2023 Progress Update from Ali

This year, Headwaters Master Naturalists have been hard at work surveying and identifying trees at James Madison University (JMU) with Facilities Management and Edith J. Carrier Arboretum staff and interns. Over the last seven months, eleven master naturalists have spent a combined total of 115 hours working in the shade of campus trees and woods.

Work included identifying trees to species, collecting data on each tree’s health and maintenance needs, and assisting the EJC Arboretum as staff begin the process of logging trees there. Over 125 of the specimen trees in the arboretum have been logged into the tree inventory map. Master naturalists that were a part of the EJC Arboretum tree inventory team surveyed over 1,000 trees in the woods and gardens this year!! A specimen tree at the arboretum could be one that is planted singularly as a focus of attention. It could be noteworthy because of its size, age, species, flower, bark, form or rarity. What is most often the case, the specimen trees at the arboretum are used for educational purposes during guided tours and where tree labels are placed to introduce visitors to different species of trees. Logging these trees into the online inventory will allow a larger audience to access and learn more about these unique trees and their woodland home at the EJC Arboretum.

At the start of the 2023 tree inventory field season there were 3,356 trees on main campus areas needing identification and additional tree health data entered and with the help of these master naturalists, we have identified 2,729 of those trees, leaving a total of 627 trees to identify on main campus areas! A HUGE heartfelt thank you from JMU staff to the following master naturalists for their contributions to the JMU Tree Inventory Project, both on main campus and at the EJC Arboretum: Anthony Adamovich, Anna Finch, Ann Murray, Bill Howe, Cindy Westley, Dave Forrer, Elaine Smith, Eunice Sill, Jim Johnson, Nancy Davis and Peggy Plass.

– Ali Sloop, JMU Stormwater Compliance Specialist, November 2023

Click on an image below to enlarge it and find a caption. Thanks to Ali for these photos!