About Us

Cathy Bentley
CTF Co-Chair and Grant Coordinator
Cathy is an ISA Certified Arborist and a Professional Forester, with her own business for 30+ years. She specializes in tree appraisals and inventories for road widening and expropriation projects. She enjoys golf, fishing and being in the forest, in both BC and Ontario, as well as travelling and seeing trees everywhere.

Astrid Nielson
CTF Co-Chair
Astrid Nielsen is a registered professional forester licensed in Ontario with over 25 years of experience working in traditional and urban forestry. She is a past president of the Ontario Professional Foresters Association, was the General Manager of the Eastern Ontario Model Forest for 5 years (2016-2021), and also worked at the City of Ottawa in various forestry positions. She has extensive experience ranging from invasive species outbreaks, forest inventory, carbon offsets and forest certification. Astrid has operated Dendron Forestry Services since 2016.

John Wilson
Treasurer and Fundraising
John is a Forestry Technology graduate of Lakehead University and a Horticulture graduate from University of Guelph. John is a retired ISA Certified Arborist, with a 30+ year career working with Campus Services and Business Operations at York University. Currently, John is a volunteer with Aurora Community Arboretum. He is a passionate golfer, cyclist and tireless tree advocate!

Alison Morrison
CTF Trustee – Donations & Chapter Liaison
Alison is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the County of Wellington’s Green Legacy Programme. Her areas of specialization include plant propagation, nursery management, planting, transplanting and reforestation. On the side, she is busy with her own chickens, ducks, dogs, cats and pet pig. She is a board member of Neighbourwoods on the Grand and the Co-owner of the Ugly Dumpling Elora.

Warren Hoselton
CTF Trustee – Fundraising, Cyclist in Team Canada’s Tour Des Trees
Warren Hoselton is an ISA Certified Arborist and the Park Supervisor on Toronto Island, for the City of Toronto. He has been on the board of the Canadian Tree Fund since 2007 and is 16 time Tour des Trees rider. Warren’s alter-ego is “Professor Pricklethorn” and as that character he teaches children about the importance of trees. https://www.facebook.com/warren.hoselton

Serena Soucy
CTF Trustee – Communications and Scholarships
Serena is an ISA Certified Arborist working for a private tree care company in Burlington, ON. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of British Columbia and studied Arboriculture at Humber College. Serena loves sharing her passion about trees and their unique qualities with anyone who will listen and can often be found reading or sewing in her spare time.

Alex Martin
CTF Secretary and Governance
Alex is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, TRAQ, and TCIA Certified Tree Care Safety Professional at Ironwood Urban Forestry Consulting. He holds a Bachelor of Urban Forestry from the University of British Columbia and works and studies at the University of Toronto. Alex’s research interests focus on the merger of anthropology and arboriculture/urban forestry. He believes in the importance of discussion between practitioners and researchers to develop comprehensive and field-applicable current standards.

Catherine Dowdell
CTF Trustee
Catherine Dowdell has over two decades of green industry experience. She holds a Masters of Urban Forestry Leadership from UBC, is a Red Seal Endorsed Landscape Horticulturist, and is an ISA Certified Arborist and Qualified Tree Risk Assessor. Catherine currently works for a municipality in Ontario as an Urban Forestry Technologist. She’s passionate about integrating the urban forest amidst development and urbanization, and pushing hardiness zones when selecting species for a changing climate. Catherine also operated a pollinator-friendly business for a decade, focusing on edible landscapes, microforests and food forests.

Kyle Berwick
CTF Trustee
Kyle Berwick is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, Butternut Health Assessor, RPF in training, and graduated magna cum laude from the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture. He spent nine years in the horticulture industry before transitioning into arboriculture and urban forestry in 2013 where he got his start as an Urban Forestry Consultant. He worked in the public sector for eight years before starting Urban Arboretum Inc. full time in 2022. In his spare time Kyle enjoys hiking, canoeing, kayaking and backcountry camping.