction level for healthy root growth). Furthermore, my research found that areas where construction activities occurred freely had more compacted soils, while areas where construction was restricted (within the critical root zones of trees) had less compacted soils. This is one of the first studies that demonstrates how tree preservation ordinances can successfully protect trees and soils on properties that undergo construction.
 
If you’re interested in reading my paper, you can find it here. I was also able to share my results as a poster at the 2020 International Society of Arboriculture Annual Conference, which can be viewed here (or click on the poster below). Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me regarding my research, or if you have any questions about my experiences in LUFA or DePaul’s M.S. in Environmental Science program: kaitlynpike@gmail.com

Hello urban forestry world!

My Environmental Sciences and Studies department at DePaul University in Chicago has a relatively new MS degree in Environmental Science that is now accepting applications for program entry in Fall 2020, Winter 2021, or Spring 2021! Full program information and links at the end of this post.

While not a degree in urban forestry, the program is decidedly urban-focused, with options for completing either a Professional (project-and internship-based) or Thesis (research-based) tracks. We have current Professional-track students who have been working for various local urban forestry and urban/suburban conservation organizations. And just this past spring we graduated our first MS thesis student, long-term LUFA research assistant Kaitlyn Pike, who did research on tree condition and construction on private property under the advisement of myself and the city forester for Highland Park, Dr. Keith O’Herrin, and funded by the Morton Arboretum Center for Tree Science. (Kaitlyn is off to UBC for her Ph.D. in urban forestry this fall!) 

The Chicago area is a great place to live and work in the urban greening field. The area is well-endowed with urban forestry organizations - the Morton Arboretum, Openlands, Chicago Region Trees Initiative,  CommuniTree in Northwest Indiana, just to name a very few - many of which LUFA  has worked with and ENV students past and present have found internship/job opportunities with. 

You can start the master’s program this fall (or winter, or spring) if you’re interested!

Please feel free to reach out to me (jess.vogt@depaul.edu) or my colleague ENV chair and MS program director Dr. Mark Potosnak (mark.potosnak@depaul.edu) with any questions. I’m happy to have Zoom, phone, or email convos with potential applicants.


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Applications are being accepted now for DePaul University’s MS in Environmental Science (MSES) degree focused on urban ecological restoration and conservation land management! 
 
This is a very student-focused program. Please see this video which highlights several current students and their perspectives. 
 
This graduate degree will prepare students for careers in ecological restoration, species and landscape conservation, biodiversity management, urban forestry, green infrastructure management, and ecological consultancy. Our department's expertise is in applied environmental science and this will bring exciting and useful training in the field of conservation land management. The program has both thesis (research) and professional tracks. 
 
Additional program information is available at: http://go.depaul.edu/envsciinfo.
 
Environmental Science & Studies Department faculty have disciplinary expertise in paleontology, plant-atmosphere interactions, restoration ecology, urban forestry, urban agriculture, ecological economics, soil ecology and science, urban ecology, and related fields. Students complete 13 course equivalents, with an expectation that full-time students can complete the program in two academic years. The program is housed in the McGowan South Building (LEED certified) in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, which provides a modern research infrastructure that includes laboratories, analytical facilities, environmental growth chambers, a rooftop garden, and a greenhouse. 
 
The program is accepting applications on a rolling basis for enrollment in Winter, Spring, or Fall quarters (though a Fall quarter start is encouraged) so interested prospective students should apply now! Applications received by Jul 15 will be considered for the Fall quarter start date of Wed Sep 9 2020.
 
Please contact the program director, Mark Potosnak at mark.potosnak@depaul.edu or 773-325-7867 if you have any questions. 
 

It’s been a busy summer for LUFA! Since so much has happened, I thought I’d write a quick update with some of the key accomplishments of our lab.
 
First off, LUFA students Margaret Abood, Kaitlyn Pike, and Cecilia Shoopmann and I just got back from attending the 2018 International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Conference in Columbus, Ohio. Some  highlights from the event:

• Jess and Margaret gave a well-received talk about the CommuniTree Evaluation Research Project in a 40-minute presentation titled, “CommuniTree: Partnerships for tree planting and research in Northwest Indiana.” (See the PDF of our slides here.)
• Margaret and Cecilia presented research posters. Margaret’s poster described the detailed results of the stakeholder interviews she’s been conducting as part of the CommuniTree project, and Cecilia’s poster summarized preliminary results of our survey of Canadian urban foresters on their responses to climate change. Margaret and Cecilia talked to lots of interested arborists and urban foresters about these projects, and both are collaborating with me and some other colleagues to publish scholarly manuscripts to be submitted this fall.
• Kaitlyn was one of 5 students awarded a Student Travel Grant through AREA, the Arboriculture Research and Education Academy, a component organization of ISA. AREA Travel Grants are normally awarded to Ph.D. or current master’s students, but Kaitlyn got the award as a just-graduated B.A. student! On Wednesday, she presented a 10-minute talk on her summer project and what will become her master’s thesis research, “Tree preservation and construction” in Highland Park, IL.
• Lastly, Jess was honored to be awarded the “2018 Early-Career Scientist Award” as part of the ISA Awards of Distinction. See the video here, and the press release will be available soon.

 
Overall, we all had a great time learning and networking! Cecilia, Margaret, and Kaitlyn represented LUFA, the Environmental Science & Studies Department, and DePaul well. I was very proud. At the end, the students all said, “I can’t wait to come back next year,” which means the future of urban forestry is bright!

In other news from earlier in the summer, Kaitlyn Pike was awarded the highly competitive Garden Club of America Zone VI Fellowship in Urban Forestry to support her summer research on trees and construction, conducted in collaboration with Highland Park City Forester Keith O’Herrin. Kaitlyn will be starting our department’s brand new Masters of Science in Environmental Science this fall, and her summer project is the beginning of what will be her master’s thesis research. Kaitlyn was also awarded a scholarship from the TREE Fund (Tree Research and Education Endowment). Between all this and her AREA Student Travel Grant, you can’t stop this young researcher! I personally look forward to being her thesis supervisor for the next two years.
 
The final LUFA news update is international: On Sunday, August 12th, I’m headed to China! I’ve been invited by researchers at Henan Agricultural University to be a Visiting Foreign Expert at the International Lab of Henan Provincial Landscape Architecture in Zhengzhou, Henan. I’ll be there for 3 weeks, during which time I’ll give talks on climate change & urban forests, transdisciplinary research, how to write a high-quality scientific paper, mixed methods research, and learn from my Chinese colleagues (and nearly 50 graduate students at the International Lab!) about urban greening research and practice in China. Stay tuned for a full report when I return in September! ​