'Tree czarina' Makra to lead Chicago-area tree census; Chicago, IL

'Tree czarina' to lead Chicago-area tree census - Chicago Breaking News:
As a tree scientist, Edith Makra spends her days at the Morton Arboretum thinking about, studying, planting and protecting trees -- a subject she finds so compelling that her idea of the perfect vacation is to hike California's redwood and sequoia forests with her husband.
In 1993, as Mayor Richard Daley's first urban forestry aide, she convened a groundbreaking census of trees in the city's 'urban forest,' as well as across Cook and DuPage counties. A part of Daley's earliest city 'greening' campaign, the undertaking called attention to disappearing native species like oak and years later aided in the battle against emerald ash borer beetles.
U.S. Forest Service scientists developed analytical software for the 1993 census. It was so successful that it has since been used in more than 300 cities.