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: April 20, 2004

Words for thought

"Today, I am announcing a new urban forestry initiative that partners DEC and the [State Energy Research and Development Authority] with local communities to plant thousands of trees throughout our urban neighborhoods and parks to save energy, create habitat, raise property values, and improve the quality of life for urban residents across the State."

-- NY Gov. George Pataki
State of the State address, January 2004

"Planning is about making places special and solving problems for the American people whether they live in a city, suburb, small town or rural area."

-- Paul Farmer, American Planning Assn. Executive Director
Annual conference in Washington, DC, April 24-28

Around The States  [back to top]

Alabama Storm Water Authority Sees Green
Covering about 67 percent of Jefferson County and the Cahaba River basin in Shelby and St. Clair counties, the tree canopy saves their jurisdictions $117 million on measures to fight air pollution and another $131 million on measures to curb storm water runoff, concludes a study for the Storm Water Management Authority of Jefferson County, the first of its kind nationwide. For full article: http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=3781&state=1

Partnership in Missouri
After a massive ice storm in January 2002, a unique coalition of agencies came together to help Missouri residents make sound decisions when selecting a tree for their yard. The coalition is lead by the local affiliate of Time Warner Cable and numerous utility, agency, professional and non-profit organizations. Results of the coalition include two 15 page supplements distributed in the Kansas City Star, and the creation of a web site and community forestry fact sheets. For more information, visit www.righttreerightplace.com

Visiting Urban Forester Program
Michigan's "Visiting Urban Forester" program continues to provide communities with an opportunity to have an urban forest consultant visit and assess their urban forest resources. The MI DNR provides UCF funding to the state ISA chapter, which then connects the consultants with a community. The consultants tour the community, review current resource conditions, management plans, ordinances, and inventories, and provide written and verbal suggestions on how to continue or initiate new programs based on needs determined. For more information, contact Kevin Sayers, sayersk@michigan.gov

Alliant Energy Plants Trees in Iowa
Iowa DNR, Alliant Energy and local partners established a residential tree program for Alliant Energy customers during the Fall of 2002 and Spring of 2003. A total of 8,437 landscape trees were cost-shared with 3,714 customers. Alliant Energy's contribution of $201,000 was matched by customers with $210,925. Trees were purchased from 42 local nurseries with a retail value of over $717,000. For more information, contact Randy Cook, randy.cook@dnr.state.ia.us

Threat to South Carolina Urban Forestry
In his proposed budget, SC Governor Mark Sanford wants to eliminate many of the SC Forestry Commission's programs, including Urban and Community Forestry, forest law enforcement (fire and timber theft), and the seedling program. The proposal states, "The program's appropriation for urban forestry can be eliminated, as urban forestry may be planned and implemented by the municipalities." The proposal also eliminates funding for the wildland-urban interface fire prevention effort, stating, "The maintenance of a healthy interface may be ensured by construction and zoning inspectors, eliminating the amount budgeted for the program." For more information, contact Liz Galland, lgilland@forestry.state.sc.us

Survey Says‡Alabama Citizens Like Urban Trees
For the first time, Alabama residents have spoken their mind on urban trees. Recently, 506 Alabama citizens were asked a variety of questions in a statewide telephone survey released by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Overall, most Alabama residents have a strong appreciation for the state's urban forest. Specifically, 69 percent feel the state's urban forest is sizable when compared to those found in other states. In addition, a resounding 98 percent of respondents recognize that urban trees provide positive benefits to people and their communities with aesthetics, shade, and improved air quality listed as the top three benefits. The survey found that urban trees play a role in people's decisions to locate. When asked what effect urban trees would have on choosing a place to live, 75 percent said trees were very important in selecting a home, while 77 percent said trees are very important in selecting a community to live. A total of 93 percent of those surveyed report having at least one mature tree growing on their place of residence. The survey also revealed that 97 percent had either planted or cared for an urban tree. When asked what type of urban forestry service activity they would provide if asked, 56 percent said they would donate money, with an almost equal amount saying they would volunteer their time. Of those who said they would volunteer their time, almost 9 out of 10 listed "tree planting" as their preferred activity.

In the survey, several questions were asked regarding statewide urban forestry issues. A surprising 43 percent strongly believe that tree topping is a legitimate tree care option, with an additional 38 percent saying they somewhat agree with this practice. Only 9 percent strongly disagree with tree topping. According to the survey, there is strong support for government involvement in urban forestry programs. Almost 7 out of 10 strongly agree with the need for local ordinances requiring tree protection during construction. This support drops significantly, though, when questioned about government regulations affecting a homeowner's property. For example, 76 percent favor local ordinances regulating trees on public property, while only 36 percent support local ordinances regulating trees on private property. Alabama residents support government funding for urban forestry programs, though this support is stronger at the local government level. While 70 percent of the respondents favor using local municipal tax dollars to support the planting and maintenance of trees on public property, support slips to 62 percent when asked about using state tax dollars for the same purpose and it dips further to 52 percent for using federal tax dollars.

