This is the first edition of The Acorn for 2009 and I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a HAPPY URBAN FORESTRY NEW YEAR! If you ate collards on Jan. 1, I hope that the green you receive this year is not only money but more healthy and vibrant trees. Given the times we’re in, most of us can use more of both.

2008 was a productive year for our organization. We hosted our Annual Conference, The Carolina Arborists Workshop and co-sponsored the Sustainable Parking Lot Design with Canopy Trees workshop. The Board of Directors, elected by you, has worked hard on your behalf and 2008 President Eddie Bernard provided diligent and invigorating leadership throughout the year.

What can we expect for 2009? Simply put, more great things. We have hired Karen Hauck as our new Executive Director. Karen introduces herself on this page, so I won’t steal any of her thunder. Suffice it to say that Karen is visionary, dynamic and experienced. She is going to be an incredible asset to us all.

Buzz words become buzz words for a reason. They are appropriate descriptors for the times. A buzz word of late has been empowerment. We want our entire membership to feel empowered to influence the direction of the South Carolina Urban and Community Forestry Council.

One way we hope to empower you is with a new feature in The Acorn. You’ll see that we have added a “Letters to the Editor” section. We want to hear your stories, good and bad. What’s happening in your community or in other communities you know about? Others may learn from your experiences. You can ask questions about the Council or offer suggestions that may make the Council a better organization. If there is a technical urban forestry question you’ve been puzzling over, let us hear it. Chances are that one of our readers has experienced something similar and can offer suggestions. We’ve also added a “Member Spotlight” section to introduce you to your fellow Council members, as well as a section entitled “A Day In the Life Of ,” where we learn about the different professions within urban forestry.

We want you to become more involved in the coordination and management of your Council. If you have an interest in serving on the Board of Directors, let us know. If you would like to serve on one of the committees that plans conferences and workshops or acknowledges with awards deserving people and communities, let us know. If you would like to write an article or have an idea for an article for The Acorn, let us know. You can help us to serve South Carolina’s trees and the people who care about them by volunteering on their behalf.

ADVOCATE, EDUCATE and NETWORK are the methods we employ in the pursuit of our mission statement, “to foster the stewardship of urban and community forests.” Remember those three tenets, if you will. If we keep them in mind and work together, we all can be the stewards that South Carolina’s community forests need and deserve.

Danny Burbage, President