FEATURED SPEAKERS
Karen Ripley
Forest Entomologist, USFS
Ripley is the Forest Health Monitoring and Invasive Insects Program Manager for the US Forest Service's Pacific NW Region.
Wyatt Williams, PhD
ODF, Invasive Species Specialist
Williams is a leader in the state's fight against invasive pests. He helped put together Oregon's EAB response plan and is a member of the interagency EAB response task force. He recieved his Ph.D. in Entomology from Colorado State University, where he studied plant-insect interactions of noxious weeds and their natural enemies. He has a Masters Degree in Biology from Boise State University, where his thesis was on host selection behavior of Douglas-fir beetle in the intermountain West.
Geoffrey Donovan, PhD
US Forest Service
- Donovan is a research forester at the US Forest Service's Pacific NW Research Station. He is focused on quantifying the benefits of urban trees, including health outcomes. He has a degree in Biochemistry from Sheffield University in England and earned a Ph.D. in Forest Economics from Colorado State University. Some of his past research showed that greenness around a child's home and school is associated with higher scores on standardized reading and math tests.. Most recently, he's revealed how the sudden loss of trees from EAB led to greater human deaths, while increasing tree canopy in Portland yielded better health outcomes.
Russell Clark
PlanIT Geo
Clark recieved a graduate certificate in Urban Forestry from Oregon State University. He is an ISA Board-Certified Master Arborist (NE-6983B) and is ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified
Expert Panelists
Treatment or Removal Options for Ash Trees
Alison Herrell
Rainbow Ecoscience
Alison Herrell is an Arborologist with Rainbow Ecoscience. She provides plant healthcare protocol training and technical support for Rainbow¹s clients (landscape and arborist professionals around the country). She holds a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Valparaiso University in Indiana, and an M.S. in Environmental Science from Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Alison is an ISA-certified arborist, TRAQ holder, and pesticide applicator in Oregon and Washington with over 10 years of experience, including tree climbing, plant healthcare applications, research, education, and sales.
Andony Methalopoulos
OSU Assistant Professor of Pollinator Ecology
Andony Melathopoulos is an Associate Professor in Pollinator Health Extension in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University, which was the first such position in the US. He also sits on the Steering Committee of the Oregon Bee Project, which coordinates pollinator health work across state agencies, leads the Oregon Bee Atlas and hosts a weekly podcast called PolliNation.
Belinda Judelman
EAB Program Coordinator, Portland Urban Forestry
Innovative Ideas for What to Do With Ash Wood
Scott Altenhoff
OR Dept. of Forestry
Margaret Miller
OR Dept. of Environmental Quality
Panelist TBD
Alternatives to Ash: Resilient Options for Natural Areas
Rob Emanuel
Clean Water Services
Alex Gorman
OSU Extension
As the Forestry and Natural Resources Extension Agent for Columbia, Washington, and Yamhill Counties, Alex Gorman works closely with small woodland owners. With a background in forest management and forest pests and a passion for education and applied research, he helps landowners make meaningful decisions about managing their natural resources. Alex currently sits on the steering committee of the Oregon EAB Task Force and leads the Task Force’s Training and Technical Assistance Subcommittee.
Ryan Gilpin
Nidus Consulting
Ryan Gilpin is Principal Consultant with Nidus Consulting, a Portland-based arboriculture and ecology consulting company. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology and Management from the University of California, Davis. He also holds a Master’s in Science degree in International Nature Conservation from Georg-August-Universitat and Lincoln University. Registered Consulting Arborist who holds the Risk Assessor Qualification. A Master Birder, he has consulted on hundreds of projects and trained many arborists to perform consulting service. Ryan is particularly interested in tree preservation on construction projects, minimizing impacts to nesting wildlife during tree care, creating wildlife habitat and any combination of trees and birds.
Alternatives to Ash: Resilient Options for Streets, Parks and Yards
Nancy Buley
J. Frank Schmidt & Son Nursery
Nancy Buley is Director of Communications for J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., wholesale tree growers of Boring, Oregon, where she has been “talking trees” for 29 years. She worked as a newspaper reporter after earning a bachelor’s degree in Technical Journalism and Horticulture from Oregon State University. A Lifetime Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Nancy has earned national recognition for her tree advocacy and stewardship efforts, including over a decade of service on the board of directors of Friends of Trees. A GardenComm member and a graduate of the Society of Municipal Arborists’ Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI), Nancy lives and gardens in Boring, beneath an ever-widening canopy of trees.
Teresa Gustafson
City of La Grande
Teresa Gustafson is Urban Forester for the City of La Grande in eastern Oregon, which has been a Tree City USA since 1990. Teresa is committed to providing assistance and education to La Grande’s citizens, schools, businesses, and civic organizations in all aspects of tree care and the community forest. Teresa has a degree in Forest Management from Oregon State University and worked in the timber industry before moving to the City of La Grande urban forestry program in 2007. She is responsible for managing 5,000 street trees, 500 park trees and a forest preserve park owned by the city. She also assists other communities in the Grande Ronde Valley. Teresa serves on the board of Oregon Community Trees, is a member of the Pacific Northwest International Society of Arboriculture and the Society of Municipal Arborists. She is an ISA Certified Arborist and holds a Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. Teresa and her husband Steve own a small farm where they raised their two sons and now entertain their grandchildren.
Alex Javier
City of Portland Urban Forestry
Alex Javier is a Tree Planting Specialist with Portland Parks and Recreation's Urban Forestry Department. A Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, ISA Certified Arborist who holds dual Bachelor of Science Degrees in Forest Ecosystem Management, and Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, Alex has been working in horticulture, forestry, environmental education, and arboriculture since 2008. Since 2016, their primary focus has been tree planting, young tree structural pruning, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in urban forestry.
