This electronic newsletter is published bi-monthly for state and federal urban forestry program coordinators and other interested individuals. Please print or copy this newsletter and distribute it to volunteer coordinators, state council chairs, and other interested individuals within your state or region, or forward it electronically to them. You can always find it on-line and archived at www.treelink.org.

Submissions to this newsletter are welcome and requested. Items suitable for inclusion are state and national urban forestry information, products or innovations, grant opportunities, and notices of regional and national urban forestry events. Please submit a maximum of two paragraphs to the editorial committee listed below by the 20th of the month for inclusion in the following month's edition.

The UCF Coordinators Newsletter is compiled and edited by:

Ed Macie, USDA Forest Service - Southern Region
emacie@fs.fed.us or phone 404-347-1647

Dick Rideout, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
richard.rideout@dnr.state.wi.us or phone 608-267-0843

Paul D. Ries, Oregon Department of Forestry
pries@odf.state.or.us or phone 503-945-7391

Phillip D. Rodbell, USDA Forest Service - Northeastern Area
prodbell@fs.fed.us or phone 610-557-4133

Pepper Provenzano, TreeLink
pepper@treelink.org or phone 801-359-1933

NEXT DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSION: December 20, 2003

Words for thought

-- David Cassells, senior environmental specialist
for forest resources with the World Bank

"[After the black-out] New Yorkers took to the parks in droves. If once in a while you can stop the city, people will better know how wonderful a place it is and will better understand the relationship between the public space and what is to be treasured here."

-- Dave Lutz, UrbanOutdoors

"You cannot leave it up to tree lovers to decide whether a tree should come down. I love trees, too, but we have to address this issue."

-- Elizabeth A. Noel, the People's Counsel for
the District of Columbia after Hurricane Isabel

"As we've seen, it's very difficult to live in a city without power, but nobody wants to live without trees, either. We need them both."

-- Michael Galvin, Maryland State Coordinator
as reported in the Washington Post after Hurricane Isabel

Around The States  [back to top]

Activities in Indiana
The Indiana Community and Urban Forestry Program is offering "Library ReLeaf" grants to 10 libraries for spring projects. The grants consist of a "tree trunkfull" of reference materials. Recipients are required to matchthe offer with Arbor Day events, educational displays, seminars, and tree planting activities. City foresters with communities that are registered Tree Cities are encouraged to spread the word.

In another effort, Indiana has funded the installation of interpretive urban forestry signage (like the national parks have) on community park trails, with USFS and Indiana credit and logo. For more information, contact Pam Louks at plouks @dnr.state.in.us

Certified Urban Forester Program
The California Urban Forests Council is pleased to announce the launch of its new Certified Urban Forester Program. The first public examination will be held April 3, 2004 at Cal Poly Pomona. Prerequisite information, applications, and the Certified Urban Forester agreement may be downloaded at www.caufc.org To be considered for this exam all applicants must mail their completed application and required fees to the CaUFC office postmarked no later than Dec. 31, 2003. Applications arriving after the cutoff date will be considered for the next exam to be held in fall 2004. To learn more, visit www.caufc.org. For questions regarding the application, contact Keith Kunkel at Keith@caufc.org or for questions regarding the Certification Program, contact Dave Roger at droger @concentric.net

Youth Leadership in Massachusetts
The Boston 4-H Urban Stewards are a group of 13-14 year-old-youth and their 4-H and UMass Extension leaders, who work in partnership with the Mission Hill Main Streets organization and the Boston Parks Department Urban Forestry Program. The program is a hands-on, community-based, tree-stewardship program in which youth learn about trees, tree maintenance and advocacy as they work with professionals who care for Boston's community forest. In 2003, the youth assessed tree health and maintenance needs of public street trees in the Mission Hill Neighborhood, catalyzed neighborhood volunteers to become involved in tree care, and created a "Guide to the Trees of Mission Hill" with color photos, maps and quotes, available at www.cityofboston.gov/parks/streettrees/pdfs/urban.pdf.

The youth leaders learned about urban forestry, digital photography, communication skills and leadership development. The program helped forge youth-adult partnerships and conveyed the valuable lesson that caring for trees becomes care of the community. The Boston Parks Department hopes to expand this youth-driven model to reach additional neighborhoods in the coming year.

