AUGUST 7th, 2008

 THIRD QUARTERLY PROGRAM AT GA TECH

SPOTLIGHTS "DEVELOPING WINNING SOLUTIONS"

Hear “success stories” about working with trees, developers, property owners, and the community and how to make it happen in your area!

Georgia Urban Forest Council’s Third Quarterly Program, scheduled for August 7, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at LeCraw Auditorium in Georgia Tech’s College of Management, will inspire all concerned with a healthy urban forest with presentations from individuals and groups who’ve worked one-on-one in challenging situations that have resulted in the conservation of trees and natural resources.

The Livable Communities Coalition is an Atlanta-based nonprofit helping bring together “citizens, civic officials, policy makers, developers and political leaders – to build higher density, mixed use communities that make the best use of existing infrastructure and resources and preserve the natural places that are so valuable to us all (www.livablecommunitiescoalition).” At this program, representatives from the Livable Communities Coalition will give a presentation on a new plan for the extremely congested Briarcliff-North Druid Hills area in DeKalb County, an area that planners hope will be a model for redevelopment of suburban sprawl. The Livable Communities Coalition hired the urban planning firm Alex Garvin & Associates and facilitated six months of public meetings with the community, developers and property owners. Entitled “A New Public Realm for DeKalb County,” the plan includes turning Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads into boulevards lined with over 900 trees, creating a network of bike lanes and sidewalks for the area, expanding Kittredge Park from 32.6 acres to 52.9 acres, and implementing many new traffic improvements.

Also on this program, Greg Levine, Programs Director at Trees Atlanta, will join Shannon Kettering of Ecos Environmental Design talk about “Trees as Infrastructure” and to share their experiences implementing the inaugural phase of the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum. The BeltLine Arboretum will preserve and expand the City’s urban forest while increasing canopy cover and shade, providing opportunities for educational programming and environmental demonstration, creating an attraction of city-, region- and nation-wide interest and improving neighborhood identity. The Arboretum will be easily accessible to much of the Atlanta Community and incorporated into future development along the Beltline. It will truly be a community arboretum, helping to connect all the components of the Beltline and enhancing the function and appeal of the BeltLine transit, park and trail facilities. As the Project Manager for the inaugural mile of the Arboretum, Ecos Environmental Design, Inc. is designing and implementing Trees Atlanta’s vision through a collaborative process among the many stakeholders that identifies initiatives – ecological, environmental, scientific, educational and economic – within and beyond the twenty-two mile long BeltLine Corridor.

Spence Rosenfeld, President of Arborguard Tree Specialists, has a long history of working successfully with developers in conserving trees, and will discuss the importance of the pre-construction work such as tree inventories and the building location in relationship to a tree’s Critical Root Zones (CRZ) and will highlight several examples of Arborguard’s current projects. Arborguard’s goal is to get people to understand the value of the tree resources on their site and to demonstrate how important it is to take the correct steps at the beginning and throughout to protect them. Spence’s presentation will also cover the importance of conducting an initial tree survey as a part of the due diligence process and using an ISA Certified Arborist specializing in construction related issues as a part of the development team at the beginning.

LeCraw Auditorium in Ga. Tech’s College of Management is located within Technology Square, a multi-building complex of facilities in Midtown Atlanta that includes the Global Learning Center, the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, the Economic Development Institute, and the Georgia Tech Bookstore. A parking garage offering hourly and daily parking rates is available. The street address is 800 West Peachtree Street, NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0520. To use Marta, take the North-South train line to the North Avenue Station (N3), exit onto West Peachtree Street, and follow West Peachtree Street North to Fifth Street. The College of Management is located at the corner of West Peachtree Street and Fifth Street.

Registration for this informative program is $30 for GUFC members and $40 for nonmembers. Three CEUs will be offered from the International Society for Arboriculture and 2.5 from the Society of American Foresters. Professional development certificates available for all. Lunch is included.

TO REGISTER, CLICK ON FILE BELOW, PRINT OUT AND MAIL OR FAX TO GUFC.