Outlook - Fall 2026

By Rose Epperson on Friday, September 25, 2026

Reflections from Detroit: Nature Is Essential

The ISA Annual International Conference in Detroit was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, hear new ideas, and be reminded once again of the breadth of knowledge and experience within our profession. For me, the conference began on a particularly enjoyable note with Sunday evening’s Western Chapter Presidents’ Reception. It was a fantastic way to kick off the week - catching up with members, speakers, friends, and colleagues from across ISA. Those informal conversations and renewed connections are always one of the best parts of gathering together in person.

The conference program offered plenty of those moments when a speaker says something that follows you out of the room. Western Chapter members were especially well represented, and I enjoyed seeing familiar faces sharing their expertise on the international stage.

Martin Hynes presented From Sales Arborist to Trusted Advisor: Elevating Ethics, Value, and Client Decision-Making, looking beyond the transaction to the responsibility we have as professionals to help clients make informed decisions.

Ryan Gilpin and Ryan Suttle; affectionately referred to by many of us simply as “the Ryans”, presented Level 1 Limited Visual Tree Risk Assessment – The Odd One Out. They talked about Level 1 visual inspections and the value of getting the fundamentals right. Ryan Gilpin returned for a second presentation on TRAQ 3.0 from a consultant’s perspective. One of my notes from his session was wonderfully straightforward: when it comes to performing and documenting professional tree care, perhaps the most important document we have is the ANSI A300 Tree Care Standard.

Linda Chalker-Scott’s discussion of retrenchment pruning provided another line worth carrying home: “Anecdotes don’t take the place of established science.” It is an important reminder in a profession where practices are often passed from one person to another because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Experience matters, but our recommendations should continue to be tested against research.

Drew Zwart brought research directly into practice with Planting for Success: Three Experiments to Guide Planting Practices, while James Komen once again made tree law approachable through Case Illustrations in Michigan Tree Appraisal Law. Collectively, these presentations demonstrated something I appreciate about our chapter: our members are contributing not just to the practice of arboriculture in the West, but to conversations taking place throughout the profession.

It was gratifying to see so many of our members contributing to the international conversation. Their participation is a reminder that the Western Chapter continues to be home to professionals who are not only doing excellent work in their own communities but are also helping shape the practices and conversations of arboriculture well beyond our chapter boundaries.

An especially proud moment was celebrating Dr. Lara Roman, whose work was recognized by ISA through its Awards of Distinction Program with the L.C. Chadwick Award for Arboricultural Research. Lara, a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and a longtime member of our Western Chapter community, has built a career around understanding how urban forests change over time – why trees survive or fail, how canopy and species composition evolve, and how better monitoring can help us make better decisions. Just as importantly, her research has consistently connected science with the people planting, managing, and caring for urban trees. Seeing that work recognized on the international stage was a wonderful reminder of the impact Western Chapter members are having on the profession. Congratulations, Lara!

 Among all of the presentations, one message stayed with me:

Nature is ESSENTIAL.

Doug Tallamy’s keynote, Nature’s Best Hope. delivered that message with remarkable clarity. His presentation challenged us to think not simply about whether our landscapes are green, but whether they are functioning ecosystems capable of supporting life.

His message was wonderfully straightforward: put the plants back.

For those of us who work with trees every day, that sounds almost obvious. We plant trees, protect trees, manage forests, advocate for canopy, and spend our careers explaining why trees matter. Yet Tallamy’s presentation pushed the conversation further. A tree does not exist in isolation. It is part of an interconnected system of plants, insects, birds, soil organisms, wildlife, water, and people.

Perhaps one of the most thought-provoking concepts from his presentation was the idea that sometimes it is the absence, rather than the presence, that tells the story. We notice when a tree falls. We notice when the landscape changes dramatically. We may not notice quite as readily when the caterpillars disappear, when native plants gradually give way to species that support fewer organisms, or when fewer birds find the food and habitat they need. Ecological decline can happen quietly, one missing relationship at a time.

Tallamy gave the audience several simple actions that together carry a much larger message: shrink the lawn, reduce unnecessary nighttime lighting, let caterpillars live, and put native plants back into our landscapes.

The phrase that continues to resonate with me is simply, put the plants back.

Our landscapes have become increasingly simplified. Large areas of turf, hardscape, isolated trees, and ornamental plantings may look attractive, but appearance alone does not tell us how much life those landscapes support. Native plants have relationships with insects and wildlife that have developed over thousands of years, and restoring those plants helps rebuild the ecological connections that have been lost.

Tallamy also offered a memorable comparison for invasive plants, describing them as being much like tumors within an ecosystem. They can grow extraordinarily well, but their success may come at the expense of the larger biological community around them.

The encouraging part of his message was that conservation does not belong only in national parks, preserves, and wilderness areas. In fact, it cannot. There simply is not enough protected land to sustain biodiversity by itself.

Our neighborhoods matter. Our parks matter. School campuses, commercial properties, streetscapes, corporate campuses, backyards, and front yards all matter. That concept is central to Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park movement, which encourages people to collectively restore habitat where they live and work. Check it out at https://homegrownnationalpark.org/

For arborists, this creates an opportunity to expand the conversation we have with our clients and communities. Canopy will always be critically important, but canopy alone is not the entire urban forest. We can also consider understory plants, habitat, soil health, biodiversity, lighting, invasive species, and the ecological value of the trees and plants we recommend.

Perhaps every landscape decision could begin with one additional question: How can this space support more life?

Sometimes the answer may be planting another native tree. Sometimes it may mean replacing a section of lawn with native plants, leaving some organic material beneath a tree, reducing unnecessary lighting, or accepting a few chewed leaves because a caterpillar is using the plant exactly as nature intended.

The Detroit conference gave us plenty to think about, from ethics, tree risk, planting, and pruning to consulting and appraisal but Tallamy’s message provided a larger context for all of it. The trees we care for are part of something much bigger.

As arborists, we have tremendous influence over the landscapes around us. We advise property owners, municipalities, businesses, communities, and one another. The choices we help make today determine not only what our communities will look like in the future, but how much life those communities will be capable of supporting. We can create landscapes that are more than simply green. We can create landscapes that function, connect, and sustain life.

Detroit reminded me once again why this profession matters and why our work extends well beyond the individual tree.

Nature is not an amenity. Nature is essential.

Cheers to Trees,

Rose