Transcript
Alexis: friends, plants, true leaves, plant people, all of the above.
Plant People: I thought you were going friends like country Romans.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: i mean, I thought you were going some kind of famous speech there for a moment.
Brett: Lend me your photosynthetic power.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Let me your, let me your chlorophyll.
Plant People: Lend me your annuals.
Alexis: Yeah,
Plant People: Yeah. Oh, nice. Nice. said We'll wordsmith that up a little bit, but yeah.
Alexis: yeah yeah, we're working on it.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Famous speech.
Alexis: New, new intro, new swag gear, like lend me, i don't know, we'll come up with something the
Brett: Stop saying swag.
Plant People: We're always looking for audios.
Brett: We already even have people asking us for it.
Plant People: Yes.
Brett: we and
Plant People: Yes.
Jack Baggett: you get hor You got a hort culture swag?
Alexis: If I keep saying I'm manifesting, Brett. I'm manifesting, okay?
Plant People: We need horticulture swag. Alexis keeps bringing it up and we don't have anything. We don't have anything.
Alexis: It's called manifestation. you got to keep throwing it into the universe. You want it to happen. You want that new cool plant, you got to manifest it. And you have to pick the right place at the right time to plant it.
Plant People: Okay. Yeah.
Alexis: And you have have the money to plant it.
Plant People: Speak it into existence.
Alexis: Very good, Jack.
Plant People: Sure. Speak it into existence.
Brett: yeah
Alexis: That's true as well.
Plant People: Okay.
Alexis: Me, every time I go by a tree, I go, oh, help me, I'm poor.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: and
Plant People: With the price of nursery stock, I feel that way more and more, especially if it's a good size nursery stock.
Alexis: Yeah, yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: um
Jack Baggett: Thank you.
Alexis: Well, we usually start off with some sort of like fun little question to get to know, you know, each other. and we have a guest on today. And i think um keeping it in the food realm, as i usually do, ah what is, ah we'll we'll start with Jack, our guest today. We'll let him introduce himself after he tells us about His favorite snack like going at the moment.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Not of all time. Just, you know, like in the past week or two, you're really into what?
Brett: Front loading the snack content.
Plant People: Wow. Alexis and a snack content.
Jack Baggett: Oh my goodness.
Plant People: Shocker. Shocker.
Alexis: I need inspiration.
Jack Baggett: Okay. I have been lately really addicted to this avocado and cream cheese chips.
Plant People: Hmm.
Jack Baggett: Now I can't remember the manufacturer of it, but this is something that if you put in front of me, it is like heroin.
Alexis: and
Brett: Oh, wow.
Jack Baggett: Okay. So it helps.
Plant People: Good stuff.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, it's good stuff. And it's like I've told my wife, we got stop to stop bringing this by, you know, because we can't bring this home at all.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Jack Baggett: You know, so it's because honestly, I will go.
Brett: So is the chip... What's the chip itself made of?
Jack Baggett: I'll go through a bag. What's that?
Brett: what What is the chip itself?
Jack Baggett: Oh, potato chips.
Brett: Like, is it a corn chip or is it a potato chip or is it...
Jack Baggett: oh hat chi It's a potato chip with some avocado in it and sour cheese on it.
Brett: Oh...
Jack Baggett: I don't remember the actual. I think she got it at eight. are we Are we allowed to tell grocery stores here?
Brett: Oh, yeah.
Alexis: Sure.
Plant People: oh yeah
Jack Baggett: Crater Joe's. They do.
Plant People: There you go.
Brett: Okay.
Alexis: o
Brett: TJ.
Jack Baggett: um
Brett: The TJ.
Alexis: Going tomorrow, baby.
Brett: Ooh, TJ strikes again.
Plant People: they are they They have lots of good stuff.
Jack Baggett: oh
Plant People: They have lots of good snacks.
Jack Baggett: a you
Alexis: Ironically, my addiction snack that I can't bring home is also from Trader Joe's. So um ironically, but not really because it's Trader Joe's.
Plant People: You can break in bring it home, but every it's a single serving no matter how big the bag is.
Brett: what is it?
Alexis: What? They have – I love them, um and I have to put them, like, in an area that's kind of hard to get to so that I don't pay attention to them as often when I do bring them home.
Alexis: But it's just, like, a ah package of the triple ginger ginger snap cookies –
Jack Baggett: to the public.
Alexis: So it's got like the grated ginger, the crystallized ginger and some other ginger and they are just, and there they're like small and like perfectly crunchy and you can have like two of them and you're like, yes, you know, there's like a little, just a little something, something, you know?
Alexis: So that's, yeah, see that's the problem.
Brett: And then you have two more, then you have two more, two by two.
Plant People: Good stuff.
Brett: Noah's Ark kind of situation, just two by two.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: that's the problem.
Plant People: It's more exponential. Yeah. Two times two doesn't have to be real tall.
Alexis: That's why I have to put them like where I have to really reach and they're out of sight, out of mind. And then they last a little bit longer.
Brett: Which, I mean, that could be five foot eight off the ground or so, if you're if you're reaching. and
Alexis: I can reach.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: I'm not that
Plant People: When you're hiding snacks, it's always my question.
Alexis: I can reach. I can reach up like ah over a six, like to over a six foot shelf.
Plant People: Are you hiding them from yourself?
Alexis: Thank you very much.
Plant People: She can climb.
Brett: That's great. I admire your confidence.
Plant People: Shimmy. Yeah. Shimmy around. Shimmy up there.
Alexis: I do not have imposter syndrome. um Okay, Brett, what is your go-to snack right now?
Brett: um So my several, I guess my my my in-laws sent us a box of some ah Harry and David like pears and summer sausage and cheese and crackers.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And so I've been eating that in various permutations and combinations recently.
Alexis: Yum.
Brett: I like the, I like the like, can't, can't stop. Like once you pop, you can't stop snack question better. And I was to think if I had an example of that. I have a lot of them. I'm choosing just one, maybe like caramel corn would be like, like slightly salty caramel corn.
Plant People: Ooh, not kettle corn.
Alexis: You're like, get this away from me.
Jack Baggett: Oh, yeah.
Brett: Woo.
Plant People: Yeah, good stuff. It's so good.
Jack Baggett: Oh. Do you like get to triple the triple bat yeah the barrels where you get the caramel and then you get like the cheesies and the butter?
Alexis: Ray, what about you?
Alexis: The cheese.
Jack Baggett: And yeah, that's good stuff.
Alexis: yeah
Brett: sort of palate palate cleanse around the clock around the going counterclockwise
Plant People: Any of that stuff is so good.
Alexis: yeah
Jack Baggett: Oh, gosh, yeah.
Plant People: Go around the edges. Yes, absolutely. Any of that stuff is good. It's like almost like fair food to me. It's so good. Future question, Alexis, fair food, favorite fair food.
Alexis: it Fair food. All right.
Plant People: Ooh,
Alexis: When fair season comes up, state fair, when state fair, we'll talk about state fair at some point.
Plant People: now that's a tough one. That needs to be an episode, not an intro topic.
Brett: well radicus radicus what's your what's your current snack
Plant People: it's It is spring in Kentucky. um You know, it feels like it too. It's been very cool and wet here in the Kentucky.
Alexis: Mm hmm.
Plant People: I don't know how it's been where our dear listeners are, but ah it feels like it's spring here in Kentucky and it's camping season. So I've been craving and I have not gotten them yet, ah but I'm going to the store this evening.