Inspiring Community Action in Springfield, Massachusetts
During 2001 and 2002, the Springfield Forestry and Planning Departments launched a training program for adults from the City's eight "enterprise" neighborhoods. The Planning Department worked with local community associations to recruit interested residents who were willing to attend four training sessions on urban tree issues and then commit to organizing tree plantings and maintenance projects back in their own neighborhoods. Over 40 adults received ten hours of instruction in tree planting, physiology and maintenance, as well as training in community forestry organizing. These new stewards then organized the planting of over 200 trees in their communities. Now, these residents are not only ensuring better care for their own neighborhood trees, but are also advocating for urban forestry at the city level. For more information, contact Eric Seaborn at eric.seaborn @state.ma.us.

Improving Mental Health in New York City
Perhaps self-preservation was the reason for the fierceness of the recent fight to preserve community gardening. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) (Aug. 28), summarizing the results of recent research, notes that gardening, or simply observing a lush landscape holds a powerful ability to promote measurable improvements in mental and even physical health. "If a researcher had seriously proposed two decades ago that gardens would improve medical outcomes, the position would have been met with skepticism by most behavioral scientists, and with derision by most physicians." noted Roger Ulrich of Texas A&M University in the WSJ article. Community gardeners know how relaxing the physical activity of gardening is and how quickly time passes in the green oases. City officials need to take note of all this new research and find ways to reinvigerate the gardening movement so that residents can again start gardens on city-owned land. Dave Lutz, UrbanOutdoors, dave.lutz @treebranch.com

New Coordinator in New York
New York has appointed Frank Dunstan as the new Urban Forestry coordinator. Frank will be a great asset to the program in New York as well as the northeast in general. His previous position was as State forester. Contact Frank Dunstan, New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, Albany, New York 12233 Phone 518-402-9425 Fax 518-402-9028 E-mail: fmdunsta @gw.dec.state.ny.us

Don't Ask for Ash
Based upon the best available information, plus the fact that Chicago already has an ample population of Ash trees, the city has decided to place all species of Ash trees (Fraxinus sp.) on the City's Prohibited (Unacceptable) Tree Planting List, pursuant to our authority under Chicago Municipal Code 10-32-030. At present there are documented infestations of emerald ash borer in thirteen counties in Michigan, two counties in Ohio and one county in Maryland. In Michigan alone an estimated six million trees are infested. Authorities in Michigan and Ohio have established quarantines around infested counties to prevent the spread of this pest through the distribution of Ash firewood and Ash nursery stock.

On The National Front

Surveys and Investigations Staff Begin their Work  [back to top]
Members of the House Appropriations Committee Survey and Investigations (S&I) staff have begun a review of the USDA Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry program. The S&I staff was chartered by Congress in 1943, and serves at the request of the Appropriations Committee chair and ranking member. Beginning in mid-October, the staff plans to meet with the USDA FS U&CF regional coordinators, individual State foresters and other partners to inquire about the purposes of the program, how well the Forest Service is delivering, and the issues covered in the FY 2003 House Interior Appropriations Bill report language regarding allocation of U&CF funds. If you are contacted by the S&I staff, NASF encourages you to meet with them. Contact NASF at 202-624-5415 if you need any additional information about the study, which will be concluded by the end of the year.

Final Conference Action on FY 2004 Appropriations  [back to top]
House Report 108-330 Making Appropriations for the Department of the Interior and Related Agency for fiscal year ending September 30, 2004: "Urban and Community Forestry.--The conference agreement includes $35,299,000 for the Urban and Community Forestry Program instead of $36,000,000 as proposed by the House and $35,999,000 as proposed by the Senate. Changes from the House proposal for this activity include a decrease of $100,000 [total of $600,000] for northeast PA community forestry and a total of $200,000 for the Chicago greenstreets program, $200,000 for Cook County forest preserve, IL, and $150,000 for the People and Parks [Foundation] for work on Baltimore, MD urban watershed activities and a $1,151,000 general decrease. [In addition, a 0.035-percent rescission will apply]

