The Britton Fund Supports New Research.
The Britton Fund provided research funding to support Matt Ritter, Ph.D., Jenn Yost, Ph.D., and Cami Pawlak, MS (graduate student and Western Chapter Scholarship recipient) with their project, Trends in Native Tree Plantings in Urban California: Where are trees native in the urban environment? 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.
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.
“Species selected for California’s future urban forests should be able to withstand future climatic challenges. Our research shows that there are limited options for planting native trees in California’s urban forest. We hope that our work can help inform management goals and species selections for healthy urban forests for California’s future.” Western Arborist magazine, Summer 2023
Congratulations to Kevin Eckert as the incoming President for the Western Chapter of the ISA.
Residing in Kailua, Hawaii, Kevin is the Founder and President of Arbor Global. He is a member of the Board of Directors for The Britton Fund and will begin his term as President of the WCISA in July 2023.
Kevin has been a member of the ISA and WCISA since 1989 and has served both organizations in many capacities. With over 20 years of program research, design, implementation, and management experience, Kevin has developed a high level of knowledge, skills, and abilities with the diversity of issues and challenges encountered in tropical and temperate arboriculture and vegetation management. He is an ISA Certified Arborist®, ISA Certified Utility Specialist®, and ISA Tree Risk Assessor Qualified® (TRAQ) instructor.
Kevin has served as a Britton Fund board member since 2017. Through his service on this board, Kevin has been instrumental in directing thousands of dollars to support important research, educational programs, and publications benefiting tree-care professionals in the west. He will maintain his position on The Britton Fund board during his term as WCISA President.
The Britton Fund Board of Directors look forward to working with Kevin in his new role and will support his success over the coming year.
“Factual, well-founded knowledge based on scientifically proven facts is power and provides our industry the ability to better meet our personal and professional missions for tree management.” Kevin Eckert, WCISA President 2023-2024 and The Britton Fund Board Member
The Britton Fund Welcomes New Board Member.
Lisa Smith, CEO and Founder of The Tree Resource, has joined The Britton Fund’s Board of Directors.
We know Lisa well as a past board member (2010-2018) and president (2016-2017) of the Western Chapter of ISA where her leadership was recognized and appreciated. She brings extensive professional experience to The Britton Fund board and deeply believes in our mission. Lisa values the science-based research, publications, and the educational opportunities that improve the tree care profession and health of our neighborhood trees and urban forests. Lisa is a creative and strategic thinker. We look forward to her involvement in our work.
In addition to being an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist® and ASCA Registered Consulting Arborist®, Lisa is also an ISA Tree Risk Assessor Qualified® (TRAQ) instructor, an ASCA Tree and Plant Appraiser Qualified (TPAQ) instructor.
“An arborist’s job is not only to evaluate the health and vigor of your trees but to analyze their safety, enhance their structure, apply scientific evaluation and proper treatments so that we may enjoy a tree’s lifetime of beauty and comfort.” Lisa Smith – CEO & Founder of The Tree Resource