I was privileged to attend this year’s 2016 National Tree Officers Conference held in Telford. The event attracted over two hundred Tree Officers, Aboriculturalists and Consultants who enjoyed a packed day of presentations by twelve guest speakers.
This unique event offered the latest research, best practice and innovation in different areas of local authority arboricultural work. Hosted by the London Tree Officers Association, Municipal Tree Officers Association, and the Institute of Chartered Foresters, the event highlighted the real issues facing today's tree officers and how they need to adapt to meet these challenges.
A full day’s programme included a wide range of interesting topics:
- Canopy cover targets in planning policy
- Council tree contract models
- Cost benefit analysis
- Tree health threats, including Acute Oak Decline
- Community engagement and volunteer management
- One Tree Per Child Bristol
- The future of Local Authority tree services
The Event was hosted by Telford & Wrekin Council (TWC) and held at Oakengates Theatre.
Matthew Seabrook, Tree Officer for TWC and MTOA Chairman, welcomed everyone and said “The MTOA are proud to support and jointly represent this inaugural conference which is predominantly aimed towards tree officers and urban foresters. In times of austerity and budget cuts we look to share ideas and explore opportunities to deliver a service that is within our respective budgets and retains our legally defensible positions.”
“We hope to raise awareness, provoke thought and discussion to highlight the problems we all currently face - where do we go from here and how do we get there? It is hoped that this will be the first of many conferences of its kind.”
Many of the presentations provoked a lot of interest, with plenty of networking going on during drinks breaks and lunch. I particular liked the Canopy cover targets, Tree health, Council tree contracts and One Child Per Tree Bristol presentations, they certainly provided an insight into the varying demands now put on Tree Officers and the Public Realm when dealing with trees within the urban landscape.
A great day was had by all, and I will certainly be attending next year’s conference.
The event was kindly sponsored by Barcham Trees, Buxtons Ltd, Ezytreev, GreenBlue Urban and KBI UK.