The managers do not concur with the House proposal concerning the implementation of a new methodology for the allocation of urban and community forestry funds prior to the disbursal of funds in fiscal year 2004. The managers believe that before a new allocation methodology is adopted by the agency, additional information is needed so the Committees can fully evaluate the consequences of such a change on the program. Accordingly, the managers direct the agency to present to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, by April 1, 2004, a report describing the current allocation methodology and one or more alternative methodologies that focus additional emphasis on program performance. The report must include at least one methodology which considers both State and large urban area populations, and this methodology should propose increasing allocations to States with large urban centers. The report may also include other allocation methodologies which do not increase allocations to more populated States but instead focus on means to enhance program performance. At least one of the proposed methodologies should include competitive funding for nationally or regionally significant projects. The report shall also include an analysis of whether it is still necessary to require certain specific staffing levels by a State as a condition for obtaining grants through the program. The managers expect that this report shall be done in collaboration with participating State and non-governmental partners and with public input."

2003 Forest Service Grant Recipients  [back to top]
The following grants were funded in FY 2003 by the US Forest Service under recommendation by the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council:

Category 1: Urban and Community Forestry for and with Minority and Underserved Populations to improve the involvement of minority and underserved populations in the development and delivery of urban and community forestry programs, and improve public and private services to minority and underserved populations.

National Assessment of Minority and Underserved Populations' Experiences in Urban and Community Forestry submitted by NatureTalks in Kauai, Hawaii. $160,450

Asian Initiative for Urban and Community Forestry submitted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in partnership with the TreeTrust in St. Paul, Minn. $120,366

TreeLink in 12 Languages submitted by TreeLink in Salt Lake City, Utah. $80,000

Category 2: Urban and Community Forestry Projects that Promote Livable Communities to advance the emerging field of green infrastructure and sustainable development principles and methods as related to healthy urban and community forestry.

Re-Designing Neighborhood Parks and Town Squares submitted by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. $61,534

Cost Effective Sidewalk Planting Site Re-Habilitation submitted by the City of Bath, Maine. $9,350

Watershed Analysis and Issue Characterization for Urban Forestry Education and Outreach submitted by the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission in Fort Mitchell, Ky. $38,250

Category 3: Communicating the Value of Urban Forestry to increase the public's understanding of the value of urban and community forestry, and responsibility for its health.

Urban Trees and Municipal Value: Communicating What a Park System is Worth to a City submitted by the Trust for Public Land in Washington, D.C. $138,800

Economic Impacts of the Green Industry in the United States submitted by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., in partnership with the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. $48,500

Going Green submitted by Compass Rose Media in Santa Cruz, Calif. $75,255

Communicating the Economic and Ecological Value of Urban and Community Forests to Local Government Officials submitted by the International City/County Management Association in Washington, D.C. $90,113

Category 4: Creative and Innovative Urban and Community Forestry Research and Technology Development Projects to promote the understanding of urban and community forest ecosystems, their components and interactions, and the relationship of community-based social and environmental needs.

The Influence of Urban Soil Condition and Modifications on Transplanted Tree Performance submitted by South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. $20,670

Tree Maintenance -Wire Basket Manipulation and Tree Stabilization submitted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Virginia Beach, Va. $3,240

Urban Forest Tree Growth and Global Climate Change: Sugar Maple as an Indicator Species submitted by West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. $18,360

Feasibility Study: Making a Revenue Generating Biogenic Utility a Reality submitted by the Davey Resource Group in Kent, Ohio. $84,000

Effects of Urban Soil Management Practices on Soil Ecology, Tree Carbon Allocation, Insect Resistance, and Stress Tolerance in an Inverted Subsoil Profile submitted by The Ohio State University in Wooster, Ohio. $98,099

Urban Forestry: Benefits and Drawbacks of City Trees  [back to top]
Dr. Greg McPherson at the Western Center for Urban Forest Research presented the following data on street and park trees in California. Although results are specific to each of the cities studied, trends have been identified:

• Mature shade trees provide annual benefits that range between $40-80 per tree, while management costs are only $15-30 per tree.
• In hot, arid climates, increasing street tree shade by 20% increases the pavement condition index 11%. This extends the resurfacing cycle from 6 to 13 years and reduces preventive maintenance costs by 50%.
• In regions with winter rainfall, planting large-stature evergreens increases rainfall interception to as much as 4,000 gallons per tree annually.

