Through guided tours, demonstrations, a panel discussion and a keynote address, the conference will look at the unexpected challenges—including new insects and diseases—facing trees in urban environments and help participants recognize and manage them.

Guided tours led by Cornell University and CCE experts will examine beech leaf disease, hemlock woolly adelgid and diseases of ornamental prunus. Demonstrations will feature hands-on exploration of plant tissue testing, soil health, invasive woody plants and their lookalikes, invasive insect species, supporting tree pollinators and fungal tree diseases.

The conference’s keynote speaker, Richard Harper, Ph.D., a professor and extension urban forestry specialist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will present “Trees and Change: Can our Community Forests Keep Pace?” a look at how challenges like competition for space, temperature extremes and invasive pests impact urban forests.

The cost of the conference is $75, which includes lunch.