ForestBytes --- National Arbor Day, April 27, 2001 Volume II, Issue 12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.americanforests.org AMERICAN FORESTS People Caring for Trees and Forests Since 1875 To subscribe to ForestBytes: Send an email to forestbytes-subscribe@americanforests.org If you find this information valuable, please pass it on to friends and colleagues. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS I. What's Happening? ¤ Planting "A Million Trees" ¤ Operation Silent Witness ¤ Your Comments ¤ Front Range Study: Ready to go. II. Check It Out! ¤ Bosworth & Roadless Issue ¤ What is the NIFC? ¤ Thoreau the Forests & the Trees III. Global ReLeaf Project of the Month ¤ Applegate River Watershed, Oregon IV. Environmental News from ENN.com ¤ "Tongass roadless area closer to wilderness designation" ¤ "Montana tribes make first carbon offset trade" == What's Happening? ================================================ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Planting "A Million Trees" ---------------------------------------------------------------- Today is National Arbor Day, a day to celebrate and plant trees, something we have been doing and encouraging for more than 125 years. This year we also put a special emphasis on planting trees for Earth Day, a million trees, in fact! Tens of thousands of people, and scores of businesses heeded our call to plant trees. And they are still planting and we are still counting. Log onto our website and register the trees you have planted this spring, or plant Global ReLeaf trees online to help reach our goal. Some examples of great projects: - On April 11th, 40 students from Benjamin Franklin High School in Los Angeles helped dozens of IKEA employees plant 900 saplings in Angeles National Forest. Not one of the inner-city students had ever been to the Angeles. The planting of live oak, canyon oak and holly leaf cherry tree saplings will help regenerate the forest. Home furnishings retailer IKEA sponsored the ecosystem restoration project conducted through AMERICAN FORESTS' Wildfire ReLeaf program, which plants native trees in burned areas. In 1962, more than eight thousand acres were scorched by a wildfire that swept across the Los Pinetos Ridge. Other partners in the collaborative effort include the U.S. Forest Service and North East Trees of Los Angeles. - Denver and nearby communities were the site of last weekends tree planting extravaganza organized by Denver Digs Trees. The nonprofit tree group this year distributed 3,000 large trees (1 1/2 inch caliper) of nearly a dozen varieties for street and yard plantings. Some areas targeted for planting were identified from satellite images prepared by AMERICAN FORESTS as part of our new analysis of the urban trees of Colorado's northern Front Range (see below). - At least a thousand Eddie Bauer customers a day have been planting trees for "A Million Trees for Earth Day" through the specialty retailer's Add a dollar, Plant a tree spring campaign at stores, online at www.eddiebauer.com, and through its catalogs. - Home products manufacturer Triangle-Pacific is planting 200,000 trees in support of "A Million Trees for Earth Day." - Shaklee Corporation, which manufactures and distributes health and wellness products, is encouraging its 500,000 distributors across the United States to plant trees; Batteries Plus and Anheuser-Busch each are planting 20,000 trees as well. Help us give the earth a million reasons to celebrate this Earth Day. To plant trees online or to count trees you plant, visit the "Million Trees" page at: http://www.americanforests.org/global_releaf/amtfed/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- Operation Silent Witness ---------------------------------------------------------------- Some 2,500 VFW Posts nationwide will honor the men and women who served in World War II by planting Eisenhower Green Ash trees during Memorial Day tree-planting ceremonies. Operation Silent Witness, sponsored by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was organized by AMERICAN FORESTS' Famous & Historic Trees project. Wal-Mart is donating thousands of Eisenhower trees to VFW Posts next month so communities can plant living memorials to WWII vets. In addition, customers can buy their own Eisenhower trees this spring at local Wal-Mart stores. Memorial Day plantings will also occur in Kansas City, MO at the headquarters of People to People International (founded by President Eisenhower and headed by granddaughter Mary) and at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, TX. On D-Day a tree will be planted at Eisenhower's birthplace in Texas. Operation Silent Witness was unveiled at a special Pearl Harbor Day event last December in which six 20-foot Eisenhower trees were planted at Arlington National Cemetery to symbolize the six branches of the military. Is your local VFW Post receiving a free Eisenhower tree? This spring, why not plant an Eisenhower tree to honor the WWII veteran in your family? Click to: www.historictrees.org Did you know that as of April 20th, Jeff Meyer's new book "America's Famous & Historic Trees" is available in stores across the United States? The book, published by Houghton Mifflin, has become a hot item among nature-lovers, gardeners, and others folks who enjoy trees. It tells the history of more than a dozen famous trees and shows you how to grow your own direct-offspring trees. "America's Famous & Historic Trees" makes a great gift for the tree-lover or historian in the family. Go to: http://www.historictrees.org/book.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------- Your Comments ---------------------------------------------------------------- Boy, did we get a large number of responses! Last month, we asked for you comments on ForestBytes, which was about to celebrate its first anniversary. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. "I have really enjoyed ForestBytes. In fact, in the very first issue that I got, I learned about a grant that our community then tried for. It has been really informative." "Always great to get an email from AMERICAN FORESTS. I would like to see more news about urban and suburban tree projects." "Keep those ForestBytes coming! You are providing an excellent summarization of noteworthy events - recent, current and upcoming. WELL DONE!" Only a couple of you expressed displeasure. Here's what one reader had to say. "Information? I don't think so! There's very little real information about trees or conservation on your newsletter or on your web site. For the most part, it's merely a fundraiser and book promotion/sales pitch, endlessly repeated, month after month." Thanks again to everyone who responded. We appreciate your input and wish we could respond personally to each of you. AMERICAN FORESTS' communications department is committed to improving ForestBytes and providing subscribers with current information about the organization and forest-related issues. Feel free to send story ideas, thoughts, or suggestions to Stevin Westcott, director of communications, at swestcott@amfor.