The Florida Urban Forestry Council (FUFC) extends its gratitude to all the attendees, sponsors, presenters, volunteers, industry experts, and administrative Board members who made the 2025 Urban Forestry Summit a success.
On Thursday, July 31, through Friday, August 1st, Florida’s urban forestry community gathered at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in Gainesville, FL, for the inaugural membership summit. This was a dynamic event bringing together a diversity of professions, an assembly of advocacy, an exhibition of experience, an array of awards, degrees of knowledge, tiers of talent, a gathering of generations, a collection of challenges, and a show of solutions. The summit provided the opportunity to learn, network, and celebrate with leaders and peers in urban forestry.
Presentations included an introduction to the Florida Forest Service’s Urban Forestry Management Plan; Connecting Urban Forestry to Florida-Friendly Landscaping; Tree Preservation Ordinance & Tree Development Code; Tree Giveaways – A Municipal Perspective on Volunteer Tree Planting & Distributions; Gainesville Urban Forestry Bus Tour; awards luncheon, sponsor presentations, and an open urban forestry panel discussion.
The Florida Urban Forestry Council scheduled an Executive Board meeting on the agenda, inviting membership to attend and observe the governing body and FUFC committees in action.
A most impressive segment was the Leadership Growth Forum written into the agenda of the Executive Board Meeting. The FUFC is an organization of organizations. It is many minds, many hands, with a single purpose. The Leadership Growth Forum was a roundup of executives, directors, and leaders representing the various founding and allied organizations that are the FUFC.
The leaders gathered face-to-face and rallied behind education & research initiatives; discussed common ground regarding tools & resources; prioritized career paths and the entry of youth into the green industry; discussed re-engagement and alignment of member organizations; the mutual benefits to members; and elevated urban forestry concepts, values, principles, challenges, and solutions. Leaders recognized existing disconnects and the need to close the gaps when growing Florida’s urban forests – together.
Late Friday afternoon, when the summit agenda was complete and all was said and done, the only regret was in the word “adjourn.”