Plant People: I'm going to buy them. And I've said it before. You guys know I'm from East Kentucky, from Appalachia. I'm going to have to go with Vienna sausages for my snack. Or as we say in the East, Viennes.
Jack Baggett: yeah
Plant People: Okay. Viennes. That is the, not Vienna sausages.
Brett: Vianney's.
Alexis: The Vianney's...
Brett: right
Plant People: That's very presumptuous.
Brett: Are you just going straight?
Alexis: Question, do you eat the Vianney's and the pork rinds together like an Appalachian charcuterie board type thing or is that too much?
Plant People: it's
Brett: No.
Plant People: It's the crunchy and the soft altogether. i add some potted meat to glue it together and I'm in heaven.
Jack Baggett: well
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Thank you.
Alexis: Yeah. I would just like an Appalachian charcuterie board.
Plant People: Yes.
Jack Baggett: no
Alexis: I feel like we could just like make this like some pickled pig's feet like just...
Plant People: Yes. Oh, I'm excited. Oh, that's exciting. That's absolutely. I love it all. ah love everything you just said.
Alexis: Coming soon. Yeah.
Plant People: Yes. But I don't know. I crave things seasonally. And that's one of the spring things that I don't know. I just got to have it. So I'll get it this evening. So that's ah and not really a snack food or, but the way I use it, it is.
Alexis: I love it.
Plant People: And I just pop it open. I'm obligated to eat them because you can't seal back up.
Alexis: Once you pop, you can't stop.
Plant People: Yeah. I like it.
Alexis: like What are you going to do with it?
Plant People: Brett started that.
Alexis: Leave it in the truck open?
Plant People: yeah absolutely. Absolutely.
Alexis: no Well, we've already told you we have a guest and we already know his snack that now I am also going to buy and we'll let Jack.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: the
Alexis: i I'll report back on how quickly I ate the entire bag. ah But tell us, Jack, who you are, what you do, ah a little bit about yourself.
Jack Baggett: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Okay. Well, Jack Baggett.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: I am the ah Kentucky Division of Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Partnership Coordinator. ah In my probably 35-year career, year career um this is the longest title I've ever had.
Jack Baggett: You know, it's a mouthful.
Alexis: ah Yeah, i would say that we thought our titles were long. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Gosh, you know, I can't even get it out most of the time. i really need to come up with something just to say, i just say partnership coordinator, you know, for Kentucky Division of Forestry.
Alexis: Yeah. Okay.
Jack Baggett: um So, you know, basically my background has been is ah my mom and dad were native Kentuckians. My dad was in the Marine Corps, so I kind of moved around quite a bit when I was a kid.
Jack Baggett: Uh, but we moved to Kentucky, moved to Lexington for a year. And then we moved out to Bourbon County, which is something Ray knows all about. And, uh, we had a farm out there and, uh, raised tobacco, had some hogs and, um,
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Jack Baggett: And then we had some cattle. And so did that for a while. Then I graduated from Bourbon County High School and and went on down to Murray State University. And down there, I was a just an ag major. I was in ag economics. I had no idea anything about horticulture, trees or anything like that.
Jack Baggett: But I did one class when I was there as an elective in woody ornamentals. And I'm not saying that that brought me into a career in urban forestry, but it kind of started something within me.
Plant People: like a gateway kind of a, yeah, there you go.
Jack Baggett: It was a gateway drug.
Alexis: are Sparked your joy.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Alexis: Spark some joy.
Jack Baggett: It was a gateway drug for me.
Alexis: just
Jack Baggett: So, and then, you know, and so after that, I, you know, I got out of college. My very first job in college was, this is pretty cool. I did use my ag degree.
Jack Baggett: I went out to way out in Western Kansas and I bred hogs, you know, yep.
Plant People: Perfect segue.
Alexis: oh
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: I bred hogs all, you know, and that's what I did. I did this about four months long and, you know, people say, know, you know Basically, I was kind of a hog breeder Yeah, I think you could say. People would say, well, can't hogs breed? Why do you need to assist them? I go,
Jack Baggett: Yeah, you don't really want to know, but yeah, that's what I had to do.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: No, no, you don't.
Plant People: All the details.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, there's a little bit more detail. You guys do not want to know about that. So I was kind of a hog breeder You know, people say, well, you know, yes. what How'd you, you know which you know, part of my thing was I put a little bit of Sinatra light some candles and stuff like that for them and you did that for while.
Plant People: Played some music. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: But yeah, only lasted out there about four months. So then I came back in Washington,
Plant People: And I'm Western Kansas all the way out there. Yeah.
Alexis: probably a lot of smells.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, and there's no hogs out there. And the reason why they did that, because they wanted to keep all the hogs away from any diseases that could very well happen.
Plant People: ah
Alexis: o
Jack Baggett: So, and it was a big, huge operation out there.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: And, uh,
Plant People: Was that the unit with the university out there when you were out there in Kansas with the land grant out there?
Jack Baggett: No, this was this was actually a company called, y'all remember DeKalb, you know, and they had a DeKalb swine breeding at back then.
Plant People: oh yeah. Yeah. The sea corn, man. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Now, they've since sold that to someplace else. and But that's kind of that's kind of like was my first real job. I got bit by a boar when I was out there. I still had the scar.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: I would stand up and drop my pants and show you, but let's just not do that.
Alexis: Oh.
Jack Baggett: Yeah. Because it's pretty – but, you know, seriously, 40 years later, i still have a s scar, you know.
Plant People: Yeah, hogs are vicious creatures.
Jack Baggett: And
Plant People: They are omnivores. They'll get you. They'll get you.
Jack Baggett: I was being stupid, you know, with it. And I thought I could, you know, I'm a farm boy. I know what I'm doing, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Alexis: you only make that mistake once
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Exactly. And so, but then I got, i came down back to Kentucky and I took a job. Honestly, I worked it as in a, I was a lawn specialist for a while for a major tree, ah for a major lawn care company.
Jack Baggett: And I did that for about four years. And honestly, that was a great job because you know what I would do, well, then at the time thing was a great job, but, but honestly, I not only just sprayed lawns and also took care of trees and shrubs at the time, which we're starting to get a little bit into the more of the woody ornamentals at that.
Jack Baggett: But, you know, I had to do all the sales at the time. I do all the customer service at the time, complaints at I actually em even had to collections at the time.
Plant People: Oh, wow.
Jack Baggett: So that was something that really developed what we call like the soft skills, you know, and that job itself did that.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So. you know, I did that for about four years and then i ended up moving over to my, but had a brother lived in Virginia, right outside Washington, D.C. And I moved over with him and I got a job as a horticulture technician with Virginia Cooperative Extension in Fairfax County.
Jack Baggett: um Basically, all I did there was um, I, and we worked at, it we had a phone booth called the horticultural information line.
Plant People: so well Gotcha.
Jack Baggett: And I worked with like two other court technicians. we just answered the phone all day from citizens in Fairfax County asking about gardening questions, just like what you may have master gardeners do now.
Alexis: Wow. Hmm.
Jack Baggett: And so I did that for a year and or so.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: And then I got a job up in Cornell University at at an extension agent up there. I was a multi-county extension agent. Had like about three counties that i was responsible for, but I was only responsible for consumer horticulture.
