• This year’s theme is “Trees are Terrific… In Cities and Towns!”
• Free pine seedlings offered to all contest participants

The Delaware Forest Service’s 2014 Arbor Day Poster Contest is now open to all Delaware students in grades K to 5. Public, private and home schools are encouraged to participate as well as after-school groups and youth organizations. Posters are due by April 4th, 2013. This year’s poster contest theme  – “Trees are Terrific…In Cities and Towns!”  – is dedicated to the important role that trees play in our communities and schoolyards. The Arbor Day Poster Contest is designed to help teachers incorporate trees into classroom learning and help students foster an appreciation for nature all around them. As in previous years, the Delaware Forest Service will provide all participating classes with free loblolly pine seedlings, which will be delivered to schools for planting during the last week of April.

• Complete Arbor Day Poster Contest guidelines and rules.
• Teacher lesson plan and activity guide.

State Judging Critteria
On a scale of 1-5, the following criteria are used to judge posters on the county and state level. These should be kept in mind when submitting posters:

• Use of Theme
• Originality
• Neatness
• Artistic Expression

Judges will be selected by the Contest Coordinator and judging will take place at the Delaware Department of Agriculture in Dover. Winners will be announced in early April.

Prizes Awarded to Winners
A winner for each county (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex) will be selected for each entry category (Grades K, 1-2, 3-4, and 5). From these 12 winners, an overall state winner will be selected to represent Delaware as we celebrate Arbor Day 2014. Please note: the National Arbor Day Foundation is no longer hosting a National Poster Contest for fifth grade winners. The Delaware Forest Service is committed to continuing the Arbor Day Poster Contest at the state level.

County winners receive:

• $25 gift card
• ceremonial tree planting held at their school
• invitation to the State Arbor Day Ceremony (attended by the Governor)
• “Tree inspired” children’s book
• winning posters will be reprinted on canvas, framed for display, and given to winner as a keepsake
• winning posters will be displayed online

In addition to the previous prizes, the State Winner will receive an additional $25 gift card.

Please visit the DDA Forest Service website to see the 2013 Arbor Day winners.

Posters must be received by April 4, 2014. Entries should be mailed or delivered to:

Ashley Peebles, Contest Coordinator
Delaware Forest Service
2320 S. DuPont Highway
Dover, DE 19901
(302) 698-4551
Email: ashley.peebles@delaware.gov

The poster contest is designed to supplement student learning in other subject areas by increasing their knowledge about how community trees have a direct impact on Delaware’s health and well-being.  Schools are a perfect setting to incorporate the role of urban trees into a wide range of subjects. Community trees are working trees that provide a variety of important natural benefits:

• provide beauty that can enhance neighborhoods
• shade streets and schoolyards
• create habitat and food for wildlife
• improve air quality and moderate air temperatures
• muffle noise and create privacy screens or windbreaks
• improve water quality by filtering runoff into streams and rivers
• reduce energy consumption

The Arbor Day Poster Contest also offers students the opportunity to plant their own pine seedlings as a great extension of their lessons about trees.

Teachers and parents who are interested in programs designed to increase their knowledge of trees, the many important functions of community trees, or to learn about grant opportunities to make their schools more “green,” visit www.plt.org.

Website link for 2014 Arbor Day Poster Contest Registration and Information
This link will help teachers and individual participants to:

1. Register a class for participation in the contest
2. Reserve free loblolly pine seedlings
3. Access the poster  guidelines and rules
4. Download a curriculum guide.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• Deadline to register and reserve free seedlings: March 14th
• Deadline to submit posters for state contest: April 4th
• Arbor Day in Delaware: April 25th
• Seedling delivery: Week of April 28th

The 2014 Delaware Arborist and Tree Care Seminar will be held March 4 and 5 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at Baywood Greens Clubhouse, 32267 Clubhouse Way, Long Neck, Delaware 19966.  Cost is $80 with lunch included both days. Registration forms are available at delawaretrees.com and should be postmarked by February 21.

The event will feature both indoor and outdoor demonstrations by experts in the tree care field. Sponsored by the Delaware Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, the fourth annual symposium offers classroom lectures, hands-on training, and exhibits offering the latest knowledge and techniques for those interested in proper tree care and safety. The event also includes talks on how trees can help with stormwater management and the potential threats to ash trees from the emerald ash borer.  This year marks the first time the event will be held in Sussex County.

This year’s featured speaker is Mark Chisholm, a certified arborist, tree climbing expert and champion, business owner, and instructor. Mark will cover topics that include indoor and outdoor instruction on balancing techniques, raising limbs, and multi-block rigging.

