This newsletter is sent electronically (via email or fax)
around the first of each month to state urban forestry program coordinators and
Forest Service urban forestry staff.
Please print or copy this newsletter and distribute it to volunteer coordinators, state council chairs, and
other interested individuals within your state.
Submissions to this newsletter are welcomed, and in fact,
requested. Items suitable for inclusion
are regional and national urban forestry information, state events, products,
or innovations that can be replicated by other states, personnel notes, and
notices of regional and national urban forestry events. Please submit a maximum of two paragraphs by
the 28th of the month for inclusion in the following month's edition.
NEXT DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSION: August 28, 2000
Compiled and Edited by:
Paula Rosenthal, Montana Dept. of
Natural Resources
(prosenthal@state.mt.us) phone 406/542-4284
Phillip D. Rodbell, USDA Forest Service -
Northeastern
Area (prodbell@fs.fed.us) phone (610) 975-4133
***************************************************
Technology
transfer specialist in the west
A new technology transfer
specialist in urban and community forestry will be serving the West beginning
August 7. Jim Geiger brings over 20 years of experience working with
individuals and community organizations to this new position with the USDA
Forest Service. From 1978-1993 he served as the
Urban Forestry Program Manager with the
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and prior to this he
worked as a City Forester in Chicago.
Mr. Geiger will be located
with scientists at the Western Center for Urban
Forest Research and Education on the UC
Davis campus. There he will assist with the development of cutting-edge
technologies and training programs from science-based information, as well as
extend the Center's research expertise to solve local problems and build
community capacity. Contact Jim at
(530) 752-6834 or jgeiger@fs.fed.us
National
URP Coordinator update
On July 17, Teresa McWhirt, Public
Affairs Staff Officer, from Region 8 National Forests in Mississippi, joined
the Cooperative Forestry Staff on a 60-day detail. She will serve as Acting Urban Resources Partnership Coordinator
during her assignment. Contact: Teresa McWhirt at tmcwhirt@fs.fed.us
or (202) 205-1389.
Hopes
are Building with cara
The Conservation and
Reinvestment Act passed in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
on July 26 by a vote of 13 to 7. The
full House passed the legislation last month with up to $30 million for Urban
and Community Forestry. The Senate
version contains $50 million for UCF.
Next step will be to go to the full Senate for passage (probably after
August recess). If it passes the full
Senate the next action would be a House/Senate Conference Committee to work out
the differences. Will it make it this
session? Some pundits are saying yes
others are saying there is still too much resistance from Senators from the
Western U.S. and from the appropriating bodies of Congress. Only time will tell.
The bill dedicates $2.99
billion per year for the next 15 years to acquire, protect and repair the
public's parks, coastlines and open spaces.
Among the provisions CARA provides $450 million a year for the state and
local assistance program of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and $125
million a year for the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery Program.
The U.S. Conference of
Mayors lobbied hard to promote the passage of CARA in the House. Cities with Urban Resources Partnerships
(URP) were particularly instrumental in the Senate, with some last minutes
support from Bette Midler who is an active participant in URP efforts in New
York City. "The mayors were there
when we needed them. We know from our contacts on Capitol Hill that the phone
calls and letters from the mayors helped to pass the bill," stated Jane
Danowitz, executive director of Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation. The
U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities
with populations of 30,000 or more. There are about 1,100 such cities in the
country today. Each city is represented
in the Conference by its chief elected official.
CARA is a
bill that uses offshore oil well receipts to fund land acquisition and park
infrastructure improvements. In the
past, congress has not spent all of the receipts, but instead used the fund to
balance the budget. Conservationists
banded together to work on a bill that would spend the receipts as originally
intended. However, as the bill has been
drafted, other programs have been added to be funded from these receipts.
What it
could mean for State & Private Forestry programs is permanent funding in
the stated amounts for the following programs:
Urban
& Community Forestry $50
million
Forest Legacy $50
million
FS Rural Development $25 million
FS Rural Community
Assistance $25 million
For more detail about CARA, please contact:
Lynn Scherer.
Public Policy Associate
Land Trust Alliance
1331 H St., NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
202-638-4725
202-638-4730 FAX
mailto:LSCHERER@lta.org
Farm
Bill Workshop Held in D.C.
