Is anyone else tired of hearing urban forestry marginalized as simply beautification? This is not just warm and fuzzy beautification. I have beat this drum for a long time and watched this movement morph and expand to more than 300 U.S. cities and towns in a dozen years. Urban forestry has evolved into a powerful tool to offset the ill effects of explosive growth in our cities - the time for recognition of this solution is now. We need to bring the public at large into the learning curve as cities everywhere struggle with expansion.

I get so tired of seeing these so-called in-depth feature stories timed for release with Earth Day every year, with charts and maps forecasting unprecedented population growth, urban sprawl, inner-city decay and the accompanying rise in crime rates, while citizen-based urban forestry organizations go begging, hat in hand, to foundations that cannot - forgive the expression - cannot see the forest for the trees. Nineteen out of twenty foundations in America have never heard of urban forestry, and while that figure is unscientific, I would be willing to bet it's a conservative estimate. I correspond daily with a listserve of nearly 300 major metropolitan-based urban forestry specialist from coast to coast, but the term "urban forestry" is not even a blip on the radar screen of U.S. media.

Some people go so far as to chide urban forestry as an oxymoron, but that's understandable, folks, because most Americans have no clue what the term actually means.

So let me define this oft-maligned entity as best I can. Urban forestry is a solution, that's right, a solution so elemental, people take it for granted as too simple. Here it is in a nutshell: Plant the right tree in the right place and back that up with a strong dose of environmental stewardship education.

We plant "smart" trees, that is: properly chosen species strategically placed to offset urban heat islands, reduce ambient temperatures and ground-level ozone, and prevent storm water runoff, along with a host of ancillary economic and environmental benefits. And we teach environmental stewardship for sustainable communities.

To know us is to love us. We offer simple, specific, tangible, quantifiable conservation measures that offset the negative consequences of sprawl. When growth and development confound your best and brightest urban planners, nothing else compares to our antidote. The only thing better is when sound urban forestry practices are built into the front end of land-use planning.

Think about it. The trees we plant are the one and only portion of urban infrastructure that actually appreciate in value, often - depending on species - for the next half a century. We are the Red Cross of the environmental organizations, focused on cities and towns where nearly 80 percent of Americans live.

Those are powerful demographics. Did I hear you say you want high visibility for your support?

Urban forestry. To most people it's still a mystery, but it won't be for long. More than thirty universities nationwide offer courses in this fertile field of study with bachelor of science and master's degrees in urban forestry, and many schools now offer doctorate degrees with this specialization.

And now the many urban forestry related web sites are spreading the word, and once the general public becomes aware of what urban forestry means, foundations will awaken to this work so critical to the future of our communities.

It all begins with a simple act. When you plant a tree, you plant a legacy. Trees are the keys to sustainable communities.