Episode 209 - Nicole Walker author of How to Plant a Billion Trees.

Nicole Walker is the author of several books including Howto Plant a Billion Trees: A Memoir of Childhood Trauma and the Healing Power of Nature, Sustainability: A Love Story, and The After – Normal: Brief, Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet, along with many other noted titles. She has written several pieces for The New York Times and is a recognized author in several editions of Best American Essays. Sheedits the Crux, the literary nonfiction series at University of Georgia Press and teaches creative writing at Northern Arizona University where she serves as Writer-in-Residence for the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society.

Rob Shaut is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Casey Trees a Washington, DC-based non-profit. He was formerly the Tree Operations Director, managing a 30-person team responsible for planting 7,000 plus trees per year, while maintaining thousands more annually throughout Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Rob also oversees the Casey Tree Farm, Education, Policy and Land Conservation, Development, and Communications departments. He is a Certified Arborist® through the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and he is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified.  Rob holds a certification from the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science degree in BusinessManagement from Clemson University and Rob has studied at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, in the UK. (ISA Cert. MA-6185A) Lou Meyer began his Arboricultural journey in Cincinnati back in 2001 when he needed a summer job.Over the years he has worked in residential and commercial tree care, residential and commercial landscaping, and utility Arboriculture in Ohio and Maryland, where he currently resides. After working for a few smaller operations, Lou joined Davey Tree in 2013. He earned his ISA Arborist certification in 2014, and since then he has earned his Municipal and UtilitySpecialist Certs along with becoming TRAQ certified. Lou has served on the boards of the Mid Atlantic Chapter of the ISA and the Maryland Arborist Association. He lives in Ellicott City, just west of Baltimore, with his wife Molly and two children, Louie and Maggie. His favorite tree (this week ) is a white oak.

Hal Rosner has been the co-host of The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast since its founding in 2020. Hal brought his decades ofknowledge in the tree industry to the podcast. He partnered in finding guests, read their books and researched their backgrounds, created questions, and brought his keen wit and sense of humor to the interviews. Hal will be missed but we know that he will be successful in his future endeavors here and around the world as he continues to share his amazing energy through his Mindfulness Practices and tree knowledge to his local community through Tree Tenders®.We know that our paths will cross again as he makes thenew changes in his life. Good Luck and All the Best Hal, Eva Monheim and AndrewMonheim at AndromiDen Recordings.

Ashley Beckwith is the founder and CEO of Foray Bioscience, where she and her team leverage plant cell culture to createpredictable access to the plants and plant products the world needs, by growing them from the cell up. Ashley’s path into the world of plants has been a curious one. She holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and hasbeen innovating at the intersection of biology, materials, and manufacturing for over a decade. Her award-winning Ph.D. research led to the first demonstration of lab-grown “wood”, combining principles of tissue engineering and plant culture to grow structured plant materials in the lab. Now, Ashley leads Foray’s team of plant biologists, process engineers, software developers, and machine learningexperts to make plant cell and tissue culture predictable and accessible for applications from micropropagation to fabricated seed production. 

Orsolya (Orsi) Lazar is an urban forester, an ISA Certified Arborist and a Pennsylvania (PA) Certified Horticulturalist in Sustainable Landscapes. Her unconventional path to forestry began with a Master’s Degree in Ecology and a Master’s Degree in Molecular and Cell Biology. She has over 20 years of experience in landscape design and management, project management, and education.Orsi became the first Community Tree Specialist at Pennsylvania DCNR’s Urban and Community Forestry Program. She helps shape this growing program to better serve communities by building trust, identifying opportunities, and finding creative solutions to challenges. She works with municipalities and non-profits toincrease tree benefits, manage costs and risks, and creates green spaces that suit people’s needs.She is a member of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association and is in the group that is working on updating the PA Certified Horticulturist study manual.Orsi has taught gardening and tree care for diverse audiences, including workforce developmentprograms.  Many local parks have benefited from her technical assistance and plant donations. She created a tree inventory and installed hundreds ofbotanical signs at Merion Botanical Park as a pro bono contribution to her own community. Her “Responsible Gardening” Facebook group helps local gardenersconnect and share sustainable, evidence-based practices.When not in the garden or a park, she enjoys teaching tricks to her border collie or is on the dance floor practicing ballroom and Latin dancing.