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Front Range Study Hits the Street ---------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN FORESTS released our Regional Ecosystem Analysis (REA) of the Northern Front Range of Colorado on Wednesday, April 18th at a press conference with Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. Papers throughout the area, Colorado Public Radio, and 5 television stations covered the event. Also attending were representatives of the 7 other study cities and officials from the U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado State Forest Service AMERICAN FORESTS used Landsat satellite imagery to map and measure the region's urban canopy over a 12-year period. Aerial photography and ground sampling were used in conjunction with the organization's CITYgreen computer software to calculate the economic and environmental benefits provided by the Front Range's "green infrastructure." We concluded that trees in Denver and 7 other area cities are providing services equivalent to a $44 million stormwater management system, and that they are removing $5.3 million in air pollutants and saving homeowners $4.5 million in air condition costs per year. Tree cover in the metropolitan Denver area (formerly a mostly tree-less prairie) has increased from 4 to 6 percent from 1986 to 1998. However, streets, parking lots, and other impervious surfaces increased from 30 to 39 percent of the area during the 12-year period. Obviously tree cover is not keeping pace with the rate of development and urban sprawl in the area The Denver/Front Range study is posted with previous analyses at: http://www.americanforests.org/trees_cities_sprawl/urban_analysis/index.html Read the press release at: http://www.americanforests.org/news_and_pubs/news/frontRange.html == Check It Out! =================================================== * Dale N. Bosworth is the new USDA Forest Service Chief. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Veneman officially announced the appointment on April 12th. Bosworth replaces Mike Dombeck who announced his retirement in late March. "Dale Bosworth is a veteran forester who has devoted his career to the Forest Service," said Veneman. "His background and experience will make him a great addition to our team. I am pleased to announce his selection as the 15th chief of USDA's Forest Service." Read the news release announcing Bosworth's appointment at: http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2001/04/0064.htm A biographical sketch of the new chief can be found at: http://www.fs.fed.us/library/biography/BosworthBio.htm Meanwhile, the "roadless" plan issued by former chief Dombeck and former President Clinton in January has yet to be reviewed by President Bush. The roadless rule would restrict logging and development on millions of acres of federal forests. While AMERICAN FORESTS generally supports the plan, the organization has some concerns about the top-down approach used to implement it. We want to know what you think. Is the "roadless" plan a good idea? Do you support or oppose the effort and why? Send your thoughts to swestcott@amfor.org. We'll publish some comments in the next ForestBytes. * Spring means warmer temperatures for most of the country and an increased risk of wildfire. Major fires are already occurring in Florida where most of the state is in its forth year of drought. National firefighting efforts are coordinated by The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, National Weather Service, and Office of Aircraft Services coordinate their firefighting efforts through the NIFC. NIFC's website offers lots of helpful wildfire information, including predictions of the threat of wildfire in specific regions of the United States. Learn more about NIFC by visiting: http://www.nifc.gov/ AMERICAN FORESTS' Wildfire ReLeaf campaign is designed to help regenerate forests scorched by destructive wildfires. Check It Out! http://www.americanforests.org/global_releaf/wildfires/index.html * Many forest lovers are also fans of writer/philosopher Henry David Thoreau, considered one of America's first conservationists. Daniel B. Botkin's "No Man's Garden: Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature" takes a fresh look at the father of civil disobedience and how his ideas may reflect on today's environmental problems. Look for a review in the summer issue of American Forests magazine. "No Man's Garden" is published by Shearwater Books, a division of Island Press. Botkin is research professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Get a more detailed description of the book at: http://www.islandpress.com/books/detail.tpl?command=search&db=IslandPress.db&SKU=1-55963-465-0 ********************* ARE YOU A MEMBER??************************ Do your part to help the environment today by joining AMERICAN FORESTS. Not only are 25 trees planted for you in a damaged ecosystem or forest restoration project, but you will also receive: - A free subscription to our quarterly magazine - A free Big Trees calendar - A window decal Join Today! Visit http://www.americanforests.org/ ***************************************************************** == GLOBAL RELEAF - PROJECT OF THE MONTH ========================= Applegate River Watershed, Oregon While most of AMERICAN FORESTS' environmental restoration projects occur on public lands, the organization occasionally plants trees in special private projects. This spring, some 29,000 trees and shrubs will be planted in the Applegate River watershed where about one-third of the land is privately owned. The watershed covers 486,000 acres. The trees will help restore riparian vegetation that has been fragmented, reduced, and/or lost altogether. Certain upland sites will also be planted to help reduce the amount of sediment that washes into the waterways. Black cottonwood, red alder, Oregon ash, snowberry, red osier dogwood, and mock orange are among the species that will be planted. Don't have time to plant trees to improve the planet this spring? That's OK, we can do it for you. Plant trees through AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf program via: https://www.amfor.org/newforms/treesself.php3 == ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS AND FEATURES FROM ENN.COM ================= * "Tongass roadless area closer to wilderness designation" http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/04/04092001/tongass_42926.asp * "Montana tribes make first carbon offset trade" http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/2001/04/04042001/carbon_42869.asp ____________________________ ForestBytes ________________________ Thanks for your support of ForestBytes, AMERICAN FORESTS' monthly email newsletter. If you find this information useful, please forward it to friends or colleagues. 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