On July 8-10, The Wildlife Management
Institute sponsored a Farm Bill Conservation Program Results Workshop in
Washington, D.C. Over 100 State fish and wildlife private land managers,
federal wildlife biologists, conservation non-governmental organizations, state
and federal agency leaders, community representatives, and congressional
staffers attended the workshop. Forest Service Cooperative Forestry staff Hal
Brockman and Walter Dunn attended the workshop, along with Mit Parsons from
Forest Service Region 2. The goals of the workshop were to enhance
understanding of Farm Bill Conservation program results, to create an
environment that fosters coalition building, to create an atmosphere that moves
participants to positively influence the 2002 Farm Bill process, and to
motivate attendees to participate and have stakeholdership in subsequent
products generated in support of conservation in the 2002 Farm Bill. Contact:
Water Dunn at wdunn@fs.fed.us or (202)
205-1380.
Millennium
Green update
On Sunday, July 9, a 250-year-old white
oak was dedicated as a Millennium Green Landmark Tree at the Morton Arboretum
in Lisle, IL. The Landmark Tree recognition program is sponsored by the America
The Beautiful Fund, a major partner in the White House Millennium Council’s
USDA led Millennium Green project. Representative Judy Biggert and a member
from Representative Dennis Hasert’s staff were in attendance along with several
members of the Illinois State Legislature. Representative Biggert presented a
Certificate of Appreciation from the America The Beautiful Fund to the Morton
Arboretum. Fred Deneke represented the USDA Forest Service and the White House
Millennium Council at the special dedication. Fred awarded a special Millennium
Green plaque to the Morton Arboretum that will identify for future generations
the white oak as the official Illinois Landmark tree. Contact: Fred Deneke at fdeneke@fs.fed.us or (202) 205-1374.
Urban
forestry meets Brownfield Showcase Communities
On July 10, there was a conference call
between USDA, the 16 EPA Brownfield Showcase Communities, and the National
Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP). NALGEP is
under contract with EPA to coordinate communication between the Brownfield
Showcase Communities and federal agencies. NALGEP hosts monthly conference
calls for all the Showcase Communities on specific topics. The purpose of this
call was to familiarize the cities with delivery of the urban and community
forestry program, and identify on the ground city needs for these services.
Under Secretary Jim Lyons led off the
discussions on the connections between Brownfields, community revitalization,
and green open space. Forest Service representatives on the conference call
included Steve Hart from Legislative Affairs, Stana Federighi from State &
Private Deputy Area, Fred Deneke and Susan Mockenhaupt of Cooperative Forestry,
and regional Urban and Community Forestry Coordinators.
NALGEP is the only organization devoted
to exclusively addressing the needs of local government environmental
professionals. Members include environmental managers, solid waste
coordinators, city directors of public works, parks and recreation and
Brownfields. For further information contact: Susan Mockenhaupt at smockenhaupt@fs.fed.us or (202) 205-1007.
Western
center update
The Western Center for Urban
Forest Research and Education is partnering with UC Davis's Land, Air, and
Water Resources Department to develop a computerized decision support tool for
urban watershed management in Los
Angeles. The 3-year project received
$517,000 from the California
Department of Forestry to develop and
test a computer-based tool that watershed managers can use in the field to
evaluate the cost-effectiveness of environmentally friendly landscape
practices. Such a tool is needed to implement best management practices (BMPs)
aimed at reducing stormwater runoff and landscape irrigation water use,
conserving energy, and recycling green waste. Drs. Susan Ustin and Qingfu Xiao
(LAWR) will monitor the effectiveness of BMPs already installed at a South Central
LA residence, and develop the model's hydrologic component. Drs. Jim Simpson
and Greg McPherson (Forest Service's Western Center) are working with graduate
student Virak Dee to model impacts of tree shade on building energy use. Jeff
Wallace of EarthView Environmental Computing will program the user-interface.
Andy Lipkis, President of the non-profit TreePeople, will direct application of
the tool by trained watershed managers in a San Fernando Valley demonstration
project. The urban watershed-auditing tool will reside on the World Wide Web
and designed to be transferable to other regions.