Jonathan Mullard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Founder Member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology andEnvironmental Management, and a Chartered Town and Country Planner.  He had combined a passion for the naturalenvironment with a career in conservation and spatial planning.  In the early 1980s, Jonathan worked alongside Max Nicholson, the pioneer ornithologist and environmentalist, on developing an urban woodland strategy for London. This involved setting up a project in Crystal Palace to save a fragment of the Great North Wood. Later, Jonathan cameacross the Capon Tree, one of the few remaining trees from the Jed Forest in the Scottish Borders. Along with his experience of growing up in Shropshire and researching the lost Forest of Morfe, it started an interest in lost forests and their remains.  Jonathan is the author of Forgotten Forests: Twelve Thousand Years of British and Irish Woodlands and three books on Wales published in the Collins New Naturalist series: Gower,Brecon Beacons, and Pembrokeshire.

When you ask Basil Camu what he thinks about himself, he'lltell you he is incredibly lucky. He has family he loves dearly, friends and colleagues who inspire him, and every day he gets to care for trees, soil, and flowers. He pursues his purpose and passions as the co-founder of Leaf & Limb, a tree care company in Raleigh, NC, and Project Pando, a non-profit that aims to connect people to trees. He is a Treecologist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Duke graduate, Wizard of Things, and author of the book From Wasteland toWonder – Easy Ways We Can Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Seattle Times, Forbes, Gardenista, The Joe Gardener Show, The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast, A Way toGarden with Margaret Roach, and a number of other publications and podcasts.When Basil is not having fun at work, he likes to pull invasive plants from his pocket forests, contemplate on his front porch, and go hiking with his family.

Rick Hartlieb and his wife and business partner, Jen, are the proud first-generation farmers behind Castanea Farms in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Their journey is rooted in both passion and persistence, beginning more than 25 years ago when they first met through the Conrad Weiser Area School District’s FFA program.Rick’s early love for forestry led him to Penn State University, where he earned an Associate of Science in Forest Technology from the Mont Alto campus before completing his Bachelor of Science in Forestry at University Park. His career path soon intertwined with chestnuts—starting in 2005 as a volunteer with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation.By 2008, Rick was serving his community as a Service Forester with the DCNR Bureau of Forestry, managing forest resources across Berks, Lancaster, and Chester Counties. His leadership continued to grow, and from 2014–2024 he served as Assistant Manager for Resource Stewardship in the William Penn Forest District before stepping into the role of District Manager in 2024.In 2017, Rick and Jen discovered the property that would define their future: a farmstead dotted with 100-year-old chestnut trees. Inspired by its legacy, they named it Castanea Farms—a tribute to the genus of the chestnut itself. Today, chestnuts remain at the heart of their farming operation, a living testament to both heritage and hard work.

Natalie Carmolli manages Public Relations for Spring Meadow Nursery and Proven Winners® ColorChoice® shrubs. She grew up in the floral industry and holds a bachelor’s degree in theatrical arts, along with a Certificate of Mastery in tree and shrub identification from Longwood Gardens. An avid gardener and dynamic communicator, Natalie is passionate about sharing her love of gardening with shrubs, whether online, traveling across the country, or in her own backyard.

Mary Tipping has held the position of Curator and Plant Recorder at the Scott Arboretum & Gardens at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, since 2015, after working as the Horticulturist at the Henry Schmieder Arboretum of Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.  In her current position, she is responsiblefor curating, recording, mapping, and labeling a vast array of plant collections, which encompass over 11,500 woody plants and thousands of herbaceous plants.  She is an ISA Certified Arborist® and the PhiladelphiaFlower Show Nomenclature Chairman.  Her plant passions include oaks, beeches, Stewartia, conifers, witch-hazels, deciduous azaleas, and ferns, just to name a few.