The 2003 Alabama Urban Forestry Survey was conducted by Auburn University's Center for Governmental Services on behalf of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Funding for the survey was provided through the USDA Forest Service's Urban & Community Forestry Financial Assistance Program. Completion of the survey helped fulfill an objective in Alabama's Five-Year Strategic Plan to assess Alabama's residents about urban forestry. For more information on this survey, contact Neil Letson by phone at 334-240-9360 or by email at letsonn@forestry.state.al.us.

Western Success Stories on Coalition Web Site
Diane Denenberg, Marketing & Communications Director for the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition, is looking for urban forestry success stories from the western state urban forestry program for promotion on the coalition's website. Coordinators are requested to submit a brief Word document including contact information and may include up to three photos (optional) with the following parameters: JPEG file with a resolution of 640 X 480 and a minimum of 400 X 300 pixels. Information should be sent to Diane at diane.denenberg.colostate.edu. You can view the current success stories at www.wflccenter.org.

Are You Riding for Research?
Several state urban forestry coordinators expressed interest in riding in the 2004 Tour des Trees to raise funds for the TREE FUND for urban tree research. Are you one of them? I will again be riding and soliciting all state and federal urban forestry coordinators to support the TREE Fund so for the third year in a row, as a group we can contribute over $1000 and be recognized as a Tour Supporter. However, if there are any other UF coordinators riding, I would like to share these pledges equally among all of us. If you are planning to ride, please let me know at richard.rideout@dnr.state.wi.us or 608-267-0843. If you are considering riding, even for just one day, and would like more information, contact me or the Tour des Trees web site at www.tourdestrees.org. The tour this year will be from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh which should be a beautiful (and challenging) route. Ralph Campbell and I represented you last year from Ottawa to Montreal as the tour grossed $400,000 for the TREE Fund. Please consider joining the ride with me this year, but if you can't please consider pledging to support the Tour des Trees when the email reaches your desk. Thanks, Dick Rideout, Wisconsin State Urban Forestry Coordinator.

On The National Front

Bush Budget Highlights (summarized from Alliance for Community Trees)  [back to top]
The Urban and Community Forestry program within the Forest Service State and Private Forestry budget is marked at nearly $32 million in the President's FY 2005 budget. This is a $2.9 million reduction from FY 2004's enacted budget. The House and Senate Interior Appropriations Committees take testimony on March 3rd and 10th respectively, and will likely seek to complete work before their summer recess and party conferences. The U&CF Program's Recent Budget history is:
FY 2005 31.961 million (President's Proposed Budget 02/04)
FY 2004 34.861 million (as enacted with rescissions)
FY 2003 35.999 million
FY 2002 36 million
FY 2001 35.721 million
FY 2000 30.896 million
FY 1999 30.540 million
FY 1998 26.750 million

Natural resources and environmental programs took big hits in the proposed budget. Overall, discretionary spending in the USDA would be reduced from $20.7 billion this year to $19.1 billion-a decrease of 8.1 percent-the biggest cut for a major government agency. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service was budgeted $2.9 billion, down 4.1 percent. The Forest Service fell 7.6 percent to $4.2 billion. The Environmental Protection Agency was marked down 7.2 percent from last year, although White House officials say no enforcement funds have been cut. Within EPA, the Brownfields Cleanup program was awarded a significant budget increase. Also on the up side, the president increased money for "faith-based and community initiatives," including $1.9 billion in charitable tax incentives.

Within the budget, the administration continued to emphasize outcome-based performance measures for evaluating program effectiveness. A guide to recent PART ratings and review of selected Department of Agriculture programs appears at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/pma/agriculture.pdf

Chicago Wilderness on the Air  [back to top]
Chicago Wilderness may soon be on the air in the Chicago region. A talented team of writers and voiceover actors recently volunteered their time to help coalition staff produce six entertaining public service announcements (PSAs) for radio. Angelo Bosco of Bosco Productions donated the use of a professional recording studio, and Bosco Productions audio engineer Phil Barrie contributed his recording and mixing talent. The scripts use humor and surprise to call attention to opportunities to explore and protect nature in the Chicago region. The US Forest Service is one of more than 172 public and private organizations that have joined forces in an unprecedented alliance dedicated to protecting and restoring the region's natural heritage. For more information, visit the Chicago Wilderness Web site at www.chicagowilderness.org!

