Students from Indiana's Cannelton Elementary School get in touch with the Moon Sycamore.

Col. Stuart A. Roosa, the astronaut and smokejumper who carried tree seeds to the moon and back aboard Apollo 14, was remembered along with other astronauts with the planting of a 6-foot descendant of his Moon Trees at Arlington National Cemetery. The sycamore is intended to honor all NASA's deceased astronauts.

Astronauts, by virtue of what they do, inspire our imagination. Roosa, a member of the U.S. Air Force who served as command module pilot for the mission, chose to bring some of that magic to a more tangible level. When Apollo 14 launched January 31, 1971, Roosa carried with him hundreds of loblolly pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas-fir seeds. The seed project honored the U.S. Forest Service, for whom Roosa worked early in his career as a summertime smokejumper.

Roosa's dream of a "Moon Trees" project appeared to be in doubt when Apollo 14 returned to earth and her contents underwent decontamination. In the process the seed packets burst open and it was feared the seeds had died. A Forest Service staff geneticist planted them anyway, and the seeds sprouted. In 1975, a moon seedling, a sycamore, was planted in front of the Forestry Science Building at Mississippi State University.

After that, hundreds of so-called Moon Trees were planted around the country-many as part of the nation's Bicentennial in 1976-including at the White House, NASA facilities, state capitols, and at Valley Forge. Moon trees were planted in Brazil and Switzerland and another given to the Emperor of Japan. The Arlington Cemetery tree is a descendent of the Mississippi State sycamore.

Roosa passed away in December 1994; he had planned to plant Moon Sycamore descendants during a spring 1995 tree-planting tour with American Forests. Before his death Roosa expressed hope that Moon Tree descendants could encourage Americans to dream as big as the moon while planting trees to improve the quality of life on earth.

The February planting was hosted by the Roosa family. In announcing the event, son Christopher Roosa noted the recent anniversaries of several space program tragedies-the Apollo I fire and the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

"We also recently marked the 10th anniversary of my father passing away," he said. "By planting this tree, we want to honor how he and the other astronauts enriched our lives. They were dedicated, professional patriots who lived their lives on the edge of the envelope. They inspire us to reach for the stars in our own way."

In attendance at the planting were representatives from NASA, the U.S. Forest Service, the military, and students from Cannelton (Indiana) Elementary School, where one of the original Moon Trees, a sycamore, is planted at Camp Koch Girl Scout Camp.

Although NASA did not keep track of where all the Moon Trees went, it is hoping to track them down now. It has located a few dozen, but hundreds were planted. Anyone knowing the location of a Moon Tree-or wanting to know more about the trees-should visit: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html

Nature's Creations

A massive tree planting done to enter the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records is credited with saving an Indian village from the record-breaking tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in Southeast Asia.

Many nearby villages and towns were crushed or swept away by the force of the tsunami that hit December 26, but the village of Naluvedapathy had little damage and few deaths, according to BBC News. Turns out the village was protected by a buffer of trees nearly two-thirds of a mile thick. BBC News quoted an elderly resident as saying the local government convinced villagers to plant 80,224 saplings in 2002 to get in the record books. Although the village was flooded by waves, the forest of trees helped soften the blow.

"We were saved by these trees," he said. "Other coastal villages should also create a tree cover for their safety."

Banded

Collectors of trendy colored wristbands can now wear one for the environment. FundRaising.com is offering a green American Forests wrist band; for each band sold, FundRaising.com will plant a tree in one of American Forests' Global ReLeaf ecosystem restoration projects.

Since 1991 FundRaising.com has helped tens of thousands of nonprofit groups raise millions yearly for good causes. American Forests joins a host of causes, including school groups, Boy and Girl Scouts, youth sports organizations, and parent-teacher associations in partnering with the family-owned business.

For more on the wristbands, visit FundRaising.com/html/forest_wristbands/wristbands.asp

Washington Outlook

President Bush's FY 2006 budget proposals for the Forest Service present some harsh fiscal messages, particularly for programs that support collaborative efforts between the federal government and communities, both urban and rural.

Many programs in the departments of Agriculture and Interior that have been targeted for elimination or reduction have provided grants and assistance to communities for conservation purposes, wildfire protection, and economic development. The Administration says these programs are low performing, duplicate other federal programs, or are not a federal responsibility.

The reductions are widespread and uneven, but education, community development, and natural resource conservation programs all took heavy hits. Two examples of conservation programs targeted for elimination have been high priorities for American Forests' advocacy efforts on behalf of community-based forestry.

The Forest Service's Economic Action Program (EAP), which provides technical and financial assistance to improve economies in rural forest communities, was cut because it "duplicates other federal programs." Likewise, the Bureau of Land Management's Jobs-in-the-Woods program, which provides training and job opportunities for unemployed forest workers in the Northwest was deemed "no longer necessary."

Especially discomforting is the fact that program cuts are cloaked in broad initiatives such as "Strengthening America's Commun-ities" and "cooperative conservation," which make it look like the Administration is providing special support in these program areas.

For example, President Bush last year issued an executive order on "cooperative conservation" directing the secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense, as well as the EPA administrator, to "promote conservation partnerships and to empower local participation in programs and projects that protect and conserve natural resources and the environment."

