Annual report: American forests 2005; The path to recovery.2005: A GREATER NEED FOR TREES It is now widely accepted that human influence is affecting global climate change, and recent research has demonstrated that nearly 60 percent of the world's environment is degraded. With more people living in cities (80 percent in the U.S. and 50 percent worldwide), the need for clean air and water has never been greater. Fortunately, trees and forests can play a significant role in helping people counteract the negative influences of environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. and can be especially beneficial for cleaning our water and reducing air pollution, including excess carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. . AMERICAN FORESTS American Forests is a nonprofit conservation organization that promotes healthy forests and urban tree planting. The organization was established in 1875 as the American Forestry Association, by physician/horticulturist John Aston Warder and a group of like-minded citizens , through its programs in three Centers, helps people assess their forest resources, create better forest policy, and take action to protect, restore, and enhance the natural capital of trees and forests. Urban Ecosystem Urban ecosytems are the cities, towns and urban strips constructed by humans. This growth in the urban population and the supporting built infrastructure has impacted on both urban environments and also on areas which surround urban areas. Assessment Center In our cities, many of the benefits and services trees and forests provide actually save money--an estimated $400 billion nationwide--that would otherwise be spent on water purification  It has been suggested that , , and be merged into this article or section. , stormwater removal, air
quality, and other daily needs. When trees are lost to development,
communities must begin to pay for these previously free services (O.Eng. Law) such feudal services as were not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum of money, etc.See also: Free . Because communities cannot protect what they don't recognize, AMERICAN FORESTS is working with cities to help them calculate the environmental and economic value of this precious urban resource. In city after city, our analyses have documented a decline in trees and an increase in development. Nowhere was this more evident than in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , where AMERICAN FORESTS worked on three levels to help restore and protect tree canopy in the Carolina Piedmont Carolina Piedmont Railway 268 Main Street Laurens, SC 29360 Phone: (864) 984-0040 Fax: (864) 984-0043 Reporting marks: CPDR Radio frequencies: 160.770, 161.085 Location of engine house: Laurens, SC region, a 15-county swath of North and South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. . AMERICAN FORESTS used Landsat satellite imagery Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made from artificial satellites. History The first satellite photographs of Earth were made August 14, 1959 by the US satellite Explorer 6. , Geographic Information System geographic information system (GIS) Computerized system that relates and displays data collected from a geographic entity in the form of a map. The ability of GIS to overlay existing data with new information and display it in colour on a computer screen is used primarily to technology, and our CITYgreen software to document the changes in land cover in the Piedmont region between 1984 and 2003. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The analysis showed that, overall, the area had lost almost one-fifth of its tree cover. That information was shared with communities across the region through the support of the Knight Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service. Our work continues at the local level with communities like Salisbury, which is using high resolution digital data maps to help integrate green infrastructure into its land-use planning. AMERICAN FORESTS then kicked off a campaign with The Dale Earnhardt This article is about the elder Dale Earnhardt. For his son, see Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. For the racing team he founded, see Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Foundation aimed at planting 77,000 trees around Charlotte to honor the memory of the late NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. champion and sportsman. The goal is to restore wildlife habitat, expand greenways, and return trees to riparian riparian adj. referring to the banks of a river or stream. (See: riparian rights) areas in the 15-county area. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Earnhardt Foundation also helped ensure that the next generation of land stewards protects these new trees by supporting the introduction of a high-tech environmental education program in North Carolina schools. AMERICAN FORESTS' program is showing 120 middle- and high school teachers how to combine computer technology, math, science, and geography with tree care and hands-on activities that teach students to value trees in their local areas. Louisville, Kentucky  “Louisville” redirects here. For other uses, see Louisville (disambiguation). , is also training its teachers in the program. All this was set against the backdrop of AMERICAN FORESTS' 2005 National Conference on Urban Ecosystems held in Charlotte. The theme, Nature at Your Service, aptly demonstrated how urban ecosystems can reconnect people to their urban natural resources. Speakers offered the latest technologies, emerging public policies, citizen action, and tools to help put the urban forest ecosystem to best use. Elsewhere, our ecosystem analyses of Jacksonville, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Forsythe, Georgia; and San Diego, California “San Diego” redirects here. For other uses, see San Diego (disambiguation). San Diego is a coastal Southern California city located in the southwestern corner of the continental United States. As of 2006, the city has a population of 1,256,951. , demonstrated the value of urban ecosystems for clean air and water. We also have partnered with mapping giant Sanborn to deliver green infrastructure analyses to communities across the country. Helping individuals learn the value of their urban forest for clean air and water became a little easier after we connected our Rapid Ecosystem Analyses to the U.S. Geological Survey's online National Map. Website visitors (http://ergwms.er.usgs.gov/) can find detailed information about their community from their desktop. And we learned that AMERICAN FORESTS' friends at the American Society of Landscape Architects The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects, with more than 17,000 members and 48 chapters, representing all 50 American states, US territories, and 42 countries around the world. endorsed CITYgreen and are promoting the software to their members. Forest Policy Center AMERICAN FORESTS' Forest Policy Center serves as a voice of conservation on forest policy issues, encouraging civil dialogue; an open, inclusive process; and collaborative action. In 2005 we focused on several projects aimed at increasing the knowledge and participatory efforts of our community-based partners. We led a team preparing a five-year report to Congress and the U.S. Forest Service on the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP CFRP Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic CFRP carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer CFRP Conceptual Framework for Reuse Processes CFRP Central Florida Research Park CFRP Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program CFRP Chehalis Fisheries Restoration Program ) in New Mexico. This innovative program provides grants to diverse and balanced groups of stakeholders for projects that restore forests on public or tribal land in New Mexico and improves the use of small trees thinned from those lands. