Let us introduce you to Edith Makra, Arboretum Community Tree Advocate, and dedicated tree hugger.

Since joining the staff of The Morton Arboretum five years ago, Makra has been an ally and educator to communities, homeowner associations and residents who are interested in and passionate about saving trees.

Makra works with a wide variety of Chicago-area municipalities helping them to draft tree preservation ordinances, advising home associations on landscape contracts and how to choose trees, and helping communities plan their Arbor Day celebrations. In addition, she has been in the forefront of the Illinois fight against the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB).

You’ll also want to check out Makra’s regular column addressing tree advocacy and her work – and yours – in our surrounding communities: “Out on a Limb.”

Makra, raised in the Chicago area, remembers visiting The Morton Arboretum as a child. Later, while a student at the College of DuPage, she spent three summers as an intern at the Arboretum and earned her degree in urban forestry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her first job as a professional arborist was with a tree-care company in the Northwestern suburbs. “That was literal tree hugging,” says Makra. “You get to know trees extremely well when you’re up there in the branches and holding on so you won’t fall!”

While working with an open space preservation group that wanted to encourage the planting of trees in Chicago, Makra was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune. Unfortunately, an error occurred and the profile ended up on the obituary page. Makra says, “Turns out that Mayor [Richard M.] Daley read the obituary page that day, and I was invited to meet with him!” She was soon hired to launch the Mayor’s Greenstreets Program. She worked hard and learned a lot. “It was a tremendous learning curve,” she recalls. “I was only 27 and politically green, but the Mayor was behind our work.”

Makra’s next position was as director of the state urban forest program in Massachusetts where she spent seven years before returning to Illinois and The Morton Arboretum.

Just a few months later, Makra found herself helping lead the fight against the emerald ash borer in Illinois. The EAB had decimated ash trees in Michigan and other states east of the Mississippi. Makra found that there was no one in Illinois in charge of defending the state’s ash trees against the pest. With the support of the Arboretum, she put together a team of about three dozen organizations that included mayor and manager conferences, state and federal agencies and professional organizations. The Illinois readiness plan for the EAB has been copied by at least five other states, says Makra, who now serves on the Governor’s Emerald Ash Borer Management & Science Advisory Panel. According to Makra, pictured here with Senator Dick Durbin (D, IL), Illinois (on her left) has lost about 2,000 ash trees to the EAB and additional losses are a foregone conclusion. “It is a very difficult insect to manage. The losses to communities will be significant.”

Makra also is interested and involved in the preservation of large, mature trees that too frequently are lost to development. “Large trees provide more shade, filter more pollutants from the air and capture more storm water than small ones.” Makra is active in advising homeowner associations, like the Glen Ellyn Woods Homeowners Association, on what kinds of trees to plant. Recently, she also has worked with the St. Charles Tree Commission presenting to their city council on the value and economic benefit of trees and helping to draw up the community’s first tree preservation ordinance.

Makra, a certified arborist, frequently represents the Arboretum as a spokesperson and is a strong advocate for its mission. You may have met her in your own community or even seen her on TV where she has made appearances on behalf of the Arboretum on local news and talk shows.

Portions of this story previously appeared in Morton Arboretum press releases and the Daily Herald.

Check out another “Tree Hugger” - Andrew L. Hipp, PhD, Plant Systematist and Herbarium Curator.

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