A recent Administration news release seeks to demonstrate the President's support for cooperative conservation through his FY 2006 budget proposals. Yet the Forest Service case for its support of collaboration and partnership rings hollow. The agency mentions $253 million for State and Private Forestry (S&PF) programs, which generally do support cooperation with state and local governments, Tribes, nongovernmental organizations, and private landowners. But this does not acknowledge that S&PF programs were actually reduced by more than $39 million-13 percent-from last year. (If supplemental appropriations of $49 million were included, the reduction from last year would be $88 million, a whopping 25 percent.)

Besides a small increase of $5 million for the Forest Stewardship Program, which provides technical and financial assistance to nonfederal landowners, and a substantial $23 million increase for the Forest Legacy Program, which acquires easements to protect nonfederal forest lands threatened by development, all other S&PF programs were cut and EAP eliminated.

In touting its support of cooperative conservation, the Administration identifies $49 million proposed for the Forest Service's Wildland Fire Management programs in forest health, state fire assistance, and volunteer fire assistance. While this is a significant amount of funding, the news release fails to recognize that the President's budget actually reduces these programs by $24 million from last year.

Among the programs listed as supporting cooperative conservation, some do provide grants and assistance to communities, nonprofits, and other nonfederal entities for collaboration. Others, however, are questionable partnership programs. For example: $281 million for the Hazardous Fuels Reduction program and $108 million for forest management trust funds. Federal policy might call for implementation through local collaboration, but they are programs with traditional land management objectives. It is less clear how they empower states, tribes, communities, private landowners, and others to undertake conservation projects.

Finally, the President's budget fails to take on the challenge of increasing wildfire suppression costs in a serious way. A major challenge facing the Forest Service and BLM the past several years has been wildfire suppression costs that significantly exceed appropriated funds, resulting in funds being transferred from other programs. These fund transfers have had a dramatic effect on communities, businesses, and other resource management objectives.

Last year a broad coalition that included American Forests recommended at least a temporary solution: Create a separate account from which funds would become available if and when wildfire suppression funds were depleted. Congress adopted the recommendation and created an account with $400 million for the Forest Service and $100 million for BLM. The President's FY 2006 budget does include $52 million more in wildfire suppression funds for the Forest Service and $16 million more for BLM, but nowhere near the amounts likely to be needed, based on recent experience.

The Administration may be avoiding this issue in its budget, leaving it for Congress or seeking to deal with it through a request for emergency supplemental funds. We believe it would have been better for the Administra-tion to acknowledge the issue in its budget proposals. The coalition has already submitted a letter to Congress urging the $500 million be included in its FY 2006 budget.

Developing budget proposals involves identifying priorities and funding strategies for achieving them. Major initiatives in President Bush's FY 2006 budget proposal seem to reflect many of the same priorities on which American Forests is working: restoring and maintaining healthy forest ecosystems, developing and implementing conservation programs and projects through collaboration or partnerships, and building the capacity of rural and urban communities to participate in forest stewardship. But, the funding strategies proposed by the Administration do not fit with our views of how to achieve these common priorities. American Forests will work with our community-based partners, with Congress, and with the Administration to find ways to address these concerns. - Gerry Gray

Two for Tigers

Working Assets and Earth Friends are helping protect tigers.

Employees of Working Assets long distance telephone service have donated money to plant 5,100 trees in American Forests' Trees for Tigers project. Native Korean pine are planted in the Russian Far East to improve habitat and wildlife corridors for the endangered Siberian tiger.

Recipients of Working Assets' tree-planting grants vary and are voted on by employees. Working Assets says it is committed to using recycled paper and funding tree planting in both the United States and abroad. The company's employees have donated to American Forests in each of the last four years, also giving money to plant trees for Global ReLeaf and Wildfire ReLeaf.

Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation is also doing its part to help Russia's endangered big cats. The nonprofit, founded in 1995 by entrepreneur and conservationist Rick Flory, has donated money to plant 7,500 trees through Trees for Tigers over the last four years.

The charitable support organization is committed to using its resources to support the work of conservation and wildlife protection groups.

Florida Hurricanes Down Champs

Floridians are mourning the loss of some national champion trees in the wake of hurricanes that pummeled the state last fall. In the 2004 National Register of Big Trees, Florida led the nation with its 163 national champs. With its tropical climate, Florida is also home to some trees found nowhere else in the country.

Among the casualties reported by TCPalm.com was the national champion south Florida slash pine. The 222-point champ, located in Vero Beach, stood 68 feet tall with a 138-inch circumference (it took three people with outstretched arms to encircle it, according to TCPalm.com) and a 64-foot crown spread. Dale Armstrong of the Florida Division of Forestry speculated the tree was left by loggers because it was crooked and isolated, TCPalm.com said.

Also damaged by the storms: a national co-champ dahoon near Ft. Pierce. Forty feet tall with a 55-inch circumference and 36-inch crown spread, the little giant weighed in at 104 points in the last Register. The storms split the tree in half, TCPalm.com said. The hurricanes also killed or damaged several of Florida's state champion trees.

American Forests is currently accepting nominations for the 2006 National Register of Big Trees.

Football and Carbon

Carbon emissions may be the last thing on your mind when your team's on the 10-yard line, but the National Football League (NFL) is taking steps to offset the bad air-150 to 200 tons of it-generated by Super Bowl traffic.

When the Patriots and the Eagles duked it out in Jacksonville, Florida, earlier this year, organizers were working to make the match carbon-neutral. One way to do that is by planting trees to offset the emissions. With that in mind, the NFL and some of the event's contractors sponsored a tree-planting by Greenscape of Jacksonville. Several acres of small trees were slated to be planted, according to the Detroit Free Press, which reported a similar deal is being considered for Detroit, next year's host city.