Society of Municipal Arborists Offers Assistance  [back to top] SMA can help the state councils in planning their annual conference or educational workshops by supplying speakers, planning program content, or co-sponsoring an event. Contact SMA Executive Director Jerri J. LaHaie by e-mail at UrbanForestry @prodigy.net
webpage: www.urban-forestry.com

More Infestations of Asian Longhorned Beetle  [back to top]
In October, tree inspectors began examining the trunks and branches of every last hardwood in a half-mile radius of the northeast corner of Oz Park in Chicago, thousands of trees in all. It marks the farthest south any of the voracious, tree-killing beetles has been found in Chicago -- six blocks away from a quarantine zone set up in recent years to contain them. Joseph McCarthy, the Asian longhorned beetle project manager for the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation's Bureau of Forestry, said it was "not that unusual, but a little disappointing" to find one in a new section of town. He also called it "disheartening" to find one at the end of the season. Adults typically die off over winter, while eggs laid in tree trunks incubate until the weather warms again.

"What it says is they're not out of the woods yet," said Richard Hoebeke, an expert on the species from Cornell University. "They may be getting this animal a little better under control by removing the infested trees, but the bottom line is they have to remove every infested tree."

State U&CF Questionnaire  [back to top]
Thank you to every State Urban and Community Forestry coordinator who has returned or looked at the State Urban and Community Forestry Program Questionnaire. The questionnaire is part of a research effort in a doctoral program at the University of Minnesota. One objective is to understand state capacity for conducting U&CF programs and the relationship of this towards building local level U&CF programs.

To date 70% of state U&CF coordinators have responded or indicated they will respond in the near future. Is this rate enough to make valid conclusions and statements? While this response is typical for the level of contacts made, there is always a fear of biased results from non-respondent error. The best way to eliminate this is to get as near to 100% response or a representative sample among dissimilar groups. To approach this goal, repeated requests (or pestering) for responses are made. If you have been unable to respond to date, your response still can be used as an important addition to the dataset. Please contact Rich Hauer by phone at 715-346-3642, e-mail rhauer @uwsp.edu, or postal mail College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 1900 Franklin St., Stevens Point, WI 54481 with any questions or for a replacement questionnaire.

The preliminary data from more than 60% who have responded provides an interesting look at state U&CF programs. Results may change slightly, however, trends related to funding and capacity building have developed. Preliminary findings include:

• Coordination among people and organizations with a vested interest in U&CF is good or excellent in over approximately 70% of states.
• The state U&CF council is the primary means for coordination in over 60% of states and the remainder use informal means or MOUs for coordination.
• Half of the states have enabling state legislation to justify their program.
• Over 80% of states have financial assistance programs for local communities using federal funds and 1/3 of these states additionally commit state funds for cost-share assistance.
• Only 20% of states that use state monies for cost-share assistance use the state general fund and 80% use dedicated and/or foundation funding.
• Financial assistance was suggested by approximately 85% of states as an effective or very effective way to increase local capacity.
• Technical assistance was suggested by 100% of states as an effective or very effective way to increase local capacity.
• The capacity of most state programs to deliver U&CF programming within a state is heavily dependent upon federal capacity building assistance.
• Approximately 75% said their state program would continue if federal fundng was eliminated, which is consistent with what state foresters and urban foresters said in 1987.
• However, approximately 85% of states suggested their program would be severely impacted if federal assistance was eliminated.
• Slightly more states (54%) reported that funding was very adequate to adequate to conduct a program based on identified needs.
• A preliminary finding suggests that an increase between 200 to 400 percent for grants to local U&CF programs is needed to have a major impact on increasing local U&CF capacity.

$$ Grant Opportunities $$  [back to top]

Fish and Wildlife Service
Deadline Nov. 28, 2003
The Fish and Wildlife Service and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council are requesting proposals for wetland and wetland-associated upland conservation projects under the Small Grants program for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA). NAWCA promotes the long-term conservation of North American wetland ecosystems, and waterfowl and other migratory birds, fish and wildlife that depend upon wetland habitat. Grants will be approved up to $50,000. Priority will be given to projects from grant applicants that ensure long-term conservation benefits. For more information, visit http://northamerican.fws.gov/NAWCA/USsmallgrants.html.

