New Zealand Notable Trees Trust Event Feed

6th Annual Tāne Mahuta Public Lecture - 1 October 2015, Nelson

2012-05-28 00:00:00

The NZ Notable Trees Trust in conjuction with the NZ Arboricultural Association are pleased announce this year's Tāne Mahuta Public Lecture.

Philip Simpson will present "Native Treelands in New Zealand’s Landscape". The native trees present in our rural landscapes add an indigenous character that show we care about our past. These trees are coming under increasing pressure as our farming practices intensify and so they will need to be carefully managed to ensure their long term retention. This presentation will profile various examples of native treelands around New Zealand, from puriri in the north to cabbage trees in the south, kanuka in the east and kahikatea in the west. Dr Simpson will describe how these treelands developed and explain their values not just to us as travelers, but to the animals we farm. The presentation will look at how our rural trees can be protected and sustainably managed through landscape planning - something New Zealand is very short of.

The lecture series is open to the public – Gold coin donation with proceeds to the activities of the New Zealand Tree Register

7th Annual Tāne Mahuta Public Lecture - 3rd November 2016, Auckland

0000-00-00 00:00:00

The NZ Notable Trees Trust in conjuction with the NZ Arboricultural Association are pleased announce this year's Tāne Mahuta Public Lecture.

This seventh lecture, in an ongoing series, will be presented by Mike Wilcox. This lecture will concentrate on some trees that he has worked with one way or another during his time in forestry, including urban forestry. Several of the trees to be mentioned have helped shape New Zealand and others have featured in Mike’s overseas work.

The lecture series is open to the public – Gold coin donation with proceeds to the activities of the New Zealand Tree Register. Go here for full details.

8th Annual Tāne Mahuta Public Lecture

0000-00-00 00:00:00

Held in conjunction with the NZ Notable Trees Trust & the NZ Arboricultural Association

6.00pm, Thursday 26th October 2017 - Trinity Wharf, Tauranga

Entry by Gold Coin donation with proceeds to the NZ Notable Trees Trust

Dr. Geoffrey Donovan, USDA Forest Service

Forest economist Geoffrey Donovan began his career with the USDA Forest Service in Alaska, but relocated to somewhat-less-rainy Portland, Oregon, where he is based. With over four-fifths of the U.S. population living in urban areas, he has focused his research on the contributions of trees to quality of life in cities. His work has answered a number of important policy-relevant questions about the impact of trees on the property market, energy use, and storm-water management. He has also broken ground by quantifying the impact of trees on human wellbeing, conducting one of the first studies to relate the presence and size of city trees to crime statistics, and the first study ever to measure the effect of tree canopy cover on human birth outcomes. He took a unique approach to untangling the link between trees and human health by studying how loss of ash trees to an invasive tree pest (the emerald ash borer) affected human mortality. Now on a sabbatical at Massey University’s Center for Public Health Research in Wellington, he is involved in several studies in New Zealand that explore the relationship between exposure to the natural environment and neuro-behavioural outcomes.

The benefits of urban trees: from the intuitive to the surprising

Most people’s experience with nature happens in an urban setting, so the impact of urban trees, parks, and gardens is amplified, because there are more of us around to enjoy their quality-of-life benefits. What exactly are these benefits? Most of us have an intuitive sense that trees are good, but to create sound policies and justify spending on urban-forestry programs, it’s essential to be able to identify and measure the social and economic benefits of trees. This presentation will offer new scientific evidence showing how investments in urban trees can yield much bigger long-term returns than many of us previously realized. Trees enhance our lives in tangible, common sense ways, such as by lowering our electrical bills and increasing property values. But a growing body of research is showing that these benefits are dwarfed by some of the less intuitive benefits of trees including crime reduction, improved public health, and better academic performance. Urban vitality does grow on trees, and it is becoming increasingly clear that trees are helping us live longer, happier, healthier lives.