Land and Water Conservation Fund  [back to top]
For those following the president's budget for conservation spending, here's an analysis of the Bush Administration's announcement that the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is fully funded at $900 million. Advocates clarify that LWCF is not fully funded because many of the funds that the administration counts in its budget are being directed to programs other than what LWCF was originally intended to fund, such as state and federal land acquisition. Secretary Norton justified the shift in funding as supportive of new private conservation tools that do not require government to hold the property. Since its passage by Congress in 1964, LWCF has been responsible for the acquisition of nearly eight million acres of national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges, as well as the creation and enhancement of almost 40,000 state and local parks and recreation areas.

An Award-Winning OASIS  [back to top]
The 2004 Chief's Award for External Technology Transfer went to all those involved in the OASIS project in New York City. OASIS (Open Accessible Space Information System) is a Forest Service led consortium of 40 agencies and organizations providing green/open space mapping and structure information of the NYC metropolitan area to anyone with computer access, encouraging wise use, restoration, and protection. OASIS is the most comprehensive single source access to open space information in New York - almost four-dozen layers of spatial data about the city's "green infrastructure." Equally important, OASIS encourages network building among UCF partner organizations citywide who are actively engaged in helping achieve one of the Chief's four main emphasis items: slowing the loss of open space. OASIS is making New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area a greener and healthier place to live. The actual award announcement is as follows: For creating OASIS NYC, the first and most comprehensive urban and community forestry mapping and information resource in New York City. For more information, visit www.OASISnyc.net.

Update on Emerald Ash Borer  [back to top]
An Outlier Eradication Program has been put into motion in four Michigan communities. These infestations were all due to artificial movement (transported by human activity) and can be found in Saginaw, Calhoun, Eaton (two nearby sites), and Shiawassee Counties. In each county a series of three meetings are held prior to tree removal. The Saginaw site is the farthest along, with surveys complete and one last meeting prior to cutting. At present, Michigan Department of Agriculture surveys have been completed and a meeting with contractors has taken place. Cutting began mid-February. MDA reports: "Out of approximately 556 property owners, 50% were at home when surveyors arrived and only 3 had concerns about their trees being removed. Crews are marking ash trees scheduled for removal with orange paint. Ash trees are also being marked with pink paint. These trees are being marked for research purposes." Research trees will be peeled immediately following felling to search for EAB presence. So far no strong opposition to the eradication plan has surfaced at public meetings. Additional outlier sites are targeted for control this winter, but have not yet begun the public meeting process. For more information, visit www.emeraldashborer.info.

The Michigan DNR announced $1.2 million in Forest Service tree planting cost-share grants to quarantined communities in Southeast Michigan. Only local units of government are eligible. The maximum grant is $20,000 and only one grant is available per community each year. Community forestry assessment surveys are required as part of application process in order to capture baseline urban forestry and programmatic information. Information will be posted on www.michigan.gov/dnr

The London Ontario Free press reported the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has felled about 35,000 ash trees or about 40 percent of their target. For more information, http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/03/02/367194.html

Veneman Appoints New Members to NUCFAC  [back to top]
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced the selection of four new members to USDA's National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC). Their terms begin immediately and will continue until Dec. 31, 2006. The additional appointments to the 15-member council are: Maribel De La Torre, mayor pro tempore, City of San Fernando, San Fernando, Calif.; Melanie Kirk, urban and community forestry program specialist, Texas Cooperative Extension, Bryan, Texas; Robert L. Tate, owner, Robert L. Tate Associates, Inc., Cohasset, Calif.; and Alice Ewen Walker, executive director, National Alliance for Community Trees, Riverdale Park, Md. In addition, Joseph Wilson, executive director, Greening Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wis., has been appointed to serve as chair of NUCFAC. For more information, visit http://www.treelink.org/nucfac/ and http://www.fs.fed.us/ucf/.

Nominations Invited for American Land Conservation Award Deadline: July 21, annually   [back to top]
The Catto Charitable Foundation established the American Land Conservation Award in 1996 to recognize outstanding volunteer leadership in land and water conservation. The award's $50,000 prize is administered by the Conservation Fund http://www.conservationfund.org/. The award honors a citizen conservationist for his or her outstanding individual leadership and distinguished service to preserving and protecting the nation's natural and historic resources for the benefit of their communities and future generations. Recipients of the award are recognized for building partnerships that lead to the preservation of open space, wildlife habitat, and sites that preserve a sense of place. Recipients are honored for their work to protect coastlines, river corridors, forest lands, farmland, rangeland, and historic sites. Applications may be submitted from Jan. 1 to July 21 of each year. For further information, see the Conservation Fund Web site. RFP Link: http://www.conservationfund.org/?article=2187

Grant Opportunitie$  [back to top]

Environmental Restoration Program - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
No Deadline
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, including restoration activities. http://www.hecsa.usace.army.mil/pubactv.html.

Five-Star Restoration Program
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.

Publications & Websites  [back to top]

Integrated Pest Management
The Northeastern Integrated Pest Management Center (NEIPMC) is one of four USDA funded regional centers. The centers aim to include key stakeholders in the regional IPM process and will serve as the focal points for regional IPM efforts and funding. http://www.nepmc.org/.

