Conference Keynote Speaker:

Our Keynote speaker is Kathleen Wolf, Ph.D., Research Social Scientist from the University of Washington.

About Dr. Kathleen Wolf:

"Many environmental issues involve complex interactions of bio-physical and human systems. Effective problem-solving requires attention to both dimensions. As B.F. Skinner pointed out, most of the problems we face involve human behavior.

As a research scientist I investigate people's perceptions and behaviors with regard to urban landscapes. Based on professional experiences early in my career - as an urban forester in South Florida and a landscape architect in the Midwest - I became interested in how natural environments influence peoples' attitudes, values and actions.

My research of the human dimensions of open space, urban forestry and natural systems include:

• 1. Public preferences and perceptions regarding urban public landscapes
• 2. Costs, benefits and perceptions of urban forestry in retail and commercial districts
• 3. Integration of urban nature and transportation systems
• 4. Developmental benefits associated with youth participation in urban greening work
• 5. Effective integration of science and policy through technology transfer

Both qualitative methods (e.g. focused interviews and content analysis) and quantitative methods (e.g. public surveys using photoquestionnaires) are empirical tools I use to assess and evaluate public perceptions and preferences.

In classes and public presentations two themes also help frame lectures and discussions:
  · The psycho-social benefits of peoples' experiences of urban nature, and
  · How public perceptions and values can be integrated into planning and management of urban open spaces."

Our Workshop Speakers:

• Sheila Flint, arborist and horticulturalist, from Strathcona County Recreation Department, Sherwood Park, Alberta

  - First Canadian to win the National Arbor Day Award in 2010 -

Sheila Flint and the Strathcona County Recreation Department of Sherwood Park, Alberta, received the Celebration Award, which honors Arbor Day celebrations that best represent the spirit of the tree-planters' holiday. More than 1,000 first-grade students participated in Strathcona's Arbor Day celebration in 2009 thanks to the work of Flint, the urban forester and horticulturalist for the county. Students enjoyed a day filled with planting trees, inspired learning and fun events as they discovered the benefits of trees.

The day-long celebration also includes a nature walk, a storytelling session geared to connect students with nature, "Nature-cise" activities that teach students how to play and be active outdoors, making tree cookies and a tree-planting demonstration. Each student receives a free seedling and learns how to plant and care for their new tree.

For more information on the award Follow this link
• Brenda Callan, Mycologist with Canadian Forest Service Natural Resources Canada

Dr. Brenda Callan, a native Victorian, has over 25 years of experience identifying tree diseases and forest fungi.

Dr. Callan is a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada. Her publications include diagnostic manuals and new tree and plant disease records for BC and Canada. She currently conducts research on the detection and identification of fungi associated with commodities such as conifer lumber and logs.

• Susan Murray, professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University; Langley, BC

Ms. Murray is a Board Certified Master Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). She currently volunteers as the Chair of the Board Certified Master Arborist Test committee.

Ms. Murray received her Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degrees from the University of British Columbia.

She is an experienced educator and has taught fulltime at the post-secondary level since 1979, first at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and since 1993 in the School of Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University at the Langley BC campus.

Ms. Murray has received the Excellence in Education Award from the Pacific Northwest Chapter (ISA) twice for her work in arboriculture. The Chilliwack Museum and Historical Society presented her with the 2005 Heritage Award, which recognized that trees are an important part of a community's heritage. In both 2010 and 2011, she was nominated for the ISA's True Professionals in Arboriculture Award and was pleased to be named an award finalist both times.

Her most recent publication is Our Sylvan Heritage A Guide to the Magnificent Trees of the South Fraser, (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2004). She also co-authored Landscape Estimating and Contract Administration (Cherry Tree Press, 1998) and Arboriculture and the Law in Canada (ISA, 1997).

Susan will be presenting: Preventative tree maintenance and repair: a look at historical and current practice with examples from around the world.

• Karen Cummins, organic master gardener, landscape designer, arborist and horticulturalist

  -Karen Cummins is the Horticulturist and Arborist at Storey Creek Golf Club in Campbell River, B.C. -

She has worked 16 years on golf courses in B.C. and Georgia and 35 years in horticulture. She is a graduate of the University of Guelph Horticulture Diploma program and is an ISA Certified Arborist and Tree Risk Assessor. She was thrilled to study in the first class on Sustainable Horticulture at Kwantlen College and to take the Organic Master Gardener program from Gaia College.

• Tracy Ferreira, IPM Coordinator at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC


Tracy has worked at The Butchart Gardens for the past 20 years as a gardener.

For the last 7 of those, as the Integrated Pest Management Coordinator. She will be presenting "One Woman's work at The Butchart Gardens".

• Theresa Kishkan, author of Mnemonic: A Book of Trees

Theresa Kishkan is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose.

Her essays have appeared in Memewar, Dandelion, Lake, Contrary, The New Quarterly, Cerise, and many other magazines and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Relit Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Hubert Evans Prize for Non‐Fiction. Her collection of essays, Phantom Limb, won the first Readers' Choice Award from the Canadian Creative Non‐Fiction Collective in 2009. An essay from Mnemonic won the 2010 Edna Staebler Personal Essay Prize.

Warm, imaginative, and thoroughly original, novelist and essayist Theresa Kishkan intertwines the mysteries of trees with the defining moments in life in a stunningly original memoir. For Kishkan, trees are memory markers of life, and through the pages of Mnemonic: A Book of Trees she explores the presence of trees in nature, in culture and in her personal history. Naming each chapter for a particular tree — the Garry oak, the Ponderosa pine, the silver olive, and others — Kishkan draws from various strands of mythology from classical and contemporary sources to blend scientific fact with natural history and the artifacts of human culture, exploring Kishkan’s personal past within a botanical/historical context.

For more informaiton on Mnemonic: A Book of Trees please follow this link. Note: this is a pdf file.

• Nancy Turner, Ph.D.,ethnobotanist and professor in Ethnoecology.

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist, Distinguished Professor and Hakai Professor in Ethnoecology in the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria.

She has worked with First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for over 40 years, with a strong record of collaboration with Indigenous communities in documenting and promoting their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats. She has authored or co-authored over 20 books, including Plants of Haida Gwaii and The Earth’s Blanket; and over 125 book chapters and papers. She has received a number of awards for her work, including membership in Order of British Columbia (1999) and the Order of Canada (2009).

• Nancy McLean is a registered landscape architect and professional planner currently working for the Corporation of Delta as the Development Planner, Community Planning and Development.

Nancy S. McLean, PIBC, MCIP, MBCSLA, CSLA, ASLA, is a Land Planner II for the City of Delta.

After completing her Bachelor of Science at the University of Guelph, Ms. McLean went on to earn her Masters of Science in Landscape Architecture at Tufts University.

She is Past-President of the BCSLA, Past Chair of the Public Practice Advisory Committee of the ASLA, and Past Co-Chair of the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association Parks Spring Training Committee. Ms. McLean served on the Editorial Advisory Board, Landscape Architecture Magazine, the Advisory Board of the Greater Vancouver Invasive Plant Council and on the Steering Committee of the BC Land Summit 2009.

Ms. McLean has presented to the Canadian Institute of Planners, International Federation of Landscape Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.

Ms. McLean received the 2008 Public Practice Award from the BCSLA, the ASLA Design Award for her work on the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, the Waterfront Center Award for her work on Portside Park from Institute of Urban Ecology, and the Greening of Delta, Council Award.

ISA CEU credits approved for 12.75 CEU's

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