Last time it was drawing, now its listening... check it out!
Tree Podcast: YourForest

Guided by a desire to better understand the natural world, inventory forester Matthew Kristoff launched Your Forest in 2017. The podcast is structured as a conversation between Kristoff and guests, who discuss "the things [they] love about the natural world and [their] work to protect and preserve it." In doing so, Kristoff hopes to "challenge our ideas of sustainability," and push listeners to think about the reasons for and results of our actions towards our planet.

Recent episodes have covered the scientific stories housed in tree rings (see Episode 82, "Travel Back in Time with Trisha Hook") and the impact of wetlands on maintaining healthy ecosystems (see Episode 81, "Bogged Down with Ducks Unlimited: National Boreal Program").

As of this write-up, there are more than 80 episodes are available. Installments range in length, but are typically over an hour. Readers can find the full collection of episodes at the link above or on popular streaming services such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher.

Do you want to take your botanical drawings to the next level? If so, check out this new resource: Botanical art and artists: How to draw and paint leaves and trees

Nature is a source of inspiration for many artists, but how scientifically accurate are the depictions? As the collection's name suggests, "How to draw and paint leaves and trees" provides "tips and techniques for how to draw and paint botanically correct trees and leaves."

Whether you are an amateur artist or a seasoned professional, you will find resources to support your artistic endeavors. Scrolling down the page, visitors will find information on famous botanical artists, suggested books on botanical art, and a plethora of embedded videos walking individuals through drawing and painting trees and leaves while maintaining botanical integrity.

To easily navigate to the videos section, users can click the "Video TIPS - Drawing and Painting Leaves" link in the green box at the top of the page. Videos cover topics such as "Painting Leaves in Different Seasons" and "How to Paint a 3D Leaf." The site was created by Katherine Tyrrell in 2015, who credits her background in education as inspiring her "to support those who want to learn about botanical art and illustration."

Urban Forestry Toolkit

Close your eyes and try to picture yourself in the middle of a forest.

Where are you? Perhaps you are in Brazil's Amazon Rainforest or California's Redwood Park, or maybe Pittsburg, Pennsylvania's Urban Forest?

While traditional notions of forestry often exclude urban settings, the Urban Forestry Toolkit provides resources to bring tree canopies to cities. The resources within the toolkit "are designed to help community managers and advocates in jurisdictions of all sizes to determine their current situation and be guided through a process at their own pace to reach goals of comprehensive urban forest management."

The toolkit's 17 steps take users from start (Assess) to finish (Sustain). Each step has a range of supporting content, from statistics to studies to samples. For example, the seventh step , "Planning: Best Practices in Urban Forestry" (under the Plan tab), includes examples of cities that have successfully created and implemented urban forestry plans.

The toolkit is a project of Vibrant Cities Lab, a collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service, American Forests, and the National Association of Regional Councils, on a mission to help individuals "discover how healthy tree canopy can enrich their own community and help guide them as they build an effective urban forestry program."

www.vibrantcitieslab.com/toolkit