Alexis: well
Jack Baggett: So I ran the Master Gardener programs in three different counties and stuff like that. So... Did that for a while. Unfortunately, as you all know, with Extension, there are some times that funding is a is an issue and we lost our county funding.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So I had to leave that job after a year and I ended up going down to Richmond, Virginia, where I worked for Bartlett Tree Service.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: I was a sales rep for them and also assistant manager at the office there. I learned a lot about tree care, became a certified arborist then, and that's when I really started developing into you know my myk skills as a as an arborist. and then After that, went back to Extension. They asked me to come back and I went back to Fairfax County where I was a horticulture technician. Was there for four years as an Extension agent. i I worked with nursery people at the time and then also worked with the Master Gardener program.
Jack Baggett: Also ran the farmers markets that we had in Fairfax.
Alexis: Well.
Jack Baggett: We had like eight of them and ran those, which were pretty cool.
Alexis: and
Jack Baggett: I really loved doing that. And guess what happened again?
Plant People: Oh no, here we go.
Alexis: know
Jack Baggett: Yeah, we lost county funding.
Plant People: Man. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: So I left and went back to the private industry and I ran a tree care company for about five years in Frederick, Maryland, which is a really interesting job. Beautiful country up there, um up there by the Catoctin Mountains. And I just absolutely loved it.
Jack Baggett: But then I kind of need to find a job that would have some retirement benefits to. And so I went back to Fairfax County as an urban forester.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And I was there for 20 years. And for most of that time, I was a I did mostly forest health type stuff. Like we had like at the time gypsy moth was a real big problem there.
Plant People: you Yeah.
Jack Baggett: So we had these big, huge aerial sprays. Now we call them spongy moths, but it was we did that for a while. And I did that, I did that for like 12 years. And then we had a huge tragedy, a tree,
Jack Baggett: ah fell onto a car that was sitting in traffic and killed the person.
Alexis: Mm.
Plant People: oh wow.
Alexis: Wow.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Hmm.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, so it does happen. And this was an old sentinel tree back in the Civil War. um And it was a lot of... pressure to preserve it, and but it was just way too, it did it it fell, and it fell not during the storm, just fell right during the middle of the day.
Jack Baggett: And just that might happen to be underneath it with a car, stuck in traffic, and unfortunately, killed them. So then i became the Fairfax County ah tree risk assessment person.
Jack Baggett: And I did that for like seven years.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And that's all I did was to do tree risk assessments, tree risk assessments, and ah go on the private property and just say, you know, hey, this tree is a possibility hazard to the general public. And so you need to get rid of it, you know, and stuff like that.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So I did that, which again, I use a lot of that experience I had from my days. You know, my first job is You know, just most people once they it was pretty good. I love doing that.
Jack Baggett: And then finally, about my last three years, when I was at Fairfax County, i was um there was an opening that came open in the what we call the development side where I would go in and I reviewed development plans.
Jack Baggett: um and then i would also work on construction sites um making sure that ah companies were following developers and contractors for following our our ah tree preservation ordinances and our tree and other ordinances you also think too as i would look at zoning codes and all that and occasionally we had like these minor zoning codes that would be like it's just like minor stuff that doesn't have to go through the zoning appeals. I'm okay. I'm getting too deep, but there's a good story um because it was chickens.
Jack Baggett: People were keeping chickens in their backyards now. And to do that, you had to go through zoning. Well, when it goes through zoning, there's an urban forestry review of that.
Plant People: oh
Jack Baggett: Now I don't really, there's not really a lot I need to do about this only unless you're building a chicken pen. That was, but they're going to to take down a tree. Then would say, Hey, you got to put a tree in something like that.
Jack Baggett: But I would read these stories. These people would send in these applications. And all these stories would be like, I have a chicken name. yeah we We have chickens named Dorothy, such and such. And all that and i'd be sitting there and I was looking at YouTube at home.
Jack Baggett: I'd be like this, just reading these stories about all these.
Plant People: ah Yeah, big narratives.
Jack Baggett: yeah I'm like, I'm into it. Oh, my gosh. Well, we got to say Dorothy, you know.
Plant People: Very personal to someone.
Jack Baggett: And so.
Alexis: Let the chickens live!
Jack Baggett: Yes. I mean, I can't do this. And so I just decided this to go ahead and I would just say, know, you know, but yeah, we have pass those on. I would say no comment.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: P.S. Please save Dorothy.
Plant People: yes
Jack Baggett: so But let's say Dorothy. in gold But did that.
Plant People: Yeah. Reviewed enthusiastically. No comment. Yes. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: but i did that
Plant People: It's.
Alexis: p s you saved dorothy
Jack Baggett: and And I got to my goal where I retired and from Fairfax County, which, you know, again, it's outside Washington, D.C. And, you know, and we had my wife and I decide where we're going to go.
Jack Baggett: And come on, Kentucky, you know, this is where I'm from. And I got a family up near Lexington. And so my wife and I, we settled in Richmond. And that's where we've been living.
Alexis: I
Jack Baggett: And I was retired for 11 months, the best 11 months of my life. And My wife said, you know,
Alexis: think you job.
Plant People: Maybe not the best 11 months for her.
Jack Baggett: get out
Plant People: She's like, maybe you need to keep yourself busy, Jack. Yeah, maybe so.
Jack Baggett: yeah yeah I don't like how you how you criticize how I'm cleaning the house or something along those lines.
Plant People: Quit eating my snacks. Go back to work.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, exactly.
Plant People: Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Jack Baggett: Yeah. Oh, I was ballooning up. Oh, I was.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: wo Yeah. And it was like it was bad. And so. I saw this job and I go, it's working with Tree City USA. It's working with these things.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: And I've heard about them before from from Fairfax County because we were Tree City USA in Fairfax County.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And so I applied for it and they hired me. And so and I got hired. here I've been here about a year and almost a year and a half, I think. And, you know, I'm just barely scratching the surface now, you know, of ah ah what we're doing and in all that. So that's kind of my background.
Jack Baggett: so Sorry, it took a long time, but.
Plant People: Yeah. So you, uh, yeah, you've got a really broad and it's making more and more sense how you ended up in urban forestry on that, you know, that circuit, that route.
Jack Baggett: Yeah.
Alexis: No apologies necessary.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: It's almost like you've come full circle, uh, now back with ah urban forestry with some of your experiences. Um,
Jack Baggett: Yeah.
Plant People: Uh, so, so not surprising you're doing what you're doing, but ah when I met you, you were actually like, you were not, I didn't meet you in your office there in Frankfurt where you're stationed. Uh, so you get out in communities with your, your current job with urban forestry through the division, right?
Jack Baggett: Oh, yo absolutely. I travel all over Kentucky. i I go work with yeah our current Tree City USA. I'll i'll tell you a little bit about those in a little bit later.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: But I also try to help with communities to become like Tree City USA and also just help with communities with their tree ordinances, stuff like that, and try to improve their tree care within there within their cities and towns that they may have.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: and that's what we try to do and um so yeah and that's what that's kind of in a nutshell you know what i do i i do a couple other things here too but uh but the the main job that i do have is to um is to really try to get uh cities to come along to to become tree city usa's and i also work which i really love working with college campuses and there's something called I hate this name.
Jack Baggett: It's called um tree tree campus u s um my gosh Tree Campus USA Higher Education. It used to be called just Tree Campus USA, but now it's Tree Campus Higher Education because we also have a program called Tree Campus K-12, which is for elementary schools too.
Alexis: Yeah.
Alexis: Oh.
Jack Baggett: And so, yes.
Plant People: I was wondering about that. I've seen the programs listed two or three different ways. i was like, is that the same program or is it kind of different? Yeah.