• Mark Chisholm is a third-generation, certified arborist with his family-owned Aspen Tree Expert Company in New Jersey. His expertise in tree care has made him a sought-after consultant and industry spokesperson for the world of arboriculture. Chisholm won the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) New Jersey Chapter Tree Climbing Championship 19 years in a row and won the ISA International Tree Climbing Championship in 1997, 2001 and, again, in 2010. Chisholm currently holds the world record in the 50-foot secured footlock climbing event, with a time of 13.8 seconds.

• Thomas Whitelock of Advanced Arborist Solutions will present a session on advanced climbing for tree professionals.

• Jay Ashby, tree program manager at the Tunnell Companies and member of Delaware’s Urban and Community Forestry Council, will present a talk on site preparation and safety. Ashby currently helps manage over 3,000 acres of community forest.

Featured exhibitors and sponsors include American Arborist, ArborJet, Baywoods, New England Ropes, and Vermeer.

Special room rates are available for attendees at the Holiday Inn Express, 19953 Shuttle Rd, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971. Phone: (302) 227-4030.

Tuesday, March 4

8 a.m.         Registration – View Exhibits

8:40 a.m.    Welcome

8:50 a.m.    Job Site Safety and Setup – Jay Ashby, Tunnell Companies

10:50 a.m.  Break

11 a.m.       Insight to Advanced Rigging – Mark Chisholm, Aspen Tree

Noon          Lunch

1:00 p.m.   Outdoor Advanced Rigging – Mark Chisholm, Aspen Tree

4 p.m.       Closing Comments

Wednesday,  March 5

8 a.m.        Registration – View Exhibits

8:40 a.m.   Welcome

8:50 a.m.   Borer Insects and Treatment Methods – Trent Dicks, ArborJet

9:50 a.m.   Break

10 a.m.      Advanced Climbing for 2014 – Thomas Whitelock, Advanced Arborist Solutions

Noon          Lunch

1 p.m.         Managing Stormwater Using Trees – Jason Grabosky, Rutgers University

3 p.m.         Break

3:10 p.m.   Ash Trees – Jimmy Kroon, DDA Plant Industries

4 p.m.        Closing Comments

Directions to Baywood Greens

For more information, contact Kyle Hoyd, Delaware Forest Service Urban and Community Forester, at 302-698-4578 or kyle.hoyd@delaware.gov.

Invading Your Forest – Woodland Management Workshop
at Delaware Ag. Week on Jan. 17 at Delaware State Fairgrounds

“Invading Your Forest,” a workshop on managing invasive species in Delaware woodlands, will be held on Friday, January 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ACE building-Delaware State Fairgrounds, Harrington. The program is designed for forest landowners, forest businesses, community ‘open-space’ managers, and anyone interested in learning more about Mile-A-Minute Weed, Kudzu, Porcelainberry, Japanese Hop, Wisteria, Asian Longhorned Beetle, Emerald Ash Borer and other non-native invaders encroaching into Delaware forestland.

Attendees will learn techniques for identifying and eradicating invasive plants and pests from members of the Delaware Invasive Species Council, University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Delaware Department of Agriculture, USDA-Natural Resources Service, USDA-Agriculture Research Service, Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control and ‘experienced’ landowners.

This workshop is sponsored by the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, Delaware Forestry Association and Delaware Tree Farm Program as part of the 2014 Delaware Agricultural Week, which begins January 13. The annual event provides numerous educational opportunities for those interested in agriculture production: from bees to livestock, irrigation to pasture management, and fruit to vegetables. All educational events will be hosted at the Delaware State Fairgrounds, in Harrington. For more information on all activities surrounding Delaware AG Week, visit the website: http://sites.udel.edu/delawareagweek/

Preregistration for the woodland management workshop is required by either calling the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension-Kent County office @ 302-730-4000 or emailing Dot Abbott @ dotad@udel.edu  

Media Contact: Dot Abbott (302) 730-4000
Email: dotad@udel.edu
University of Delaware Cooperative Extension
69 Transportation Circle, Dover, Delaware 19901

Do you have what it takes to fight a wildfire? http://de.gov/wildfire
The Delaware Forest Service is seeking motivated, qualified trainees for its wildfire crew.

The Delaware Forest Service (DFS) is seeking qualified and interested individuals to participate in its upcoming series of wildfire training classes at the Delaware State Fire School. Ideal candidates should be: at least 18 years of age, physically and mentally fit, motivated to learn, and willing and able to travel for up to two weeks or more (usually during the summer months) for out-of-state fire assignments. Previous firefighting experience is not required.  While current members of a volunteer fire company can register through their organization, those without prior firefighting experience must contact Henry Poole, DFS Wildland Fire Program, by phone: (302) 698-4548  or email: henry.poole@delaware.gov to get authorization before enrolling in the classes. The deadline for course registration is January 3, 2014.

