Urban Forestry Workshop

2026 Urban Forestry Workshop

The 2026 Urban Forestry Workshop topic is Tree Resilience: Planting, Pruning and Care. This workshop will be held this fall in four locations throughout the State. Each location will include morning classroom instruction followed by hands-on field demonstrations in the afternoon. The cost of the workshop is $70 per person. (No refunds unless we cancel.)

Growing healthy and resilient urban forests begins with growing healthy and resilient trees. Join us to learn about tree biology and the standards of care that have been developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to help get trees off to a great start. We will build on the biology to discuss tree pruning and planting methods to optimize tree health.

Morning Session:

• Biological Basis of Tree Action: Terms, Technology and Standards of Care – Trees have limits to what they can do. Learn about the biology of trees and how you can work with the trees’ natural processes to promote tree health and resilience.
• Best Management Practices (BMP’s) for Tree Growth and Longevity – Dig into tree planting and learn about the first known study on the full, partial, and no removal of burlap and wire baskets. This talk will include techniques and approaches for planting various tree stock (e.g., bare root, balled & burlapped, container, gravel bed) and steps you can take to promote tree establishment.
• Proper Tree Pruning – Science, standards and best management practices all come together for this session on tree pruning. Learn about natural pruning and working with the tree to promote the trees’ canopy, including strategies for reduction pruning, branch removal or compensating for decay.

Afternoon Session:

Put what you learned in the morning into practice. A planting demonstration will be followed by steps for structural pruning. We will also take time to talk about site evaluation and safety. We will finish the day by looking at a variety of tree samples to illustrate how trees respond to human and natural influences.

Workshop Locations & Registration:

Click on a date and location to be taken to the registration for that site.

• September 21 – Dane County: DeForest Village Hall Commons, 120 S Stevenson Street, DeForest WI 53532
• September 22 – Waukesha Area: Retzer Nature Center, S14 W28167 Madison St, Waukesha WI 53188
• September 24 – Outagamie County: Mosquito Hill Nature Center, N3880 Rogers Rd, New London WI 54961

Speaker Bio

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