NUCFAC
Deadline Dec. 9, 2003
The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council has released the 2004 Challenge Cost-Share (CCS) Request for Pre-Proposals (RFP). The RFP is posted on the council's home page at www.treelink.org/nucfac. Scroll down to "Challenge Cost Share Program" and select "2004 Request for Proposals."

National Tree Tust
Deadline: Nov. 28, 2003
The National Tree Trust has revamped it grant program to focus exclusively on "urban and community forestry" and "conservation-related" non-profit organizations. The Seeds Program helps to strengthen the capacity of 501(c)(3) urban and community forestry organizations. In 2004, the Seeds Program will provide grants ($5,000 to $10,000) to these organizations for day-to-day operations. The Roots program supports 501(c)(3) U&CF and other 501 (c)(3) conservation-related organizations working to improve the health of their urban and community forest. This program assists these organizations as they implement urban and community forestry projects. In 2004, the Roots Program will provide grants ($5,000 to $25,000) for U&CF projects: education, involvement of underserved communities, tree planting and maintenance, community partnerships, community nursery, service learning. Visit the website to read eligibility criteria at www.nationaltreetrust.org

Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program
Deadline: Jan. 16, 2004
The Conservation Scholarship Program is designed to respond to many of the most significant challenges in fish, wildlife and plant conservation in the United States, whether it is the sustainable use of natural resources, including sportfish and game, recovery of an endangered species, or control of invasive exotic species, by providing scholarships to eligible graduate and undergraduate students who are poised to make a significant contribution to the field of conservation. See details at www.nfwf.org/programs/budscholarship.htm

Coastal and Esturine Land Conservation Program
Deadline: June
The Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) has been established to help protect coastal and estuarine lands that are important for their ecological, conservation, recreational, historical or aesthetic value, and can be effectively managed and protected. The program provides funding for states agency and local government projects that ensure conservation of these areas for the benefit of future generations. CELCP was created by the Fiscal Year 2002 Appropriations Act for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State. See details at http://www.ocrm.nos.noaa.gov/landconservation.html

EPA Environmental Education
Deadline: February
The Grant Program sponsored by EPA's Office of Environmental Education supports environmental education projects that enhance the public's awareness, knowledge, and skills to make informed decisions that affect environmental quality. Since 1992, EPA has received has awarded about 2,500 grants. Learn more at http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants.html

Environmental Restoration Program - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Deadline: None
The objective of Section 1135 and 206 of the Water Resource Development Act of 1986 provides authority to restore degraded ecosystem structure, function, and processes that provide a more natural condition. Restoration activities, where degradation is attributable to water resource projects previously constructed, funded, or operated by the Corps, need to result in significant improvements to the environment that are in the general public interest, District Corps offices will initiate a preliminary investigation upon a written request by a non-federal sponsor. Contact district offices at http://www.hecsa.usace.army.mil/pubactv.html

Five-Star Restoration Program
Deadline: March
The Five-Star Restoration Program provides modest financial assistance on a competitive basis to support community-based wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration projects that build diverse partnerships and foster local natural resource stewardship through education, outreach, and training activities. Learn more at http://nfwf.org/programs/5star-rfp.htm.

Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (Farm Bill)
Deadline: Veriable
The conservation provisions in the Farm Bill will assist farmers and ranchers in meeting environmental challenges on their land. The legislation simplifies existing programs and creates new programs to address high priority environmental and production goals. The Natural Resources Conservation Service administers many of the programs that could benefit shorebirds. State- and Conservation District-level contacts can be located at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/ and http://www.nacdnet.org/resources/cdsonweb.htm. General information can be found at http://fb-net.org

Landowner Incentive Program
Deadline: June
Grants are available for conservation efforts to be carried out on private lands, to provide technical or financial assistance to private landowners for the purpose of benefitting federally listed, proposed, or candidate species, or other at-risk species on private lands. Assistance must be to protect, restore, or manage habitat on private lands. Application is limited to States, federally recognized Indian Tribal Governments, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa agencies with lead management responsibility for fish and wildlife resources. Although direct participation is limited to State fish and wildlife agencies, private landowners will directly benefit and the general public will ultimately benefit from these wildlife conservation measures. Learn more at http://www.cfda.gov/public/viewprog.asp?progid=1585