Jack Baggett: yeah
Plant People: I saw it listed as higher ed and K through 12. And I was like, is this the same thing? So yeah.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Now, the yeah, absolutely. The K through 12 is a program that's actually done through the Arbor Day Foundation itself.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: ah KDF, we do not have anything to do with that. yet and But I do help with some elementary schools that want to start it up, um something like that. i give them I give them tips and all that, and they go through it.
Jack Baggett: and And they can go ahead and become a a a tree campus K-12, which I think is pretty cool because that's a great way for me to – I'm always looking for ways to try to get Tree City USA.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So if I get like a school in an area that's doing this – like in ah in a city that doesn't have Tree City USA, then I try to go, hey, you know, let's get the kids involved. Maybe we can get an Arbor Day celebration, which they do as part of that.
Jack Baggett: And then we can possibly maybe go to the town and say, yeah, you know, you you guys already do an Arbor Day celebration. You're pretty much ready to become a Tree City USA.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So, um and which is a recognition that we, you know, that we're trying to strive for as many cities in Kentucky as possible.
Plant People: Yeah. So this program, before we go go kind of travel down that thought, Tree City USA, that's just not Kentucky, correct?
Jack Baggett: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: You mentioned the Arbor Day Foundation. Is this a part of a bigger program beyond the state of Kentucky as far as Tree City USA and the Arbor Day Foundation, all these programs, or they unique to Kentucky?
Jack Baggett: No, there there there are there are in all 50 states, 51, including Puerto Rico.
Plant People: Okay, gotcha.
Jack Baggett: And um you know right now, I think every state probably has a, I would say most states, they they do have a a coordinator, at least an urban forestry coordinator.
Plant People: Okay.
Jack Baggett: Many other states have a partnership coordinator like me that do the exact same thing.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: that we just try to um work to try to get communities to become Tree City USA. And, you know, the the idea is that for becoming Tree City USA is there's got to be a couple a few standards to be able to do so.
Jack Baggett: We want them to take care of their existing trees. We don't want them to top their trees.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: We don't want them to. We want them to take care of them in ah using best management practices and in that in that way. And that's what we try to get them to become Tree City to USA, because that kind of opens up our conversation with them to be able to go, OK, well, let's see what we can do to improve. And we can maybe improve your ordinance. We can maybe do some more. You know, maybe we can try to find a consultant for you to um You know, to maybe that you all can hire to maybe come by and look at your trees, stuff like that.
Plant People: So people are contacting you and it seems like you're reaching out to communities. ah So it's kind of two way street. Sometimes they reach out to you. Sometimes you reach out to them regarding like urban tree health and Tree City USA and related concepts like that.
Jack Baggett: Mm hmm.
Plant People: So it kind of goes both ways, it sounds like.
Jack Baggett: Yeah. It does. um It does. I do get contacted by by communities that want to become Tree City USA. ah yeah I just got contacted by the city of Katawa the other day. So um they want they you know they have a really cool, because of the flood, that they went back way back when they built Lake Barkley or Lake Kentucky Lake.
Jack Baggett: I'm not really really sure which one, but it was part of the old town got flooded just like what Eddieville did.
Plant People: mm-hmm
Jack Baggett: And they used to have like these big, huge trees down there. And but that all got flooded out. So now they want to go ahead and do something more. So I'm reaching out to them, right? Or they reached out to me and then um I'm going to probably go down there and see what they want to do and see what we can do We'll probably have like a tree a tree planting, get some elementary schools involved with it, and move them along to become a Tree City USA, you know.
Plant People: Well, sounds like ah to become a Tree City USA, ah you've mentioned it sounds like some steps, like, you know, some basic requirements or parameters.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Plant People: You mentioned the Arbor Day Foundation and that things like that.
Alexis: Can I preface that question, Ray, with why would a, sorry interrupt, but why would a city want to become, and I asked, like, i I know why.
Plant People: Yeah, go ahead, Alexis.
Plant People: No. No.
Alexis: I did Danville's Tree City stuff for 10 years and ah to do this, but for our listeners who maybe want to ask their city to go be Tree City USA, what are some reasons, like,
Alexis: why a city would be and then what are the to lead into Ray's question what are sort of the requirements you hinted at them but a little bit more
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Sure. um One reason why they may want to become a Tree City usa is because of the fact it kind of does open them up to a little bit more grant opportunities than what they may have if they are not.
Jack Baggett: um You know, right now, um as you know, as we know, the federal grant, they're kind of right now, we're not having not seeing a lot of federal grants coming down.
Jack Baggett: Okay. um However, We may have one coming, I don't know where this grant is coming from, um but anyway, ah there is something that's coming down the pike that I don't know about too much, but it's going to be something where we may be ah able to offer some grants to some communities here in the future.
Alexis: Mm.
Jack Baggett: And one of those things is going to be is what we're hoping to do is we want them to become a Tree City USA or they have to already be a Tree City USA. And so that's probably one of the best things because you'll get more opportunities for grants for that.
Alexis: Mm. Mm.
Jack Baggett: You also get into my little network. and the and and And so if I see something that is that I think that, you know, because we get sometimes these grants that come along that maybe are not federal grants, but maybe there's something we've heard of before. I'm sending those out to my, to my Tree City USAs, you know, and, you know, for them to look at and to possibly, um you know, to possibly apply for.
Jack Baggett: And then I also help them with their application. We come with the ideas, how we make it a little bit better and that's what they can use me for and also chris wiedeman who is our urban forestry coordinator my co-worker he and i you know he's also really good at possibly you know let's tailor this made so we can get you that grant you know and um so we can get that just written up just perfectly for you so um you know so those are that's probably one of the main reasons the other thing is
Jack Baggett: It's just fun. You know, you get well you get to put a Tree City USA, you know, a street sign on your signs.
Alexis: Yes.
Jack Baggett: I have a community, Southgate, which is up there by um ah Cincinnati. They have all they they have earned like 10 signs every we every five years or every three or four years.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Everybody gets a brand new road sign. like And most people just, you know, they may stack them somewhere once they get two or three.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: They put them out everywhere, you know. So you walk in that community, you know you're in a Tree City, USA community. Many others do like i ah you can walk in town like ah but i and whenever I see it, you know, yeah whenever I see a Tree City USA sign, you always end up stopping and taking a picture of it and stuff like that. So it's so they get that get that recognition, get a Tree City U.S. flag. But it's also really good because it kind of really focuses that trees are a really great part of our community.
Jack Baggett: And and what it does is just basically just just reminds us of this.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And then we have Arbor Day. We get the mayor out there to do a proclamation. We get the city council out there to help plant trees. We did this just recently in Owensboro.
Jack Baggett: And I was just, you know, get to talk to some of these people and talk to some of these leaders and and they're like amazing. Once they start doing it, they love it and they want to do it every year.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And so it's really cool to be able to see this happening. And so um it's a really fun thing to have with their city. And it's not something that whenever I approach a city, it's not, you don't have to do a whole lot to be trees in the USA.
Jack Baggett: And I'll get into what the standards are, but well, let me do it right now. If you don't mind. Sure.
Plant People: Yeah, go right ahead.
Alexis: Yeah, please go ahead.
Plant People: Perfect. Because it sounds like, Alexis, you have some experience.
Jack Baggett: Sure.
Plant People: Were you part of your retreat?
Alexis: Yeah, and i wanted to i wanted to tell him some cool things that we were able to do.
