Summer Tree Care and Reforestation Crew

Every sum­mer, Tree Pitts­burgh employs a Tree Care and Refor­esta­tion Crew to care for trees across the City. This loy­al crew works through the warmest months of the year to ensure that the urban for­est receives the best care. Get to know them below, and then fol­low along with their adven­tures on our Tree Care Tum­blr.

Jamie Gruzin­s­ki, Tree Care and Refor­esta­tion Pro­gram Assistant
Jamie (front left in the pic­ture) was on Tree Pitts­burgh’s crew last sum­mer and the prun­ing crew in the win­ter. He returns this sum­mer as the leader of the Tree Care and Refor­esta­tion Crew and we’re glad to have him. He holds a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Biol­o­gy with a minor in Envi­ron­men­tal Sustainability.

“I’m most excit­ed about get­ting to know the tree care sites bet­ter, inter­act­ing with the com­mu­ni­ty, and work­ing out­side every day,” he said.

Jamie’s favorite tree is the Lon­don plane.

Katie Mae Guarnaccia
Katie (back left) is a North­side native who attend­ed Point Park Uni­ver­si­ty and stud­ied film. She has a love of art and nature, and her deep desire to help the envi­ron­ment led her to join­ing this sum­mer’s crew. She’s excit­ed to learn every­thing she can about trees and tree main­te­nance this summer.

Katie’s favorite tree is the mulberry.

Jana­ha Jones
Jana­ha (mid­dle) comes to Tree Pitts­burgh as a grad­u­ate of Man­ches­ter Bid­well’s hor­ti­cul­ture pro­gram. Jana­ha is inter­est­ed to learn more about the tax­on­o­my of trees in the Pitts­burgh landscape.

“I’m excit­ed about the var­i­ous net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties,” this job will pro­vide, she said. “I want to learn all that I can to sharp­en my knowl­edge and spread the good news of conservation.”

Jana­ha’s favorite tree is the ginkgo.

Lewis Pell
Lewis (back right) is orig­i­nal­ly from west­ern PA and recent­ly grad­u­at­ed with a degree in envi­ron­men­tal study with minors in biol­o­gy and geol­o­gy. He joined the crew this sum­mer to expand his back­ground and gain more expe­ri­ence in the field.

Lewis is excit­ed about gain­ing a bet­ter under­stand­ing of plant­i­ng for pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary suc­ces­sion­al sites, and to see up and com­ing projects in the city.

Lewis’s favorite tree is the hemlock.

Nick Shel­ton
Nick (front right) is a cur­rent stu­dent at Penn Sate Uni­ver­si­ty, where he is study­ing land­scape con­tract­ing design. He hopes to gain expe­ri­ence and lead­er­ship skills as a mem­ber of the crew this sum­mer. Nick is excit­ed to guide oth­ers with his knowl­edge while work­ing with the community.

Nick has many favorite trees, but his favorite is the weep­ing willow.