Practitioner: An individual who, through the course of their professional work, has contributed to the improvement of urban or rural landscapes in a community or who has created or administered a program that has benefited the urban and community forestry initiative throughout Vermont.

Volunteer Group: An organization, team or ad/hoc group who, through their volunteer efforts, has shown outstanding dedication and commitment in introducing or sustaining an urban and community forestry project within their community.

Leader: An individual who, through their services to their community or organization, has shown leadership and dedication in carrying out a community or urban forestry objective.

Youth/Student: Recognition of an individual or group, from elementary to college, who has contributed in a noteworthy way to an activity, publication or ceremony, or has shown, continued interest in the advancement of the goals of urban and community forestry.

Awards Ceremony

Award recipients will be honored at an Awards Ceremony at the Statehouse in December.

2007 Brochure - PDF

To submit a nomination, provide the following information:

Category:

Nominee information: (Address, Phone, Email)

Nominator information: (Address, Phone, Email)

Supporting information: Include a short (up to one page) summary which includes the work accomplished to justify the nomination for that given category and how it impacted an urban and community project.  A brief biography is recommended if the entry is an individual.

Send nominations to:

Danielle Fitzko

Urban and Community Forestry Program

VT Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation

103 South Main Street, 10 South

Waterbury, VT 05671

danielle.fitzko@state.vt.us

2007 Tree Steward Recipients

Community: Town of Hinesburg

The town of Hinesburg is this year’s winner of the Community Tree Steward Award for its long-term commitment to municipal forest management. The 800-acre town forest has been the site of a number of University of Vermont projects and for years has provided service learning for school children and community educators.

What sets the town of Hinesburg apart, wrote Jeanne Kundell Wilson, town administrator, is Hinesburg’s “planning for timber harvests and forest regeneration.” The Select Board opted to use timber from the town forest for new flooring in the town hall, which was built in 1901.

County Forester Michael Snyder selected and marked the white ash trees that would be harvested for the project. He selected older trees, which were in their declining years, to make room for younger and healthier trees. “It is likely that at the time it was built, the practice was to utilize local materials for construction,” wrote Wilson. “However, in today’s world, local sustainability is not the norm. Regardless, when it came time to replace the floor in the main hall of Town Hall, after 105 years of use and wear, local materials and sustainability were exactly what the Hinesburg Select Board proposed.”

Practitioner: Stephen Plunkard

Planner and landscape architect Stephen Plunkard of North Springfield rounded out the field of five Tree Stewards for his 30-plus year career throughout Vermont and New England. Plunkard has partnered with more than 50 downtowns in New England to introduce street trees and to encourage them to start municipal tree nurseries to grow their own stock. His work has won awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association.

Plunkard often consults with communities and downtown organizations on a pro bono basis to encourage them to restore their downtowns, streetscapes and public spaces. He has served as a volunteer for the Snelling administration and Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation to design a master plan for Lowell Lake State Park.

Volunteer Group: The White River Partnership

The White River Partnership, based in Rochester, was the recipient of the Tree Steward Award for a volunteer group for its efforts over the past several years in planting hundreds of trees and shrubs along the banks of the White River in Hartford. “In addition to providing all of the trees and shrubs at no cost to the town, WRP also provided volunteers to help with the plantings and one year organized a riparian tree planting education day for about 50 students from the Hartford Memorial Middle School,” the Hartford Tree Board stated in its nomination. “Outside of Hartford, the WRP has planted thousands of trees throughout the White River watershed.”

Leader: Patricia Crawford

Patricia Crawford of West Fairlee is winner of the Tree Steward Award for leadership. Crawford has been the driving force behind West Fairlee’s community forest initiative, said Fred Cook, who nominated Crawford, a member of the town Select Board and Planning Commission.

“However, her efforts go far beyond her municipal duties. She has spent countless personal hours traveling to meetings, enlisting the aid of the Trust for Public Land, writing grant applications and simply being on the telephone to bring this effort together,” Cook wrote. Under Crawford’s guidance, plans are well underway to create a town forest of 3,300 acres – five square miles of land for wildlife and public access. And at Town Meeting last March, citizens voted unanimously to support it. “Her exciting leadership and dedication, as well as her personal sacrifice, have brought this about. Her work should be recognized and honored as it will benefit generations to come.”

Youth / Student: Isaiah Casey

Isaiha Casey of Westmore was nominated for the award by the Westmore Select Board, which singled out the future forester for his leadership and “exemplary behavior.” “Forests are vitally important to our community, with the Lake Willoughby National Natural Heritage Landmark designation and the vast expanse of Willoughby State Forest within our boundaries,” the Select Board wrote in its nomination letter. “Conservation of these resources and others in the Northeast Kingdom must be promoted, along with logging practices fundamental to the local economy.”

Casey was one of the top students in his Natural Resources class, wrote his teacher, Fern Fontaine. He earned honors and national certification in the “Game of Logging” training, taught by logging professionals.“His knowledge of trees is far beyond that of the average student. He excels in tree identification, which has helped his class and peers in preparing and clearing the site where part of the new North Country Career Center is going to be built,” Fontaine wrote. “Isaiah’s knowledge of trees has helped his peers make the best choices in being stewards of our land.”