Plant People: Okay, yeah.
Jack Baggett: Yes. Well, I
Alexis: And I think having the Tree City USA like ah designation was very really helpful towards stuff. And I just wanted to like brag in a way where he can use that to go brag about stuff.
Alexis: But yeah, tell us tell us how to become one.
Jack Baggett: i want to hear that. Definitely.
Plant People: Yeah, hear the good stuff. Yeah, share that.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, absolutely. Share that. ah Okay. But anyway, there's four standards that need to meet to become Tree City USA. And one of the things is they either have to have a tree board, a volunteer tree board, or they have to have a department within the city that is responsible for trees.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Now, most cities like, let's say, Paris, for instance, so Paris, Kentucky, they have a they probably don't have anybody that's a tree person, but they have a grounds people.
Jack Baggett: that and and when their tree comes down they go out and they take care of it well that's a department that does take care of trees so um so they have to either have somebody that's assigned to that um like a department that does take care of trees or they need to have a tree board um many of my very small communities that do not have a um uh do not have a department most of these like in louisville i have all these little small towns in louisville you know
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: as they all are um they are just tree boards on those but um but either one of those you have to have that the other thing too is you have to have a community tree ordinance um and that and that needs to be in place 24 7.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: you just can't have an ordinance like just for like development or something like that It has to be an ordinance that says this is what we're going to do in our, you know, for our trees here in in in this in this town.
Jack Baggett: And usually just establishes policies for how they're going to plant the trees, how they're going to maintain the trees, and what they're going to do in order to remove the trees and within the city.
Plant People: Is that something that you could help advise on as, you
Jack Baggett: so Absolutely. And i and i work with communities... All the time, i i I have sample tree ordinances that I use.
Plant People: Awesome.
Jack Baggett: um all sorts of
Plant People: Great.
Jack Baggett: Also, just outside of me, there's all sorts of like the Chicago Area Tree Ordinance Builder. That's something that is um I use quite a bit. And it's pretty cool because what it does is it It says um they had like three different levels of tree ordinances that that you can adopt or different sections of the tree ordinance. It says this is our basic. This is the intermediate. And this is the gold standard, you know.
Jack Baggett: So basically, we're just trying to get a tree ordinance through.
Plant People: Uh-huh.
Jack Baggett: Now, there are going to be a look before um the Arbor Day Foundation was, hey, we just need to just have a tree ordinance. Doesn't have to say what that tree ordinance is.
Jack Baggett: But they are changing it starting next year as tree ordinances and have to have some type of like a best management practices that they got to follow, usually from ISA, International Society of Arbor Culture.
Jack Baggett: There's also called something called ANSI, which is the American National Standards Institute on tree care. um that It shows proper pruning, proper planting, stuff like that. And then just they need to have a language in it that they're going to be following those types of processes.
Jack Baggett: the
Alexis: Maintenance.
Jack Baggett: the processes and all that. So that's generally with the tree ordinance. The third thing they need to do is they need to have an annual budget, $2 per capita. Now, when I first started talking to city leaders, they're like, there's no way we're going to do that.
Jack Baggett: A town of Paris is like, let's say, what, about 10,000 people?
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Maybe now.
Plant People: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So that's 20,000 people. They're thinking, we're not going to have a budget for 20,000, you know, 20,000 for trees. It's like, it doesn't have to be un for trees. Leaf removal is tree care.
Jack Baggett: Okay. We are pretty liberal in what we call tree care in everything.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Picking up branches when you're mowing can be tree care. Also, any type, if you are doing like utility work, if the city does its own utility work, that always goes into that too. So most of my cities, it's a $2 per capita.
Jack Baggett: I think most of my cities, we're around $10, something like that. Add everything together. Plus any in-kind time, any volunteer time, stuff like that, that goes into that. So usually almost every town out there, they're already doing it. And it's just a matter of just,
Jack Baggett: putting down on paper and seeing what we're looking at. And finally, it's the most fun thing. It's celebrating Arbor Day. And that is just going out there in the spring or in the fall. Arbor Day is any that time of the year.
Jack Baggett: we you could It doesn't have to be on Arbor Day, but it honestly, fall Arbor Days work out better because you know why? The weather is better.
Plant People: Yeah. Better time for trees.
Jack Baggett: That's awesome.
Plant People: A lot of trees.
Alexis: and we usually tell people to like in kentucky it's most of the time better to plant trees most trees in the fall anyways so yeah
Jack Baggett: Exactly. No, exactly. And so we had, hey, Richmond, where I live now, of course, when I found out that Richmond was not Tree City, USA, I had to...
Alexis: blasphemy
Jack Baggett: I know. People can accuse... Okay, I'll get into this in a second, but people can accuse me of, here's the things, the towns I'm going after right now, Paris, because I you know went to high school there,
Plant People: Personal connection, yeah.
Jack Baggett: person that Yeah, Richmond. And then this year, last year ah for Tree Campus, higher education, I got Murray State, you know, because it's all my alma water, you know.
Alexis: nice yeah
Jack Baggett: and so So I got that too. So anyway, but the final thing is celebrating Army Day. And that's a fun thing. And honestly, Once you start, you know, once I think cities, they start seeing Arbor Day, especially if you have kids involved with it, you're planting trees, um you you're giving, you know, the the mayor gives it the proclamation, Arbor Day proclamation, stuff like that.
Jack Baggett: like i said earlier, they start getting into it and then they want to keep on doing it. And it's its ah it's a really cool thing that we're doing and it really kind of you know moves along on its own. So you know those are the those are the basics on on how to become a Tree City USA. And so um you know right now we have 39 Kentucky.
Jack Baggett: We've had some brand new ones. Like I said, ah Richmond, Kentucky is a new one, although they had been Tree City USA years ago, but we come kind of call them a brand new one now. Elizabethtown is one of our brand new ones.
Jack Baggett: ah One of our smallest ones is a place in Louisville called Brownsboro Village, and they have a very active tree board there. and And so they became Tree City USA this year.
Jack Baggett: And we have yeah we have some old ones too. you know it's ah ah Lexington is one of our oldest along with the city of Anchorage. They've been Tree City USA, want to say 36 years now.
Plant People: Oh, wow.
Jack Baggett: So that's a long, long time. So they've been they've been going at it pretty good. so you know you know Also, one of the other things that I work on is called Tree Campus Higher Education.
Plant People: Yeah, I was going to ask about that.
Jack Baggett: I i mentioned earlier this year.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, and I work with, and i love working with colleges and universities on that. it's just It's just a lot of fun because a lot of the colleges and the universities have so many beautiful trees on campus, and it's just slam dunk to just go ahead and and try to get them to become Tree Campus USA.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And there are standards that they also have to meet on that too. But um the main thing is is they just need to, they have to have a tree advisory board, which is usually made up of a faculty member, but students also.
Jack Baggett: are on the on list and then somebody from like the facilities management staff and
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Maybe some, and then a community member would be really be really nice. We'd love to have like an arborist or something like that, a certified arborist to serve, not only on just Tree Campus USA's, but also on Tree City USA's, if we can if we can find them, just to help provide a little bit more technical information for them.
Jack Baggett: um yeah And so, but it's a really ah great program. I think I have about 13, third te ah Tree Campus USA, University Kentucky is one.
Jack Baggett: um When they first started, but what's that?
Plant People: I was afraid to ask if UK was one good.
