Come join us Tuesday, April 17 from 9AM-12 at Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, 928 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 201, for presentations by Mathew Cahill of the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN), and Amory Sivertson of the Boston Tree Party, to discuss exciting new communal initiatives for tree planting and care.

Cahill is Program Coordinator for BNAN’s Boston Urban Forest Program, which works through the Boston Urban Forest Council to provide resources and networking to promote urban greening.  BNAN is administering the city’s Grow Boston Greener program, which has the goal of increasing the city’s canopy cover from 29% to 35%, and which involves creating a tree planting tracking effort – (if you are in Boston, it is of particular interest to you to be part of that).

The Boston Tree Party is a campaign to plant and establish cooperative care for heirloom apple trees throughout the city.  It describes itself as “an urban agriculture project, a performative re-imagining of  American political expression, and a participatory public art project,” which “catalyzes a deep and playful engagement with the issues of food access; health; environmental stewardship; biodiversity; public space; and civic engagement.”

If you are not in Boston, you will still learn a great deal from these presentations.  As always MSSCOR meetings encourage sharing of information – we want to hear from you if you have information useful to others, and there will be ample opportunity to ask questions and have general discussion.

Trees are tangible, accessible products of institutional greening – this meeting is a chance to learn how to create attention and enthusiasm by engaging students and others to get results that everyone will enjoy for years to come.  Read more at http://bostonnatural.org/trees_and_orchards.htm and http://www.bostontreeparty.org/, but do plan to come and hear for yourself about these wonderful programs!

Please let us know if you are coming, (RSVP is helpful, but not required), or get further information by emailing rick.reibstein@state.ma.us, or call 617 626 1062.  Or, if you would like to give us advance notice that you can share information on what you have done on campus.