Hispanic
Tree Care Workers Initiative
On July 19-20, representatives from some
of the largest tree care companies in the Nation met in Atlanta, Georgia to
discuss issues and needs of Hispanic tree care workers with representatives
from the International Society of Arboriculture, the National Arborists
Association, ACRT, National Hispanic Environmental Council, Texas Forest
Service, Forest Service and others. In some states, Hispanics constitute from
75-95% of the workforce wielding the saws and doing the work. The difficulty in
communicating with these workers is a major issue since Spanish is their
primary language. The language barrier
affects worker recruitment, training, safety, benefits, and promotions. Other
issues were addressed.
The meeting resulted in the development
of several actions to deal with the communication issue. One of the actions is
a project to research currently available training in Spanish, and to put that
information on a national website. Another project will dub current safety
videos into Spanish. Region 8 staff hosted the meeting. Contact: Luz
Parris-Sweetland at lparris@fs.fed.us or
(202) 205-1695.
Report
on Land and the Chesapeake Bay
If growth in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed continues at its current pace, more than 3,500 square miles of
forests, wetlands and farms will be developed over the next 25 years, says a
new study from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). The report, "Land and the
Chesapeake Bay," also concludes that all the progress that has been made
in restoring the bay would be reversed, in part because the lost trees and
wetlands would have absorbed some 9.3 million pounds of pollutants that would
now pour into the bay. "This is really a snapshot of where we are and what
could happen if we don't change," said Lee Epstein, director of CBF’s
lands program.
An expected influx of three
million new residents into the watershed over the next 20 years could lead to
rapid losses of the remaining open spaces in the region. But an agreement
signed two weeks ago by Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of
Columbia pledges to reduce the rate of growth in the watershed by 30 percent
over the next 10 years. The pact also promises reductions in pollution and
millions of dollars in restoration efforts. However, it does nothing to address
the effects of vehicle travel, an issue that the new report points to as among
the watershed’s worst problems. The study finds that vehicle exhaust
contributes more than one third of the nitrogen pollution entering the bay,
contamination that can lead to algae blooms and underwater dead zones. Between
1970 and 1994, the number of miles driven in the region - to work, shopping and
other destinations - increased by 105 percent, the study finds.
New
Textbook on UCF in the Northeast
Dr.
John Kuser of Cook College at Rutgers University has just produced a “Handbook
of Urban and Community Forestry in the Northeast.” The publication is uniquely designed and published by Kluwer
Academic/Plenum Publishers as a university-level hard-bound textbook and covers
a complete range of topics for municipal forest management from simple origins
to ordinances, inventories, financing, green infrastructure, pests, recycling
and complex planning/design and ecosystem level issues. With more than 30 well-known experts and
leaders in the field, this is an excellent and comprehensive publication for
training the next generation of resource managers. Individual copies are available for $185 and six or more copies
at $95 (apparently average costs for today’s textbooks!). For more detail and ordering information
check the following website.
http://www.wkap.nl/book.htm/0-306-46161-7
GRANT
OPPORTUNITIES
Below is an interesting Free Newsletter for
Nonprofits. Articles this month
included Membership campaigns, resolving board conflicts. The Grantsmanship Center Magazine, P.O. Box
17220, Los Angeles, CA 90017
Watershed Assistance Grants, River
Network
Deadline: August 15, 2000
The purpose of the Watershed Assistance
Grants (WAG) program is to support the growth and sustainability of local
watershed partnerships in the United States.
For the purpose of this grant program, a
"watershed partnership" includes interested and affected parties in
the identified watershed. This coalition of targeted stakeholders will serve to
promote watershed protection and/or restoration by resolving identified
watershed problems and issues. The review process is competitive: in the pilot
year 1999, 6% of the proposals were funded with award amounts ranging from
$1,300 to $30,000. This year, grants will range from $1,500 to $30,000.The
final grant recipients will be announced no later than November 10, 2000. Funds
can be used for partnership building activities. Funds cannot be used for the direct purpose of on-the-ground
restoration projects (i.e. purchasing of planting materials, tools, erosion
control materials, etc.) This is a
national program so all applicants will be considered equally. For application
and more information see the River Network website.
http://www.rivernetwork.org/wag.htm
Funding For Environmental Justice
Communication Partnerships
Deadline August 18, 2000.
The National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (niehs) recently
Issued a request for proposals for an
environmental justice research program composed of community outreach,
training, research, and education efforts to reduce exposure to environmental
pollutants in under-served populations.
