Partnerships Forum: Restoring the Urban Forests of Washington, D.C.

Partnerships Forum: Restoring the Urban Forests of Washington, D.C.

Background:  The Casey Trees Endowment Fund ("Casey Trees") is a new $50 million endowment dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the tree canopy over the District of Columbia.  Casey Trees was established through a grant from the Eugene B. Casey Foundation to the Garden Club of America.  The initial programs of Casey Trees include: a) a comprehensive tree inventory; b) increased and improved education about environmental and economic benefits of trees; c) solutions to tree-infrastructure problems; d) demonstration of best management practices; e) increased and improved citizen participation.

Last month the Directorate of the National Park Service, National Capital Region (NPS-NCR) met with leaders of Casey Trees to discuss continued and possible additional collaboration.  The National Park Service currently owns and manages 6,776.55 acres of parkland in the District--more than 20% of the City's land base, that is home to many of the trees that Casey Trees has an interest in helping to care for.

As a result of that meeting the NPS-NCR Partnerships Office began discussions with agency leaders and Casey Trees to identify possible opportunities for future collaboration.  The initial discussions resulted in: 1) a desire to convene a "Partnerships Forum" to discuss specific ways that NPS and Casey Trees can collaborate; and 2) the following outline of topics for discussion:

• Access to the NPS Tree Inventory
• Future inventory work (i.e. Would NPS like Casey Trees to inventory trees with small parks?)
• Education for adults and "Citizen Foresters/ Pruners" 
• Youth education and training
• Training for NPS, Casey Trees, USDA, the District
• Other ideas of mutual interest

The following Partnership Forum proposes a meeting where representatives from Casey Trees and NPS-NCR can share information and discuss ideas of future collaboration.  If an agreement is reached to collaborate, the results of the discussion will be included into a Cooperative Agreement to be reviewed and approved by both organizations.

Forum Date: September ???, 2001 Date and time to be determined

National Capital Region, 2^nd Floor Conference Room,

1100 Ohio Drive, SW, Washington, D.C.

Draft Agenda (8/31/2001)

Opening

--Welcome & Opening remarks! Terry Carlstrom, NPS-NCR

--Introductions and meeting purpose, Glenn Eugster, NPS-NCR & Shelia Hogan, Casey Trees Endowment Fund

Casey Tree Activities

--Sheila Hogan, Casey Trees Endowment Fund

--Matthew Arnn, US Dept. of Agriculture, D.C. Coordinator

--Others?

National Park Service Activities

--Jim Sherald, Center for Urban Ecology

--Robert Defeo, Regional Horticulturist

--John Parsons, Land, Resources and Planning

--Arnie Goldstein, National Capital Parks-Central

--Adrienne Applewaithe-Coleman, Rock Creek Park

--Jim McDaniels, White House Liaison

--John Hale, National Capital Parks--East

--Doug Faris, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park

--Audrey Calhoun, George Washington Memorial Parkway

Dialogue

Facilitated discussion of opportunities for collaboration and exchange

Next Steps & Adjourn

Possible Attendees

Sheila Hogan, Casey Tree Endowment Fund

Matthew Arnn, U.S. Department of Agriculture, D.C. Coordinator

Gentry Davis, NPS-NCR

Ed Duffy, NPS-NCR

Joe Lawler, NPS-NCR

Jim McDaniels, White House Liaison

Glenn Eugster, Partnerships Office, NPS-NCR

John Parsons, Land, Resources & Planning, NPS-NCR

Robert DeFeo, Regional Horticulturist, NPS-NCR

Jim Sherald, Center for Urban Ecology, NPS-NCR

Doug Faris, C & O Canal National Historical Park

John Hale, National Capital Parks-East

Arnie Goldstein, National Capital Parks-Central

Adrienne Applewaithe-Coleman, Rock Creek Park

Audrey Calhoun, George Washington Memorial Parkway

Others to be added!