Team Leaders, David Stone (VA) and Doug White (NC) began organizing on Tuesday and Wednesday for Team 2 crew arrival and work October 2nd.

Team 2 includes:

• Thomas Callahan, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Jim Clark, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Erik Filep, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Chris Frey, North Carolina Division of Forest Resources
• Bruce Harmon, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Rich Reuse, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Tom Steves, North Carolina Division of Forest Resources
• Daniel Westcott, Georgia Forestry Commission
• Gary White, Georgia Forestry Commission
• Hugh Whitehead, Fairfax County (VA)

On Wednesday afternoon Paul collected GPS data collectors with the final Team 1 work in Baton Rouge.

Click here for PDF of map.

The areas south of I-10, Area 2, major parks, and a significant section of Area 6 and the neighborhoods west to I-110 were completed.

In addition to tree assessments, crews are also being filmed for local & state coverage by Louisiana Public Broadcasting. The 3 minute segment is scheduled to air on Friday night and Sunday. Click here and then on "Baton Rouge Tree Assessment" to view.

On Tuesday, Dudley reviewed the current status of hardware connectivity issues with Paul and David Stone (incoming Team Leader).

UFST crews continue working in the southern street priority areas and neighborhood parks on Sunday and Monday.

Justin Smith and Bob Epperson (BREC) had identified several fairly large parks that crews could work on Saturday and Sunday. Crews were trying to avoid LSU football traffic in the southern priority areas.

Major parks included:

• Longfellow
  
• Magnolia Cemetery
  
• Monte Sano
  
• Old Hammond
  
• Scotlandville

Crews pickup recharged equipment on Friday morning (Sept 26), a routine that they will repeat through September 24th.

Daily procedure:

• Start at incident Office
  
• Team Leader instructions and updates from previous day's work

• Get new area assignment from Team Leader
• Paint, ice & water restocked
• Pickup GPS and data collector
• Create day's SOLOforest project
  

• Work area and check-in as needed with Team Leader
• Return to Incident Office
• Place Garmin battery on charger
• Give GPS data collector to Team Leader
• Post "highest priority" list for City Arborist review/decision
  

On Thursday morning (Sept 25) the crews received a refresher course on risk assessment and introduction to the Garmin/Recon GPS equipment provided by LDAF. They were joined by Mahlon Doucet, Waylan Bennett, and Wade Dubea (all LDAF). Paul covered the street priority areas that we will begin with.

Steve Shurtz, City Arborist, discusses ROW issues with the crews in the Thousand Oaks area of Baton Rouge.

Field paint markings were explained:

• orange trunk dot for recommended removals
• green trunk dot for recommended pruning
• 2 orange root collar dots for a stump

Following lunch, Dudley had the crews work with the GPS equipment at the edge of the LDAF parking lot and along Florida Blvd.

Paul had all the crews begin work in Area 2 so that they would be close for support as needed.

When crews returned that evening we discussed issues and questions. The first risk assessment data for streets was downloaded that evening by Paul & Dudley. Minor changes were made to the feature file.

Crew members from North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas for refresher training on GPS equipment on Thursday morning. Crew members include:

• Drew Arnn, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Erik Filep, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Jim McGlone, Virginia Department of Forestry
• Alan Moore, North Carolina Division of Forest Resources
• Eric Muecke, North Carolina Division of Forest Resources
• John Slater, Arkansas Forestry Commission
• Daniel Westcott, Georgia Forestry Commission
• Gary White, Georgia Forestry Commission

Paul, Waylan, and Steve located a block in the Thoasand Oaks neighborhood that could be used for the refresher training on Wednesday morning. Dudley setup the incident office and transferred data dictionaries to the GPS units.

Contact was also made with BREC on possible work in city parks. Bob Epperson and Justin Smith are the BREC contacts.

Paul Revell, UFST Team Leader, arrived in Baton Rouge on September 22nd to meet with LDAF (Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry) staff and City Arborist Steve Shurtz.

An incident response office was setup at LDAF on Florida Blvd and priority areas of the city were surveyed. LDAF staff working with Paul and the team include:

• Wade Dubea, State Forester
• Mahlon Doucet, U&CF Coordinator
• Waylan Bennett, PLT coordinator
• Epney Basher, I&E Coordinator
• Gus Rowland, GIS Specialist

Leslie Moorman (NC), Paul Revell (VA), and Barbara White (VA) begin preparations for the deployment of UFSTs (2) to assist with street tree risk assessment in Baton Rouge (LA) and other communities in that area that were hit by Hurricane Gustav. In Louisiana, Mahlon Doucet and Tom Campbell are coordinating with communities. Steve Shurtz, Baton Rouge City Arborist, describes this as "worst storm to have hit BR in 100 years". The plan calls for the first team to arrive during the week of September 21st; the second team will arrive on September 30th and work through October 11th. Urban Forestry South has prepared the Team Toolboxes (2) for shipment and will ship GPS equipment on September 18th.