Alexis: yeah
Plant People: We're representing awesome. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: yeah Hey, all the regional universities, except I'm not going to name them. No, I'm not going to name them. I have two regional universities.
Alexis: Call them out. Call them out.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Well, I'm going to be working with them. And it's only, you know, it's only just sometimes it's just me getting the time to contact these people. You know, and that's all it is, because once I start talking about it, they are really, really just um they're really excited about it once we get going.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: But Northern Kentucky University, I really need to get with them on that one. And Moorhead University, I really need to get on that.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: I have some interest in it. i just got to make the phone call.
Plant People: And Moorhead's got some beautiful trails and a lot of beautiful trees.
Jack Baggett: No.
Plant People: So should be a good fit for Moorhead out in Rowan County.
Jack Baggett: it is.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: It is. and i And know what? And, you know, one of the things that we're trying to do with our program is we want to get it expanded beyond, you know, what we can call the golden circle, like a golden triangle, I guess, which is northern Kentucky, Louisville, Lexington, you know, central Kentucky, and try to get this more out into western Kentucky, which I have a few Tree City USA
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: trees out there. And then I have, but I i have i have a dearth, I have Corbin, which is one that I have in in Eastern Kentucky.
Jack Baggett: And I gotta get some more out there. And so we're trying to get this
Alexis: We got get you hooked up with the agents out there it. Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Exactly.
Alexis: You're correct.
Jack Baggett: And see, this is what I'm hoping for.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Your big reach with the horticulture podcast was, you know, every agent listens to this. So they need to contact me.
Plant People: I better. ah better
Jack Baggett: and And now i'm going to say my best friends, Brett, you know, ah Brett, Ray and Alexis told me that you all need to talk to me, you know. So but, you know, honestly,
Alexis: Because it's really not not that bad, especially now that you're here. I mean, before you were here and there were just not enough people to go around to, you know, if we had questions, it just could take a while and it wasn't anybody's fault. It was just, you know, there's not enough time in the day.
Alexis: And so um it's just it's so much easier now and it's all online and. You know, you you really ah I was the person who would put it in and it wasn't it wasn't that bad.
Jack Baggett: yeah
Alexis: The hardest part was just reaching out to the city workers for the maintenance report on what they did so I could put a number to it and be like, just just I need just give it to me. I know you have it in a spreadsheet somewhere.
Alexis: Give it to me.
Jack Baggett: know Yeah, like just give me last year's.
Alexis: And I finally got their cell phone numbers and I was like, if you don't give me this, we're going to fight.
Plant People: It
Alexis: And they would lay and then I'd be like, Jack, I'm so sorry. I just got this. Can I turn it in still? And it's a whole ordeal. But, you know, that's it.
Plant People: was a whole thing.
Alexis: It does help you connect with your city workers. And because of that connection, they would call me to educate, like to teach their guys how to prune better.
Alexis: And, you know, so there was a connection made there through Tree City that I could just be with the maintenance people. And they knew to call me about trees if they had a question or needed some training. And so that was a really good connection ah to have. And it was all because I had to shake them down for tree city stuff.
Alexis: so
Jack Baggett: Yeah, yeah. You know, occasionally I have to do the same thing.
Plant People: ah Let's call it a forceful follow-up. Hmm.
Jack Baggett: Well, you know, like it's just kind like this.
Alexis: Me, he's had to do it with me.
Plant People: Hmm.
Alexis: And I was like, it's not my fault.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, know no, no, no. Alexis, you were great. You know, when you were in Bull County, you were you were fantastic.
Alexis: Thanks.
Jack Baggett: and And I really appreciate all you did down for the city of Danville. And they are still Tree City, USA, you know, so, you know.
Alexis: Proud of them. I set them up. I was like, listen, guys, this is when it's due.
Jack Baggett: you
Alexis: Here's all the things that you need. Here's the step-by-step. I also already told Jack that I'm leaving and that you're the person.
Jack Baggett: Exactly. And I contacted them right away and they sent it and they got their application.
Alexis: You're wonderful. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: Yeah. And they got it.
Alexis: I also wanted to tell you about um just, ah again, like a a brag, but not a brag on like me, a brag on my community and the way Tree City played into that.
Alexis: And for, you know, agents or other people interested in Tree City, you know, potential for, you know,
Plant People: Thank
Alexis: something they do so we ah Danville was Tree City, USA. and kind of ah To meet those needs, they applied for other grants, one of them being KU Plant for the Planet grant, which was 50-50.
Alexis: The community raised 50% of the money to plant trees. and fifty percent of the money to plant trees And the Danville Center College community is very big tree lovers.
Alexis: And so it was not a difficult thing to do.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Alexis: And so in the 10 years that I was there, I think we planted, um you know, 500, 700 trees or something like that.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Alexis: ah because Because of this grant, because we had Tree City and it was sort of like a push, we were like, we want to be Tree City every year, so we got to get some trees in the ground and You know, we didn't have to tell him that we were way over our capita anyways.
Alexis: so Right. But we wanted to do that.
Jack Baggett: Okay.
Alexis: And through that, an endowment was able to be started with some of the extra funds, you know, because our guys could only plant so many trees. So that money would go into an account to, you know, replace a tree every now and then. and we got good stock. And so that money built up to the point where a small endowment was created. Right.
Alexis: um And a position that we fondly called the Lorax came out of that. And what that was was and was it basically an internship, a fellowship, an internship.
Alexis: ah And it was a partnership between the extension office and the city. ah And that ah person, which was usually a student or student age, would ah spend about 20 hours a week working with the trees.
Alexis: And so they would go out with the guys and they would put water in the gator bags on all the new trees.
Plant People: Oh.
Alexis: They would um ah keep better like maps. Like we had an idea where trees were, but these were people interested in trees. So they would ID them and say, you know, all of your oaks are along this strip or wherever.
Alexis: And, you know, just categorize them. This one needs replaced, that kind of information. So it's on its... Third year this year. and so that is but ah partially paid for by the endowment and partially paid for by the extension office.
Jack Baggett: know
Alexis: And that student does ah another 20 hours of interning with extension and then 20 hours with the city trees, so to speak. And so.
Jack Baggett: you
Alexis: So anyways, it just it's been a really cool program and a really good partnership that's formed because of that. And I really do feel like it all comes back to we're a tree city. We got to stay a tree city. So here's all the things we're going to do to stay a tree city. And so I think that that overarching umbrella um was a motivator. So I just wanted to wanted to tell you all about it.
Jack Baggett: Oh, that's fantastic. That's a great... I love hearing that. that
Alexis: Yeah, yeah.
Jack Baggett: You know, it really... Because, you know, honestly, you know, it comes from citizens too and, you know, to become Tree City USA.
Alexis: I
Jack Baggett: And that's where it really comes to. I mean, I can approach city managers and stuff like that and say, hey, let's think about coming to Tree City USA. Most of them are pretty receptacle to it.
Jack Baggett: But honestly, listen, I don't know if you all, what extension's like, but... You know, I do know how it's like, we're done.
Alexis: i was like, yes, you do.
Jack Baggett: We're, you know, we're we're asked to do more with a lot less. And so what they're doing is they're doing the the calculations in their head of, is this one more thing we got to do, you know, and stuff like that.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: So that's why we get citizens involved. At least get citizens involved in in order to maybe form a tree board, which is nice, which is what I always recommend for communities to have.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And I also would recommend just to help start off letting citizens help out doing the Arbor Day found doing the arbor day ah planning and stuff like that.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: And once cities start seeing that, then they want to start, you know, becoming much more involved.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: And trees are like the sea turtles, right? It's an easy, it's usually an easy sell for most people because they want shaded sidewalks.