The first course, “S-190: Introduction to Fire Behavior/Incident Command System,” will be held on January 18 and 19, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Delaware State Fire School, 1461 Chestnut Grove Rd, Dover, DE 19904, 302-739-4773. The second set of classes, “S-130: Basic Wildland Firefighting,” will be taught at the Fire School over the course of two weekends: March 1 and 2, 2014 and also March 8 and 9, 2014, from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. each day.  The cost of S-190 (January) is $50 (including lunch both days) and the cost of S-130 (March) is $100 (including lunch every day), with remittance payable to the “Delaware State Fire School.”

Link to Registration Form*(PDF)
Link to 2014 Training Schedule* (PDF)

Both S-190 and S-130 are required for prospective firefighters to attain “red-card” certification from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), the lead agency that oversees wildland firefighter training in the United States.   In addition to basic coursework, candidates must also complete a rigorous “work capacity” or “pack test,” which involves carrying a 45-pound pack over a three-mile course in under 45 minutes. The capstone of the wildfire training series is the Delaware Forest Service’s annual “Fire Camp,” which will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2014 at Redden State Forest in Georgetown, Sussex County. The one-day seminar features intensive, hand-on training in a range of wildland firefighting tools and strategies, culminated by a “live-burn” exercise designed to simulate conditions on an actual fire assignment.

To fully complete the entire training series, it is imperative for potential candidates to register for S-190 by the January 3, 2014 deadline.

Delaware’s wildland fire program is coming off another successful year: in 2013, the Delaware dispatched two 20-person teams to out-of-state assignments through the National Interagency Fire Center: one crew battled an 85,000-acre blaze near the town of North Pole, Alaska in July while another crew traveled to Utah before completing an assignment in the steep, mountainous terrain of Idaho’s Payette National Forest.  Crews are trained and dispatched by the Delaware Department of Agriculture Forest Service and are comprised of both men and women of varying ages and backgrounds who represent a mix of public agencies, nonprofit groups, volunteer fire companies, and private citizens—each with a keen interest in firefighting and a sincere desire to help others.

Despite its small size, Delaware has achieved a well-earned reputation among national agencies for the quality, performance, and training of its firefighting personnel. Over the past 15 years, the First State has also dispatched personnel to aid in other national or regional emergencies, such as hurricane relief crews in Florida and New York.

The Delaware Forest Service (DFS) funded a downtown streetscape improvement and tree planting project in the Town of Georgetown, highlighted by this week’s planting of 18 new cherry and lilac trees along East Market Street near the Sussex County Courthouse. Total cost of the project was estimated at $37,000. The DFS’ Urban and Community Forestry Streetscape Program – which offers a 50-50 match to recipients – provided $17,000, which Georgetown officials matched with almost $20,000 in project expenses and in-kind services.

In the first phase of the project,  Georgetown’s Department of Public Works spent two weeks removing the old trees, many of which were either poorly adapted to the sites or suffered from disease or other environmental stress. During that time, workers also conducted extensive excavation of the existing soil in the tree pits,  which was eventually replaced with a special 50-50 mix of topsoil and organic matter to help ensure survivability.

The second phase – the actual tree planting – took place under sunny skies this week. Kyle Hoyd and Kesha Braunskill of the DFS’ Urban and Community Forestry Program supervised the work by Bridgeville’s Nanticoke Nursery and Landscaping, which was awarded the contract to provide the soil, supply the new trees, and complete the project according to Forest Service specifications. A total of 18 trees – nine Okame cherry trees and nine Japanese Ivory Silk Lilac trees – were planted in the newly-excavated sites. These two species, though not native to Delaware, were selected for planting by forestry officials for their high tolerance to environmental stresses common to urban areas and the fact that they are unlikely to outgrow the site constraints. The cherry and lilac trees will also provide beauty and visual appeal to the downtown area, providing an attractive climate for businesses and residents alike.

The final phase – installation of new protective tree grates – is expected to take place by mid-November. The existing iron grates, which suffered past damage by motor vehicles or were modified to accomodate the previously over-sized trees – will be replaced at the time the new ones are installed.

For more information, contact: Kyle Hoyd, Urban and Community Forestry Program Coordinator, Delaware Forest Service, 302-698-4578. Email: kyle.hoyd@delaware.gov.