Hello! This week I completed my sixth week at FLOW. I really enjoyed this week because each day felt different. Monday was full with meetings about our staff goals, new watershed information, and community/ outreach. I learned a lot and enjoyed having a general meeting on Monday in order to feel prepared for the upcoming week. Tuesday I completed a lot for my project and am really happy with the progress I am making so far.

The highlight of my week was Thursday. In the morning, I spent my time at the Worthington Tree Nursery. Every Thursday my coworkers and I go here and work with the volunteers and those that manage the nursery. I always really enjoy this time and learn more every week. The trees are doing very well and hopefully the current inventory will live until the planting season. If so this means that we will have over 1300 trees in the Worthington Nursery alone! Looking forward to helping care for them in my final few weeks.

The second part of my day was spent at the monthly Columbus Tree Sub-commission Meeting. The Sub-commission is made up of a group of appointed professionals including the city forester, Ohio Department of Natural Resources managers, Columbus Parks and Rec, and more. The meeting began with a presentation on the current foresters progress and goals for 2024. One of the highlights of her presentation was the grant that Columbus was recently awarded from ODNR that gave them $500,000 to use for tree plantings in disadvantaged census blocks within the city. The city determined 12 blocks that they will be concentrating on for this grant. She also explained the process of choosing a contracted company for the plantings. I was unfamiliar with this process so it was interesting to hear the bidding and selection process. Then the members covered current issues including new invasive species, infrastructure projects, and the selection process for new members. After their agenda, I was able to speak and ask questions about a project I am working on. FLOW was awarded a grant to plant trees on 20 residential streets in the upcoming years. I was tasked with selecting these streets. After presenting my choices, the members gave me feedback which was crucial for me to select the correct spaces. I had not known of city requirements, right of way distances, and the refusal rates from residents. I am very grateful to have been able to speak to all the members and understand their insight.

Lastly, at the end of the meeting a local volunteers spoke about a recent issue in the Franklinton area. ODOT cut down a mile stretch of forested area that was in between the highway and residential streets. The goal of the cut was to remove honeysuckle, an invasive species, but rather than target the plant specifically, they removed the entire forested area. This has significantly decreased the tree canopy in an area with an already low amount and shifted a residential area that used to feel park-like to being overwhelmed by the highway sounds and view. Situations like these happen much too often and departments and companies remove trees when it is not necessary. This often happens in low-income areas that already have a lack of canopy and green space which reduces living conditions for residents. A group is soon meeting with ODOT to hopefully find a solution to this mistake and ensure that it does not happen again.