New Research Underway!
During the summer of 2022, The Britton Fund awarded new research funding in the amount of $8,000 (over 2 scholastic quarters) to Matt Ritter, Ph.D., Jenn Yost, Ph.D., Cami Pawlak, MS (graduate student and Western Chapter Scholarship recipient). Their project, Trends in Native Tree Plantings in Urban California: Where are trees native in the urban environment?, will use spatially explicit native tree ranges to determine the number and identity of tree species truly native to urban environments within California and to create native species lists for all urban areas in the state. This data will be used to assess what percentage of California’s Urban Forest is currently native in a select set of 80 species with high-quality urban tree inventory data. The results will be presented in print and at regional conferences and workshops.
Read the team’s recent article “Native to Where? California’s Native Trees and Their Use in the Urban Environment” published in the Western Arborist magazine, Summer 2023.
The Britton Fund is dedicated to the awarding of research grants in the field of arboriculture with emphasis on issues inherent to the geographic area of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii.
Research outcomes are shared online and through publications, seminars, and conferences.
Active and recently completed projects:
- Building Tree Resiliency through Urban Tree Infrastructure Mitigation Techniques, Dr. Andrew Kaufman, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii – $30,170
- What Tree To Plant? Selecting Trees Fit for the Future, Dr. Alison Berry, University of California at Davis – $25,697
- Management of New Invasive Pests of Ficus trees in Hawaii’s urban landscapes, Zhiquiang Cheng, Assistant Extension Specialist, Dept Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, University of Hawaii, Manoa, $15,000 over 2 years
- Tree Care for Birds and Other Wildlife, Amelia Oliver, California ReLeaf; Andy Trotter, West Coast Arborists; Ryan Gilpin, HortScience Inc., $10,000 in 2017. Follow the link for best management practices and more.
- Identification of the Causal Agent of Witches Broom on Blue Palo Verde, Dr. Ursula Schuch and Dr. Judith Brown, $25,000 over 18 months
- Connecting Tree Failure with Wood Decay Fungal Assay, Dr. Igor Lacan, $11,000 over 2 years
- What Tree To Plant? Selecting Trees Fit for the Future, Dr. Greg McPherson and Dr. Alison Berry, $27,000, completed. Handouts are available for you to share with others.
- Tree Species Failure Profiles, Dr. Larry Costello, completed. Follow the link to read about this important research.