Content

Introduction
Readings
Fundamental Concepts

Tree Nurseries, Leadership and Professional Excellence

Putting the Nursery at the Centre of Future Urban Forests

In Topic 2.2, we introduced the goals, criteria and issues that nurseries and urban foresters must address when it comes to producing and planting quality urban trees. Our course readings cover some perspectives, and standardized measurements, for defining what a quality tree is.

In this topic, we explore how one nursery, in the United Kingdom, has taken a holistic approach to defining tree quality from the ground up. Our guest speaker shared how the team at Barcham Trees interprets tree quality and incorporates this view into their day to day operations.

On November 15, 2021, we met Keith Sacre, Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Director from Barcham Trees. Keith suggested that urban forestry places nurseries at the center of the sustainable urban forest. Nurseries do in fact have an essential role in growing and providing quality trees to communities. Understanding what quality means and how this is operationalized in the nursery can contribute to healthy trees that respond to the demands of urban sites. The ultimate goal is that trees last on our urban landscape. To achieve this requires leadership from nurseries to implement and follow up with best practices (informed by science and research) but it also requires education and buy-in from all parties involved - importantly, the folks writing and enforcing standards as well as specifications for nursery stock procurement and planting/post-planting care. Keith also shared how Barcham Trees engages with their clientele, providing educational seminars and interactions with knowledgeable guest speakers on a regular basis. This topic covers how leadership and professional excellence can be cultivated in the nursery.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

- Explain how nursery production approaches and methods directly impact urban forest health and function
- Understand ways to define and assess tree quality in the nursery
- Identify different forms of nursery trees (bare root, balled and burlapped, containerized trees)
- Explore nursery production management practices with a real life example in the United Kingdom
- Recognize the importance of written specifications in tree selection and procurement

Topic Readings

Optional Reading

Want to learn more about how Barcham Trees engages with clients and stakeholders. Check out their online guides and resources for more insight on their approach.

https://www.barchampro.co.uk/help-advice/

Fundamental Concepts

Recorded guest lecture with Keith Sacre on Zoom Archive. Check out these two PowerPoint Presentations with a few more supporting details that are covered at greater depth than the course lecture alone. I highly recommend you have a look!

First We Have to Grow Them - Barcham Trees.pdf

What we have learned - 25 years tree production Barcham.pdf

UFOR 521, M. Hanna 2021