National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants
Deadline: June
To provide funds to coastal States for coastal wetlands conservation projects. Funds are used for acquisition of interests in coastal lands or waters, and for restoration, enhancement or management of coastal wetlands ecosystems on a competitive basis with all coastal States. Proposed projects must provide for long term conservation of such lands or waters and the hydrology, water quality, and fish and wildlife dependent thereon. Learn more at http://www.fws.gov/cep/cwgcover.html

NOAA Community-Based Restoration
Deadline: Sept. 12; Dec. 5
Financial and technical federal assistance program that promotes strong partnerships at the national, regional and local level to fund grass-roots, community-based activities that restore living marine resources and their habitats and promote stewardship and a conservation ethic for NOAA trust resources in the U.S. Learn more at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/funding_opportunities/funding.html

Publications & Websites  [back to top]

Smart Growth Speakers
The Smart Growth Speaker Series is sponsored by the U.S. EPA, ICMA, the National Building Museum, and the Smart Growth Network. Smart growth is development that serves economy, community, and environment. The series hosts speakers on a monthly basis to discuss this approach to development, explore specific growth-related issues, foster dialog, and identify opportunities for positive change in growth and development patterns. Previous speaker series lectures can be heard at http://www.smartgrowth.org/audio/default.asp

Fact Sheets: Why invest in Trees?
Be they City Councilors, planning board members or highway superintendents, many individuals in every community, both professionals and volunteers, work with or around community tree issues everyday, but most are not fully aware of the needs and benefits of community trees or the best management practices for stewarding trees. One-on-one outreach, power-point presentations at board meetings, simple brochures and fact sheets can all be effective ways to communicate the needs and benefits of trees. To give you some ideas, the Massachusetts Urban Forestry Program has a number of fact sheets at their web site on various community tree issues including "Why Invest in City / Town Trees" at www.state.ma.us/dem/programs/forestry/urban/WhyInvest-0301.pdf.

Resource After the Storm
The National Arbor Day Foundation has great resources for those seeking information after a storm. Learn more at http://www.arborday.org/media/stormsectionf.html .

Biodiversity Project
The Biodiversity Project is embarking on a research and public outreach campaign to uncover more innovative community based solutions to the biodiversity crisis in the United States. And they want information on what your community is doing to protect biodiversity, how they are doing it and how others can do the same. To nominate a community, please log on to www.biodiversityproject.org/greatcommunitynominationform.htm

A Guide to Greening Neighborhoods
A great free resource for community groups, non-profits, and governmental agencies! "A Guide to Greening Neighborhoods: Creating and Caring for Community Open Space" is an easy to read handbook that focuses on greening projects. Learn more at www.parksandpeople.org/programs_great_parks.html.

Harvesting Urban Timber
The first text-reference manual on the subject of "Harvesting Urban Timber" is available for purchase from Linden Publishing. This reference text deals with the new aspect of looking at urban forest tree removals as new assets in lieu of the historic viewpoint. For an overview, visit http://www.harvestingurbantimber.com/book.html.

Tree Identification Guide
A Tree Identification Guide for Common Urban Trees in New York State is now available from the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University. The guide is created by the Community Forestry Program Work Team. This booklet is targeted at people who have little or no background in tree-identification skills, enabling them to identify most urban trees. Trees are organized by common name and a simple visual glossary is included to point out important features. In a sturdy 4" x 6" pocket format, the 76 page guide includes a simple identifying key, descriptions and pictures for 32 commonly seen urban trees in New York State. There are color and black and white pictures for every tree providing multiple clues in various seasons. For ordering information, email Nina Bassuk at nlb2 @cornell.edu or email UrbanHort @cornell.edu. Individual copies are $12.00 each. A bulk discount of $8.00/book is available for educational programs using five or more copies. Postage is included for all orders.