City Parks Create Safer Neighborhoods
The City Parks Forum briefing paper, How Cities Use Parks to Create Safer Neighborhoods, is now available on-line. You can access and download it at http://www.planning.org/cpf/briefingpapers.htm.

Marketable Wood from Urban Areas
For information about marketable tree species in urban areas, please go to the following website: http://www.fs.fed.us/na/morgantown/frm/cesa/rmt/rmt_index.html. Once there, click on "Chapter III: Product & Specifications", then go to publication page number 9. You will find a list of "General Species Desirability." This is fairly accurate for most of the northeast, if not the entire east, assuming that local market niches will vary. This listing is for tree species that are currently matured/being removed for safety reasons (stock that was planted 50+ years ago).

Tree Emergency Planning
Now on-line is a tool for communities that outlines the many things needed in the event of a disaster. http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/urbanforestry/ucfdisasters/ucfdisasters.htm

Tools for Outreach
The follow documents have recently been posted on the web:

A Recipe For Reaching Out: http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/diversity_rpt/diversity_report.pdf.

Dialogue on Diversity - Broadening the voices in urban and community forestry: Broadening the voices in urban and community forestry:http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/diversity_rpt/diversity_report.pdf

Urban and Community Forestry - Outreach Services Strategies for all Communities, Screen resolution: http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/outreach/outreach_screen.pdf
Print resolution: http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/outreach/outreach.pdf

Conserving Wooded Areas
Below is a link to Conserving Wooded Areas in Developing Communities. The guide book was developed by an advisory committee composed of a wide representation of stakeholders from public, private and nonprofit organizations. The publication provides communities with a better understanding of the social, economic and environmental benefits of wooded areas, and provides decision makers with land-use approaches to conserve the integrity of wooded landscapes and minimize construction damage.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/urban/bmps.html

Sidewalk Expertise
Sidewalks can be re-directed, curved, meandered, narrowed and mounded. They can be strengthened, raised, thickened, and reinforced with steel. They can also be replaced with gravel, stone, brick, or relocated to the other side of the street. Best of all, they can sometimes be eliminated altogether. Learn more at: http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/archives/phc/1997/0340.html

Management Planning Tool
Available on-line: A basic "Guide to Completing a Street and Park Tree Management Plan." The publication summarizes materials from the Forest Service and the NADF. http://www.umass.edu/urbantree/mgtplanwithguide.shtml

Oak Wilt: People and Trees
A new training tool on CDROM, this self-paced short course was designed as a learning tool for urban and community foresters, city administrators, tree inspectors, parks and recreation staff, and others involved in oak wilt management. The CD is available at no charge, as a technology transfer product from the North Central Research Station and the Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry, of the USDA Forest Service. Copies of the 2003 version can be ordered through the North Central Research Station's website at http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/products/oakwiltorder.asp

Why invest in Trees?
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.

Harvesting Urban Timber
The first text-reference manual on the subject of "Harvesting Urban Timber" deals with the new aspect of looking at urban forest tree removals as new assets in lieu of the historic viewpoint. http://www.harvestingurbantimber.com/book.html.

Vacant Land Management
Check out the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for excellent information on managing vacant land in cities. Visit www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org.

Parking Lot Design
This site contains design specs for Parking Lot shading and Storm water retention design. http://www.cityofsacramento.org/planning/longrange/shading_guide.pdf

Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space
The Trust for Public Land has launched its Parks for People initiative in the belief that every American child should enjoy convenient access to a nearby park or playground. This white paper outlines how desperate the need is for city parks -- especially in inner-city neighborhoods -- and describes the social, environmental, economic, and health benefits parks bring to a city and its people. Download the white paper (1.9 M) http://www.cityofsacramento.org/planning/longrange/shading_guide.pdf.

Are Natural Environments Healthy?
A new paper worth review in Environment and Planning, entitled "Natural environments -- healthy environments? An exploratory analysis of the relationship between greenspace and health." The web site where you can download the paper is: http://www.envplan.com/epa/abstracts/a35/a35111.html

Trees and Parking Lots
Parking lots occupy about 10 percent overall of the land in U.S. cities, and can be as much as 20 to 30 percent of downtown core areas. Large areas of asphalt and other impervious surfaces contribute to environmental concerns such as heat island effects, reduced air quality, and stormwater flows. Dr. Kathy Wolf of the University of Washington has just published a report that summarizes the municipal "green law" of numerous cities and towns (with a focus on the SE United States), with regard to landscaping and trees in parking lots. Multiple examples of regulatory tools are provided, demonstrating how communities can improve sustainability of urban areas. You can access this report on-line at: http://www.cfr.washington.edu/research.envmind/transportation.html

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.

Continuing Education  [back to top]

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

Calendar of Events   [back to top]

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