The main objective of the
program should be to establish linkages between community members who are
directly affected by adverse environmental conditions and researchers and
health care providers to develop research strategies to address environmental
health problems.
Proposals must demonstrate
collaboration between a research scientist, a community primary health care
provider, and a member of a community organization. There is close to $1.5 million available for this program.
For further information, go
to: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/rfa-es-00-007.html
or
email Frederick Tyson at Tyson2@niehs.nih.gov
Environmental
Leadership Program Fellowship
Application deadline: October 2, 2000
ELP is a non-profit organization
dedicated to training and supporting a new generation of environmental leaders
from diverse cultural backgrounds, disciplines, and sectors. Through the three-year ELP Fellowship, ELP
provides training, mentoring, funding for innovative projects, and technical
support to 30 emerging environmental leaders per year. Fellows receive a $2,000 participation
stipend, travel and accommodations for four training retreats, access to
funding for capacity-building leadership activities, and national recognition
through the program. ELP provides
participants with the tools, support, and experience to spark public dialogue
about environmental issues and energize their home institutions and
communities.
To learn more about the Environmental
Leadership Program and applying for the ELP Fellowship, visit their web site at
http://www.elpnet.org./
Websites
Find
Local Tree Organizations and Experts Online
There is now an easier way to find local non-profit
organizations and people with expertise in urban and community forestry on the
national Cooperative Forestry website. Start at the main urban and community
forestry webpage at http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/ucf_general.htm.
To find organizations, click on “Local Non-Profit Tree Planting Organizations by
State”, and then click on the state or territory where you live. Nineteen
states have listings for non-profit organizations whose primary purpose is tree
planting and care. To find experts, click on “Other People With Expertise in
Urban and Community Forestry”, and then click on the state or territory where
you live. Thirteen states have listings for people with expertise in urban and
community forestry. If your state or territory does not have a listing, click
on the state coordinator link for information. To add names or organizations to
either of these lists, or to update existing information, contact Luz Parris at
lparris@fs.fed.us or (202) 205-1685.
Subdivide
and Conquer
The film, Subdivide and Conquer,
examines the social, environmental and economic costs of sprawl, and how these
effects are felt by all of us in some way.
It also explores the origins of sprawl following World War II, and the
reasons this pattern of growth has persisted for 50+ years. The film also
introduces a variety of measures for reigning in sprawl and for building more
livable communities.
You can learn more details
about the film by visiting the website at
http://www.subdividefilm.com ./
Buffer
Notes
The latest issue of Buffer notes has an
excellent piece on Buffers in Urban areas. See http://www.nacdnet.org/buffers/index.html
Smart
Growth Activity in the South
An Urban Forestry Update from the South
is now available on-line at
http://www.urbanforestrysouth.org/pubs/updates/index.htm
Please come and take a look, and see what
different activities ar going on throughout the Southern Region. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view
the Update.
Introducing
the Grassroots Listserve & Newsletter
A new mailing list for the Grassroot
Summit (GRS) has been developed, with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service,
the National Tree Trust, the Virginia Urban Forest Council and TreeLink. The Grassroots Listserve is designed to
simplify and enhance communications among state councils and related nonprofit
organizations nationwide. The listserve includes - but is not limited to -
State Urban Forest Council representatives, tree-planting organizations, ACT
chapters and other nonprofit organizations. Members of the listserve simply
send email to GRS@treelink.org The
listserve will enable us to:
- Simplify & streamline the process of contacting
this diverse group
- Share practical resources and information on common issues like
board development, volunteer recruitment, public relations and fundraising.
- Engage more individuals and organizations in meetings and events
- that meet their needs
- Identify more individuals & organizations with common goals
To subscribe to the list, send an email
message to: majordomo@treelink.org with the following in the body of the message: subscribe
grs
In addition, the Grassroots
Summit News will be sent electronically (via email or fax) the first week of
each month. Please note the deadline for submissions. This newsletter also will
be posted and archived on TreeLink at www.treelink.org.
Find URP City Coordinators Online
There is now an easier way to find city
coordinators of the Urban Resources Partnership Initiative on the national
Cooperative Forestry website. Start at the main urban and community forestry
webpage at http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/ucf_general.htm.
