Mike Hayman

Mike Hayman, the best volunteer a community could ever have (and all around great guy!), has been donating his time, effort and resources for decades to improve the canopy of Louisville. In 1987, Mike was a resident and photographer for the Louisville Courier Journal with no real tree experience but had an enormous passion for the art and science of trees. He took upon himself the responsibility to come up with a plan to replace trees in Seneca Gardens, his Louisville neighborhood, after a storm damaged many of the community’s trees. Rather than replace pin oaks with pin oaks and red maples with red maples, Mike quickly became enamored with the idea of planting a diversity of trees. The focus was on large over-story trees that would live for 100 years or more, but smaller ornamental species were planted also. The streets of Seneca Gardens are now a veritable arboretum and few small towns rival the immediate sense of community and home that one instantly feels when they visit the canopied neighborhoods of Seneca Gardens. Mike also took on the responsibility for planning and implementing planting projects for the Louisville Metro Tree Advisory Commission. He is the recipient of the 2015 Joan Riehm Environmental Leadership Award.