Project for Public Spaces
Given the heated discussion and debate surrounding the future redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, it is no surprise that there is a great deal of interest in public places, along with much dissent about what makes an effective and meaningful public place. Drawing on the work of the late William H. Whyte, whose seminal book, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces is still read today, the Project for Public Spaces is dedicated to creating and sustaining public spaces that build communities. The site contains a number of best practices information on such places as parks, plazas, streets, public buildings, and public markets of interest to planners, civic officials, landscape architects, and anyone seeking to restore meaning and usability to a wide variety of places. Additionally, visitors can elect to subscribe to PPS's free bi-monthly newsletter, Making Places. Learn more at http://www.pps.org/

New Books from Island Press

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being by the Millenium Ecosystems Assessment group. 2003. 264 pages. $25/paper, $50/cloth. Described as "providing a clear, scientific picture of the current state of Earth's ecosystems as multiple scales; deeping our understanding and linkages between ecosystems and human well-being, including economic, social, and cultural aspirations; demonstarting the potential of ecosystems to contribute to poverty reduction and enhanced well-being..." More volumes in this new series will be forthcoming.

The National Wildlife Refuges: Coordinating a Conservation System Through Law by Robert Fischman. 2003. 240 pages. $25/paper, $50/cloth. Described as "the evolution of law governing the refuge system parallels broader trends in public land management and environmental protection, making the refuge system a valuable case study for those interested in environmental management, policy, and law."

No Place Distant: Roads and Motorized Recreation on America's Public Lands by David Havlick with foreword by Mike Dombeck. 2002. 320 pages. $20/paper, $40/cloth. Described as "a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the more than 550,000 miles of roads that crisscross our national parks, national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, and wildlife refuges. He considers their origins; their ecological, financial, and societal costs..."

Community Forest in the United States: Learning from the Past, Crafting the Future by Mark Baker and Jonathan Kusel. 2004. 296 pages. $25/paper, $50/cloth. Described as "an analytically rigorous and historically informed assessment of the new movement. It examines the current state of community forestry through a grounded assessment of where it stands now and where it might go in the future."

Natural Assets: Democratizing Environmental Ownership by James Boyce and Barry Shelley (eds.). 2003. 368 pages. $28/paper, $55/cloth. Described as "explores a range of strategies for expanding the quantity and enhancing the quality of natural assets in the hands of low-income individuals and communities...examines the social construction of rights to natural resources and the environment...explores strategies to promote sustainable forest management while reducing rural poverty, examines the prospects for building natural assets in urban areas."

The Land We Share: Private Property and the Common Good by Eric Freyfogle. 2003. 304 pages. $25/cloth. Described as "an incisive discussion of a core feature of American life--private ownership of land, water, and other elements of nature...proposes a fresh vision of what private ownership in America could mean: an ownership system, fair to individual owners and communities alike, that fosters healthy land and healthy economies....weaves together the fascinating story of how interpretations of property rights and responsibilites have changed, along with society itself, over the course of American history."

Trees Make Cents
A good background piece on the benefits of trees… http://www.scenicflorida.org/lscmakecents.html

Mid-Atlantic Library Database
The Mid-Atlantic Urban and Community Forestry Resource Library Database is designed to provide a fairly comprehensive listing of books, articles, factsheets, brochures, videos, and other publications produced by State partners, research, universities, non-profit organizations, extension service and the Forest Service, that are pertinent to Mid-Atlantic efforts. The database is expected to promote regional sharing of information and provide a means by which the Mid-Atlantic Center for Urban and Community Forestry can begin to develop a resource lending library. Learn more at http://na.fs.fed.us/wv/urban/.

PLANetizen's 50 Best Urban Planning and Development Web Sites
PLANetizen, an online network where professionals and citizens can get up-to-date planning and development information, has announced its annual list of the 50 best urban planning and development websites. Listed within ten general categories, such as data and statistics, government, news/publications, reference and regional/local sites, the list is based on nominations by PLANetizen readers and judged against a common set of criteria. Learn more at http://www.planetizen.com/sites/.

Human Dimensions of Urban Forestry
Dr. Kathleen Wolf at the University of Washington has upgraded her research website. The new site, "The Human Dimensions of Urban Forestry and Urban Greening" provides access to information about research projects and a variety of technology transfer products. Learn more at www.cfr.washington.edu/research.envmind

Job Opportunities  [back to top]

Visit the TreeLink jobs page at http://treelink.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3 for a variety of employment opportunities.

Calendar of Events   [back to top]

Visit the current Calendar of Events at www.treelink.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 on TreeLink.