Click on “Urban Resources Partnership Coordinators”, and then click on the city
you are interested in. Thirteen cities have listings for coordinators. To
update existing information, contact Michelle Hawkins at Michelle.Hawkins2@usda.gov.
Conferences
Aug
3-4 – Vegetation Management Assocation of Minnesota Annual Conference
Aug 6-9 –
ISA National Conference, Baltimore, MD
Sep 9-12
– National Grassroots Summit, Nebraska City, NE
Sep 18-20
– Fragmentation 2000: A Conference on Sustaining Private Forests in the 21st
Century
September 25-27 -- Firewise Communities, Brooklyn Park, MN
Conference will provide information on
how to protect homes from losses due to wildfires. This is becoming an increasing threat to our communities,
especially as they grow and expand into more rural areas. It hits us in what we consider more
"urban" sites too, don't forget about the Long Island, NY fire of a
few years ago. You can find out
details, dates, etc. at the following address:
http://www.firewise.org/communities/
September 26-27, 2000 --
Trees, People, and the Law National Conference
Where:
Lied Conference Center, Arbor Day Farm, Nebraska City, NE
Description: Municipalities, other government agencies, utilities, private
contractors and landowners often find themselves involved in litigation from
incidents related to trees.
Consequently, the rights, duties, and liabilities that these entities
have with regard to trees is an area of increasing interest and concern. This conference is designed to provide a
background for understanding the issues surrounding trees, people, and the law.
Contact: Conference Services at
888-448-7337 or conferences@arborday.org.
September 28-30, 2000 -- The
National Arbor Day Foundation's biennial national conference on community and
urban forestry: Community Forestry At
Its Best: A national conference for
Tree City USAs and other communities that care about their trees is scheduled
for. A full brochure can be found on
our web site at http://www.arborday.org/programs/cfabNatlConfBrochure.html.
Oct
1-4 – Society of Municipal Arborist Year 2000 Conference. Lansing, MI.
For more
information, contact Ann Ashby at ashby.ann@acd.net.
October 11-13 -- Brownfields
2000 Research & Regionalism: Revitalizing the American Community, Atlantic
City Convention Center
Brownfields 2000 will feature national
and international research efforts as well as regional strategies to help
revitalize communities. Registration is
FREE but space is limited so organizers request that conference attendees
register in advance. Meals can be purchased. Registration from and other information is
online at http://www.brownfields2000.org/
or call 1-877-343-5374.
October 21, 2000 -- Beyond
Raking: Tools and Strategies for Sustaining Our Parks. Organized by City Parks Association. More
info to come.
Regional "Building With
Trees" seminars, designed to help construction and green industry
professionals retain trees during building and land development, are being
offered by The National Arbor Day Foundation in various cities across the
country. Dates and locations of the
day-long seminars are: Madison, WI on
Tuesday, August 29, 2000; Lexington, KY, on Tuesday, September 12, 2000;
Charlotte, NC, on Tuesday, October 17, 2000; and Chicago, IL, on Wednesday, October
18, 2000. The seminars are presented by
The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with The National Association
of Home Builders. Phone 402-474-5655
Oct 27-31 – 2000 American Society of Landscape
Architects Annual Meeting and EXPO; St. Louis, MO.
November 10-11 – “Ecological
Cities” conference at Boston College Law School in Newton, MA. Hosted by The Watershed Institute and
Environmental Studies, community leaders and specialists in the fields of
ecosystem management, urban environments, and urban redevelopment will discuss
best practices/models for urban ecosystem restoration and protection using the
greater Boston area as a template. For
more information visit www.bc.edu/watershed
November
16-17 -- Society of American Foresters
National Meeting, Washington, DC
September 4-8, 2001, National Urban Forestry Conference,
Washington, DC
Quote:
…“Corporations
are responsible to treat their workers fairly and to leave the air and waters
clean.”
(APPLAUSE)
…“We're
learning to protect the natural world around us. We will continue this
progress, and we will not turn back.”
(APPLAUSE)
“…At times we lost our way, but we're coming home.”
(APPLAUSE)
(Environmental references in George W. Bush’s
acceptance speech for nomination as President, by the Republican Party at the
Philadelphia convention, August 3, 2000)