Navigating the Politics of Advanced Volunteer Stewardship
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Valerie Price
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Navigating the Politics of Advanced Volunteer Stewardship
- 1. Navigating the politics of advanced volunteer stewardship How to get things done using volunteers Valerie (Price) McClannahan
- 2. A little about me • Urban and Community Forestry Volunteer and Program Coordinator with Department of Forest Resources at the UMN • M.Ed. with a focus on Adult Education (ABD) • B.S. in Horticulture with a Minor in Urban Forestry
- 3. Defining advanced volunteer stewardship 1. Task requests that require over four hours of education to complete 2. Include repeat requests for volunteer time, not a one time event 3. (Optional) Requires extra training in safety standards • Example: Master Gardeners
- 4. Stems are sexy Planting trees is great, but our urban forest requires more than planted trees to maintain health and stability.
- 8. Pushback • Legal • Privatization • Skills and education
- 9. Pushback • Legal • There was worry about liability. • Most of our communities use union workers to do much of their urban forestry work, especially for pruning.
- 10. Legal • Unions are a valid and important part of community forestry • Make sure they are at the planning table and get their input • Listen to their concerns Most of our communities use union workers to do much of their urban forestry work, especially for pruning.
- 11. Pushback • Legal • Privatization • Communities should be hiring private companies to do this work. Volunteers could be taking jobs from private companies.
- 12. Privatization • Some communities cannot afford the full cost Communities should be hiring private companies to do this work. Volunteers could be taking jobs from private companies.
- 13. Privatization • Some communities cannot afford the full cost • It’s not an “either/or” Communities should be hiring private companies to do this work. Volunteers could be taking jobs from private companies.
- 14. Privatization • Some communities cannot afford the full cost • It’s not an “either/or” • Educated volunteers become advocates for better urban forestry practices which has lead to more funding Communities should be hiring private companies to do this work. Volunteers could be taking jobs from private companies.
- 15. Pushback • Legal • Privatization • Skills and education • Volunteers aren’t capable of…(insert anything here). Volunteers don’t have the knowledge or skills.
- 16. Skills and education • Accuracy • What level of accuracy is acceptable? Do you always need them to be 100% accurate in what they do? Are trained professionals always that 100% accurate? Volunteers aren’t capable of…(insert anything here). Volunteers don’t have the knowledge or skills.
- 17. Skills and education • Accuracy • What level of accuracy is acceptable? Do you always need them to be 100% accurate in what they do? Are trained professionals always that 100% accurate? • How much training do they need to reach that accuracy level? • And what kind of training? Volunteers aren’t capable of…(insert anything here). Volunteers don’t have the knowledge or skills.
- 18. Skills and education • Accuracy • What level of accuracy is acceptable? Do you always need them to be 100% accurate in what they do? Are trained professionals always that 100% accurate? • How much training do they need to reach that accuracy level? • And what kind of training? • How much support will they need after the training? Volunteers aren’t capable of…(insert anything here). Volunteers don’t have the knowledge or skills.
- 19. Share success This is how you quell fears.
- 20. The success of Ely, MN • The city had completely stopped any urban forestry management besides the removal of hazardous trees in 2012. • The U of M was contacted by a citizen about the tree survey project. The city was apprehensive. • Ely’s citizens surveyed 2,340 trees finding that 60% of the public trees were maples. They built a gravel bed. Raised money by asking neighbors and local businesses. Planted trees by in front of houses that agreed to water, with an extra tree planting class request. Started a Tree Board, and non-profit for trees in community, began Minnesota Citizen Pruner, and now have voted to fund two part-time tree consultants for the city and the city now buys water bags and mulch for all trees planted by citizens.
Editor's Notes
- Why is advanced stewardship important? Planting trees is great, but it’s less helpful if they don’t survive. I think a better mark for success isn’t how many trees we plant but how many we maintain.
- Tree surveys are not full inventories, they are statistical sample to give a general understanding of a community forest. These volunteer take data on things like tree identification, DBH, and some communities had volunteer’s condition rate the public trees. Condition rate trees!? Now, I know what you’re going to say, this was a developed numeric system that allowed them to note things like tip dieback, and cambium loss, and approximately what level it was at. This wasn’t citizens deciding whether or not the trees were healthy, or if they should be removed or anything like that.
- Minnesota Citizen Pruner are community tailored programs that train volunteers to prune for sightline safety and to structurally prune small trees. Essentially, they’re your average citizen that we train and hand sharp objects to.
- https://craigalan.wordpress.com/category/perf-mgmt/
- Unions are a valid and important part of community forestry Make sure they are at the planning table and get their input Don’t ignore them. They have the capability to end advanced stewardship volunteering in your community Listen to their concerns Really listen. Ask them about issues they see in their community forest Look for ways your program can fill their gaps. I always start by specking high, talking to them about our full goals, such as small tree structural pruning, and will fall back on lower levels of engagement to allow it as a trial with just pruning sprouts and suckers to clear sightlines for safety. Many started out hesitant, but after talking and listening we always came to an agreement. All of them that started out with lower levels of stewardship, increased it after about a year. Now our unions love our Citizen Pruners, as volunteers can focus on small pieces from the ground which allows them to manage larger pieces in the air that require more technical skills. They also have built relationships with our volunteers and volunteers have become advocates for them, and vice versa.
- Some communities received bids for tree inventories that cost well over $30,000, which is simply not an option for many communities.
- Using volunteers doesn’t mean private companies loose out. In a number of our communities once the statistical tree survey is done, private companies are hired to put together management plans.
- These volunteers now have a better understanding of what it takes to manage an urban forest, they get more involved joining tree boards or writing letters advocating for better funding. This has lead to increased budgets.
- We had one community that was super gung-ho and excited, but there were a number of other communities that were more hesitant. We went first with the winnable community and once others saw that no one died or was seriously injured, other communities got on board.
- No planting, no pruning, trees were only coming down and people were upset. Citizens thought trees were coming down for no good reason, and there’s an instance of someone chaining themselves to one to stop its removal. The U was contacted by Val about the tree survey.