Plant People: Yeah, it's like butterflies and sea turtles.
Jack Baggett: Pretty much.
Alexis: They want more trees in the baseball park so they're not sitting in the sun. You know, they want trees. And so they want to take care of the ones they have.
Jack Baggett: uses
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Usually they all have fond memories of, you know, so a big tree that they had at their school or whatever.
Jack Baggett: yeah
Alexis: And so it just, it's an easy, in my opinion, from from that perspective, it's a pretty easy sell usually to get people on board to meet a couple times a year. To say like, this is what we think should be done with the trees, mayor. And the mayor goes, great. And then boom, checklist.
Plant People: Well, it's something positive for the city leaderships or town leaderships or whatever the administrative leadership structure is.
Alexis: And it's. Yeah.
Plant People: It's a positive thing. Lots of positive vibes with that program from all the press that I've seen, you know, throughout time. I didn't know where it's coming from, but um I mean, there's lots of happy people in and all of those pictures.
Jack Baggett: Well, absolutely.
Plant People: So that's a good thing.
Brett: ri Ray and Alexis are are more logistical people. I'm more of a how to win hearts and minds because if my if my extension funding runs out, I might just go full cult leader. So that's I'm just thinking about how to sway people, you know how to win friends and influence people. And I'm curious because you have this very unique vantage point, not only of having seen this stuff across time, but also across geographic areas.
Brett: And I'm curious if you've seen like like what is it about trees and planting them and putting them in that that kind of most sways people now? And is that different? Has that changed across time? I think about like the rise of, know, pollinator habitat as an interest in a lot of places that seems to have happened over the last 15 years or so.
Jack Baggett: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Or the, you know, energy is ah energy costs and cost of living and shade as a mechanism for that is another one. um Rainwater, flooding, et cetera. I'm just curious, like, not so much that you're going in and pitching people and but sometimes you are maybe, but what what tends to sway people or what is it that they're looking for out of trees or what messages re resonate and any reflections across your career about that?
Jack Baggett: yeah so Thank you, Brad. That's a great question. um Usually, i just kind of approach it to where... You know, trees are just, like you said, they're just gorgeous. You know, I mean, you got so many different types of trees. I mean, how many grasses we have? We have like, what, five or six different species of grasses that we have.
Jack Baggett: We have hundreds of hundreds of different types of trees out there. Not all of them should go in the same place or the same area, but trees are just gorgeous and they're beautiful. And they were here before we got here, you know. And so it's just a...
Jack Baggett: wonderful thing to have. I would have loved to have been able to have been here 100 years ago to see the chestnuts, you know, as a chestnuts were growing here in downtown areas and places like that.
Jack Baggett: um You know, I lived in Frederick, Maryland, um you know, for about 10 years, and we had downtown trees, you know, and they would put like lights on them in the in the in the wintertime, you know, for Christmas.
Jack Baggett: It was gorgeous, and it would just attract people from all over to come to Frederick.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: for They had this first Saturday night thing, and so people would just come to the um ah you know come downtown to look you look at the lights and stuff like that.
Jack Baggett: and you know Right now, you know I see the big thing is we need to get trees back in downtown areas again. There's none, you know, um but it's going to take some planning.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: It's going to take some, a lot of planning to be able to do something like that. But, you know, I just really feel, though, that one thing and i I always say about trees is trees are are our love letter to our future generations.
Jack Baggett: You know, we're planting trees for people who are never going to know who we you know, and that's just something that we say, and that's what kind of motivates me. Yes, it's a little foo-foo, and I love it because I, it's just, like
Plant People: Brett's thinking, I like the property values increase.
Alexis: You're in good company.
Plant People: He's calculating the economics.
Jack Baggett: yeah, probably values increase, and yes, you're right.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: If you put, and you know, and okay, I know you guys are University Kentucky people, but you know, the University of Louisville actually doing a lot of good studies on trees and health, you know, and they're,
Plant People: Oh, awesome.
Jack Baggett: They're documenting scientific reasons why trees are. If you have a hospital bed that looks out toward trees, That helps people recover. Now, I'm not saying that's a recovery.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: That's not, you know, just because of the trees, but trees help add something to that. People like being around trees. People just love a tree area.
Jack Baggett: You know, it just looks good. um And it's and that's the things we try to get across is, you know, insight honestly, sometimes I do get some pushback from cities.
Jack Baggett: You know what this pushback is going to be? You can probably guess.
Plant People: ah Liabilities?
Jack Baggett: That's one, but leaves.
Plant People: No.
Jack Baggett: They don't want to take care of the leaves.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Cost of removal, yeah.
Jack Baggett: Yeah. And then.
Alexis: Put you in a willow oak and shut your mouth, okay?
Jack Baggett: Yeah, we get a honey locust. You don't need to worry about that.
Alexis: It's
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: You know, so it's fun.
Plant People: It's fine.
Jack Baggett: And you know what?
Alexis: fine.
Jack Baggett: Your trees are going to be what you mentioned before is the savings on costs. Bringing people downtown is our tree area. That's that's going to be well worth the cost.
Jack Baggett: And you're not you're going to you're going be whistling as you clean up those leaves, you know, that come down.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: I always gravitate to those areas on vacation or when I'm traveling.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: you know, the first thing I notice is usually, um i don't know, i but I've always noticed the trees. Like when I go to Savannah, the first thing I notice is the trees or some of these cities that you can tell there's an obvious value over time.
Alexis: Oh, yeah.
Plant People: that have been placed on design and care for trees or other plant materials in cities, yeah especially trees, which is long-term care. I always notice that first and I always enjoy those areas. The noise is not as bad. I love to walk under the shade because I'm very pale.
Plant People: I mean, there's so many other like ah benefits that you see and benefits that you don't see.
Alexis: When
Jack Baggett: yeah
Plant People: I notice those things constantly.
Alexis: when Yeah, it's it's true.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Alexis: And like when Danville redid their city, they got a um grant and redid their streetscape and the trees were a big part of it.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Alexis: Now the company, I X all of their tree suggestions, but one of the things that like they did is they weren't putting in tiny tree coffins, right? They put in permeable pavement.
Jack Baggett: Yes.
Alexis: They put in really large, you know, is it a perfect situation? No, but it was way better. And they, you know, highlighted native species and diversity. There's, you know, four or five different ones down Main Street and because they knew and they put them specifically where they would shade um seating areas.
Alexis: And so they like they it was so smart and they knew that it was worth the money to spend to get them in there and getting a good size.
Jack Baggett: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: And it was yes. I mean, from again, as a logistical person, it's important. But, you know, we see how people just enjoy their time more and have a good experience.
Jack Baggett: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: when there's more trees.
Plant People: Well, I've talked to local real estate agents and, you know, we're we're in Scott.
Alexis: and so
Plant People: I actually live in Scott County, work in Bourbon County. Scott County I don't know, the fastest or tied for the fastest growing community in the state.
Jack Baggett: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Tons of new neighborhoods here. And real estate agents, I've talked to many of them and they say one of the first questions that comes up Well, does it have trees around the house? Are they mature trees? And that kind of surprised me.
Plant People: And they were like, no, it's definitely a home with an established planting, established landscape, especially mature, healthy trees. They said that definitely adds value to properties.
