The Pulse: June 19, 2024

An arborist and a tree historian are bringing together international experts for a one-day urban forestry conference at the Backstage Theatre on June 21.

"We've identified a handful of presenters whose voices are important but maybe (are) not the loudest voices in the room typically," said Dustin Bajer, co-organizer of the Spoke n' Loam conference.

Bajer operates a tree nursery in his backyard and teaches others how to do the same through his Shrubscriber subscription community. He also works with the Edmonton Heritage Council to catalogue the city's large, old, and unique trees. His co-organizer, Emi Wekwert, is an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture.

While a typical forestry conference might bring together resource management professionals to learn about lumber, pulp, and forest fires, this conference is more concerned with individual trees in an urban environment. "In a city context, it's a lot more about maintaining tree health so that the trees can provide ecosystem services, and economic value, and duty to the city itself and to individual homeowners," Bajer said.

Trees can increase a neighbourhood's livability, mitigate extreme weather caused by climate change, and could even be linked to a decrease in crime, Bajer said. "Maintaining the health of our urban forest canopy is a way that we can actually indirectly address a lot of challenges that we have, be it social or environmental, especially when we're talking about the mitigation of the impact of climate change."

The conference includes six presentations, each followed by a Q-and-A.

Bajer will support Yong Fei Guan's presentation about Goji berry trees in Edmonton. The fruit tree is native to Asia but was brought to Edmonton by Chinese workers, who came here to help build the continental railroad in the late 1800s. Goji shrubs can grow comfortably in Edmonton, including in the river valley. Guan is a researcher and artist who created the Edmonton Goji Map. The map illustrates that the most visible Goji shrubs are concentrated in the McCauley area. Guan used software that Bajer helped develop while researching heritage trees.

Dave Lutes, an Indigenous arborist from Manitoba, will share his experiences becoming a knowledge keeper, and speak about the interconnection between trees, culture, and recovery. Katie Breukers will discuss how climate change is contributing to fungal pathogens and the deterioration of urban tree health, a field she studies at the University of New Brunswick. Dana Green, a bat ecologist and PhD candidate at the University of Regina, will talk about bat species that roost in trees and how to avoid harming wildlife.

Toni-Marie Newsham and Charlene Scott are on the ISA's Prairie Chapter Women in the Trees committee. The two will explore how arborists will change the future ecosystem and how that can steer arborist decisions today. Jack Novak and Jeremiah Sandler of Tree First Arboriculture, based in Detroit, will speak about the company's emerging "practitioner model" for arboriculture.

On this day in 1967, Grant MacEwan, Alberta's lieutenant governor at the time, presided over a fictitious citizenship ceremony for 300 Boy Scouts.

MacEwan was born in 1902 on a farm near Brandon, Manitoba. Despite being inextricably tied to the history of Alberta, MacEwan didn't move to the province until his late 40s. Before that, he spent decades in academia in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan, then ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat as a member of Parliament for Manitoba under the Liberal Party in 1951. MacEwan moved to Calgary soon after.

He found more success in Alberta politics. From 1953 to 1963, MacEwan served as a Calgary alderman, and then as mayor of the city from 1963 to 1965. During the same time, MacEwan was also a provincial politician. In 1955, he was elected as an MLA, under the Alberta Liberal Party, and then went on to become the party's leader in 1958. MacEwan led the Liberals to a stunning loss in the 1959 provincial election. While MacEwan was personally popular, his party wasn't. The election ended with the Liberals receiving just one seat and MacEwan losing his own to his Social Credit opponent.

But it wasn't just politics that captured MacEwan's attention. He was a prolific writer, with a heavy focus on the history of Western Canada. His first historical book, The Sodbusters, was published in 1948. It was the first of almost 50 historical books he wrote over his life, continuing all the way to his death in 2000.

MacEwan was appointed lieutenant governor of the province in 1966, a post he held for the next eight years. In the role, MacEwan became known for being a vocal environmentalist, especially about wildlife and waterways. He also had a reputation for being down to earth. For example, the position often had MacEwan travel between Edmonton and Calgary by bus. And on these trips, MacEwan stayed at the YMCA while in Edmonton.

The YMCA was also his accommodation when he visited the community college named after him. Grant MacEwan Community College was established in 1971. It originally offered certificates and diplomas. Rather than having one central location, the college operated a handful of small locations in leased buildings in Strathcona, downtown, and Cromdale.

In 1988, the provincial government invested $100 million to construct a central campus for the college in downtown Edmonton, on the site of a former railyard donated by CN Rail. Over the years, the institution has consolidated at the downtown campus. The downtown campus has gone through several waves of expansion, too. It now stretches along the north side of 104 Avenue from 105 Street to 112 Street.

In 2004, the college was accredited to award bachelor's degrees. And in 2009, it became Alberta's sixth university, eventually rebranding as MacEwan University. The institution now boasts just more than 18,000 students, who are enrolled in dozens of degree and diploma programs. The university is currently in the midst of another major expansion — plans are underway to construct a new school of business, which is expected to open in 2027.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.

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