Merissa MacDonald is a Certified Arborist through
the International Society of Arboriculture and the Southwest Tree Program
Coordinator at Bartram's Garden, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In her work,
she leads a cohort of high school urban foresters and encourages them to
explore green Industry jobs from arborist to landscape architect and any job in
between. Her work also includes community organizing around tree plantings in
collaboration with partners at PHS (the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society).
The goal is to increase the current 8% tree coverage rate of Southwest
Philadelphia, with a focus on the neighborhood just outside Bartram’s Garden.
Merissa has a passion for landscape design and community planning and
incorporates the two into her urban forestry curriculum.