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Some members attended a landmark Ecosystem Services Workshop we put together with the help of several partners. The workshop explored whether and how to further develop markets for ecosystem services to help support landscape-scale conservation in the US. It was attended by policy makers, commodity interests, forest industry representatives, agency staff, and nonprofit conservation interests. Grants are a critical component supporting the work of the Policy Center. We are gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. for the support the Ford Foundation and the Surdna Foundation provide to carry out collaborative work with local, regional, and national partners. This support is critical to our goal of strengthening and expanding national policy efforts related to community-based forestry and broadening the national policy agenda for community-based forestry so it is more inclusive of public and private forest concerns. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With support from the Shared Earth Foundation, AMERICAN FORESTS co-sponsored three policy training workshops in Washington, DC. These "Week in Washington" programs have been held every year for the last 10 years. They provide participants with hands-on training in how to negotiate the federal policy arena and the chance to meet with a variety of agency and congressional staff. For many of our community-based partners it is a real chance to have their voices heard by lawmakers. Our assessment of the community-based forestry movement for the Ford and Surdna foundations will help set direction for future forest policy development. We also started developing our conservation agenda for the 2007 Farm Bill, which is expected to be a hotly debated item on the congressional agenda in the coming year. Our analysis of President Bush's 2005 budget determined it would be harmful to rural communities, saying that while it promised broad initiatives and support for "cooperative conservation," it actually called for significant cuts to programs that support collaborative efforts between the federal government and urban and rural communities. AMERICAN FORESTS also joined with other conservation organizations to seek the protection of Alaska's wilderness areas from oil drilling. Global ReLeaf Center As we have done for the last 15 years, AMERICAN FORESTS focused on helping communities restore their forests through our Global ReLeaf campaign, which planted a total of 544,000 trees. Many of those trees were planted in wildfire restoration projects. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In August, Hurricane Katrina forever changed the face of the Gulf Coast; within days AMERICAN FORESTS responded to numerous requests from the area by announcing plans to raise money to replant re·plant v. To reattach an organ, limb, or other body part surgically to the original site. n. An organ, limb, or body part that has been replanted. trees lost in the storm. Katrina ReLeaf was launched with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service and state forestry agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Donations from members, Coleman Natural Foods, and, most importantly, The Home Depot Foundation will be leveraged by government grants to local communities in the Katrina-affected areas. The Home Depot Foundation has also pledged its help to save thousands of mature live oaks on the Mississippi Gulf Coast The Mississippi Gulf Coast refers to the three Mississippi counties which lie on the Gulf of Mexico: Hancock County, Mississippi, Harrison County, Mississippi, and Jackson County, Mississippi. by funding the placement of soil and mulch around these tree's roots. Our work with Gulf Coast communities was just a small part of AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf efforts in 2005. Working with project partners across the U.S. to restore endangered ecosystems, wildlife habitat, and forestland for·est·land n. A section of land covered with forest or set aside for the cultivation of forests. burned by wildfire, AMERICAN FORESTS planted more than a half-million trees. In Alabama, 83,000 longleaf pine were planted to restore endangered red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. In California, 35,000 redwood, pine, and fir were the first stage in replanting efforts at the Forestlawn Boy Scout Reservation after wildfire struck in 2003. Plantings in Illinois will ease workers' commutes and increase tree cover along Chicago's expressways. The Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho planted 137,000 trees along the Clearwater River to restore wildlife habitat and protect a precious drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. source. A diverse array of wildlife also benefited from these tree plantings: from the endangered bog copper butterfly in Maryland to mule deer mule deer Large-eared deer (Odocoileus hemionus) of western North America that lives alone or in small groups at high altitudes in summer and lower altitudes in winter. Mule deer stand 3–3. , elk, and lynx in Montana. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We also began update work on our perennially popular National Register of Big Trees The National Register of Big Trees is a list of the largest living specimens of each tree variety found in the continental United States. A tree on this list is often called a National Champion Tree. program. Nominations were received and sent out to state coordinators to verify in preparation for publication of the biennial National Register of Big Trees in 2006. Many new tree-planting sponsors signed on in 2005, among them Coleman Natural Foods, Paul Mitchell, Alcoa Foundation, and Honey Mae Mortgage Corp. Many previous sponsors renewed and grew their support, including IKEA IKEA Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (Swedish home furnishings retailer founder's initials and location) , Crystal Geyser, and The Home Depot Foundation. AMERICAN FORESTS planted a Moon Sycamore--a direct descendant of a tree grown from seeds that went to the Moon on Apollo XIV--at Arlington-Cemetery outside Washington in memory of the astronaut who carried the seeds into space, Stuart Roosa. We benefited from fund-raising events in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and on the Queen Mary 2, which brought in many new major donors. And we published four issues of our award-winning magazine, American Forests, and distributed our monthly e-mail newsletter, ForestBytes. Press releases and public service ads garnered media and public attention and, with U.S. Forest Service support, we produced the 10-part series, Tales from Urban Forests, on National Public Radio. AMERICAN FORESTS was honored for 100 years of partnership with the U.S. Forest Service by receiving the agency's Centennial Legacy Award. We welcome the help of people everywhere in our efforts to improve our local and global environment by protecting and planting trees to maximize their air- and water-quality benefits, creating better public policy for trees and forests, and planting trees to restore damaged forest ecosystems. Join us! Help AMERICAN FORESTS grow a healthier world with trees. FINANCIALS 2005 Revenues Contributions 30% Other 11% Dues 6% Grants & Contracts 53% 2005 Expenses Urban Forests 25% Marketing & Development 6% Administration 14% Communications 8% Membership 5% Forest Poliey 17% Global ReLeaf 25% Note: Table made from pie chart. |
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