Plant People: And when I go through a new neighborhood, the houses may be beautiful and well designed and have lots of diversity and diversity. architecture and all of that. But a neighborhood just doesn't feel like a neighborhood to me until it has tree cover. I've always been like that.
Plant People: And that's that helped me pick the neighborhood that I'm in now. It had about 15, 18-year tree cover, a good diversity of trees. and And it's a longer, you know, a creek that's almost a river. But it was as much about the trees.
Alexis: Right now, yeah.
Jack Baggett: Lately, it has been. Yeah. yeah
Plant People: Yeah, yeah.
Jack Baggett: again
Plant People: I look for those things. So it I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that this real estate agent says, no, that adds value. Actually, economic value as well as you know emotional support and stuff like that.
Plant People: So real world value.
Jack Baggett: Yeah, no, absolutely. There's um so many, you know, a neighborhood I live in actually is kind of the opposite, you know, and, you know, one of the things I would love to be able to do is work with developers in, you know, on some of these towns and say, you know, put a tree in. It's not that expensive.
Jack Baggett: You know, put a good tree in and plant it correctly, you know, because that's one of the things, too.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: yeah
Jack Baggett: And Alexis, you you mentioned it about these tree coffins that we have in downtown.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jack Baggett: Listen, i'm I'm all for the average city tree. I think we've all may have heard the statistic once before, but the average city tree lasts seven years. you know, because that's the fact that we don't take care of them.
Jack Baggett: And so, you know, I'm from a school of, you know, I want these trees to be there for 40 years, you know, 50, 60 years and stuff like that.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: And, you know, and we got to plant them correctly. and We do need to do some engineering for some engineering soils. We got to come up with some creative ways to come downtown. One creative way that we we thought about was, you know, we can't just put them in sidewalks because like people got to move, you know.
Plant People: yeah
Jack Baggett: But you take a few parking spaces away and make those your tree areas, you know, and you can have like a linear root space and clean stuff like that. Put a nice bench there. And so that's good.
Jack Baggett: yeah You know, you can do all sorts of of ah really neat things downtown. So I'm hoping I'm around when I can do that.
Alexis: Well,
Plant People: So many pros and it doesn't sound like the cost of getting in that's too, too much.
Alexis: well
Brett: for
Plant People: So yeah.
Brett: Before Alexis leads us out.
Plant People: Awesome.
Brett: um
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: So I think we're, to be clear, it hurts my heart to try to put these things in economic terms, but it, my brain knows that that's something that happens and needs to, yeah, anyway.
Brett: But so I'm going to, I'm going challenge us.
Alexis: part of the...
Plant People: As a fellow economist.
Brett: I'm looking for some reason, i'm looking specifically at Alexis. I'm going to challenge all of us to, to actually take a moment maybe this week or in the coming weeks and go find a nice tree and just sit under it and do nothing else, but sit under it and breathe.
Brett: and appreciate it. You know, we say these are beautiful, these are amazing, but do we take the time in our lives to do that? I'm challenging all of our listeners, too, to go and do that. Form that connection. Form that... ah take that if You can eat.
Alexis: Take a snack.
Plant People: Take a snack. Yeah.
Brett: Yeah, we'll allow eating. We'll allow avocado cream chips under the...
Jack Baggett: Yeah. Take those. Definitely. You know, no, that's, um, I think we call that forest bathing.
Alexis: Ginger Snaps. Pet your dog.
Alexis: o
Plant People: Just soak it in.
Jack Baggett: Actually. Yeah. I actually came across that term this last year. I was at a conference up in Chicago with the, uh, Arbor Day society or the Arbor Day foundation put it on and, uh, they had all sorts of people in there to talk about forest bathing and, and, um,
Jack Baggett: Yeah, I mean, honestly, sit underneath a tree is one of the best things to do. It really is.
Plant People: Oh yeah. yeah
Jack Baggett: So, Brett, definitely. I'm going to do the same thing.
Plant People: Super solid, super solid ask. I will definitely do that, Brett.
Jack Baggett: you yeah
Alexis: Well, awesome. So we are going to put Jack's contact information in our show notes. So all of you who are raring to go about becoming a Tree City USA in Kentucky can contact Jack.
Alexis: But they can also, Jack, where can they go if they're out if they're in the U.S. but outside of Kentucky to figure out how to do Tree City USA? The Arbor Day Foundation?
Jack Baggett: Yeah, the Arbor Day Foundation. Just Google that up on your Google machine and just um you'll come right up the Arbor Day Foundation. it' will tell you how to get involved.
Jack Baggett: If you want to get your city involved in something like that, um they can do that. And then what will happen is a very nice person from the state, such as myself, will be contacting you and saying, yes, i will I will be around to help you.
Alexis: How can I help you? Yes.
Jack Baggett: And yes, how I'm here. I'm from the government. I'm here to help, you know.
Plant People: Yes, as a bumper sticker, yes.
Jack Baggett: So, yeah
Alexis: like about trees, so really I am here to help. so
Plant People: Yes, absolutely.
Jack Baggett: yes, I am.
Brett: Other states, we apologize in advance in case the person from your state isn't as cool as Jack, but we have him here and we're proud of it.
Jack Baggett: you know
Alexis: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: No, it's hard.
Alexis: so was Now you can't have him.
Jack Baggett: Yeah,
Brett: So, sorry, not sorry.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: yeah it's hard. I've met a lot of my other partnership coordinators and yeah, a lot of them are pretty on the ball, more so than me.
Alexis: So we're in good shape. but It attracts good people is what I'm hearing.
Plant People: Yeah, the trees and nature and forestry, it attracts good people.
Jack Baggett: Yeah.
Alexis: so
Plant People: I'm with you, Alexis.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jack Baggett: It does attract good people and and it's true it's a really cool thing.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Jack Baggett: So it keeps me away from my other job that I was going to have.
Alexis: Awesome.
Jack Baggett: And which when I told everybody in Fairfax I was retiring, I was going to become a tree psychic, you know. So, you know.
Alexis: You know, there's always plan B, right?
Brett: that involve reading leaves?
Alexis: Second retirement. That's fine.
Jack Baggett: What's that?
Alexis: Second retirement. It's fine.
Brett: said, does that involve reading reading leaves?
Plant People: Yeah. Reading the tea leaves.
Jack Baggett: Well, it just involves me going put my hands on a tree and let them know that, especially if a tree may be at risk of failing, I'm going to say, listen, this tree needs to go.
Brett: I see.
Jack Baggett: This tree needs to be able to, but you know, it's time for us to go. Let's remember for what it once was, you know.
Plant People: A tree talker.
Brett: Hmm.
Alexis: Return it back to the earth, right?
Brett: Hmm.
Jack Baggett: Yes, I will.
Alexis: That's what we're doing.
Plant People: Yes.
Alexis: Well, awesome. So hopefully you don't have to return any trees to the earth in the next week. And you can instead go sit under one and have a snack or, you know, just think about how much you love this podcast.
Jack Baggett: yeah ah will
Alexis: ah That would be great.
Jack Baggett: Thank you.
Alexis: And you can, if you're in Kentucky, you can contact Jack. You can follow us on social media after you're done forest bathing. Pick your phone back up and then go on and follow Hort Culture on social media. You can also shoot us an email if you've got questions or comments. We love your comments. We appreciate those of you who reach out and just say, hey, was a great episode because that really lifts our day and we appreciate it so much.
Alexis: ah But we thank you so much for being here and we hope that you will join us next week. Have a great one.
Alexis: Thank you.
