Chesapeake challenge.

A million reasons why the future looks greener for the nation's largest estuary.

"This is not your usual tree planting," Deborah Gangloff, AMERICAN FORESTS' executive director, told more than 300 volunteers and special guests gathered to launch Global ReLeaf for the Chesapeake Bay, a campaign to plant 1 million trees to clean up the Bay. "We're here to take back the Bay, to protect it from the pollution that is slowly, but surely, killing it."

The pollution that Gangloff and other federal and state officials lamented at the April event is the runoff from yards, streets, parking lots, and agricultural fields that has replaced industrial pollution as the number one threat to clean water - not just in the Chesapeake Bay, but in rivers and waterways across the country. It will require a change in how we care for the land - all of the land - and it will be abated largely by the cumulative effect of millions of smaller actions, like planting trees.

It's the kind of challenge AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf campaign has been meeting since it was launched 10 years ago: showing that while individual actions alone will not solve our environmental problems, together they add up to a grand effort.

"This is one of the largest cooperative efforts of its kind ever undertaken in the Chesapeake Bay watershed," Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) told the crowd gathered in the National Park Service's Kenilworth Park, a reclaimed landfill along the Anacostia River in Washington, DC. "There's no question that planting trees is one of the most immediate and effective ways to improve the Chesapeake Bay's ecosystem."

Sarbanes was joined at the event by EPA Administrator Carol Browner, Agriculture Under Secretary Jim Lyons, Eddie Bauer Vice President Dave Hiatt, and a dozen other public officials and community leaders.

Within hours 600 trees were planted to begin the conversion of a grassy, sloping riverbank into a 100-foot-wide streamside forest buffer. Youth volunteers from the Greater Washington Urban League, Earth Conservation Corps, and other organizations and agencies got dirty with volunteers from Eddie Bauer, which cosponsored the event and the project. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, National Park Service, and Chesapeake Bay Program also were partners.

To some, buffer strips may seem cosmetics - more scenic enhancement than working forest. But science and experience are demonstrating otherwise: Ribbons of trees keep waterways clean. Streamside plantings that would restore the Bay's natural filtering capacity have become even more important now that polluted runoff has been implicated by many experts as a factor in last summer's outbreak of a toxic algae bloom, pfiesteria. Thousands of fish were killed and dozens of people became ill. The prospect of the return of toxic pfiesteria in 1998 is a major concern for Maryland this summer.

A study by AMERICAN FORESTS modeled the benefits of several buffer planting scenarios along rivers south of Maryland's capital, Annapolis. One along Severn Run that would be similar in scope to Kenilworth Park would reduce nitrogen runoff by an estimated 43 percent and phosphorus by 77 percent annually.

That kind of dramatic reduction in polluted runoff is the goal of Bay-area activists, experts, and policymakers. With nearly half of the Bay's 100,000 miles of waterways suffering from a lack of trees, the challenge is enormous. To address that challenge, EPA's Browner in 1996 led an effort by the region's governors and the mayor of Washington, DC, to formally set as a goal planting 2,010 miles of riparian forest buffers by the year 2010.

Through Global ReLeaf for the Chesapeake Bay, AMERICAN FORESTS will help mobilize private support to meet this goal and to plant other trees needed in urban and rural areas of the watershed. With scores of established riparian reforestation projects across the country, AMERICAN FORESTS brings a well-honed model for public and business involvement. Our new initiative has been embraced by some of our largest partners: Eddie Bauer, which will plant at least 100,000 trees in the Bay area; Deer Park Spring Water; and Mobil, which recently planted our largest project to date in the watershed.

In addition to filtering and removing excess nutrients from water runoff, streamside forests stabilize streambanks and provide fish-friendly shade, leaf food, and habitat for species, including wood duck, river otter, box turtle, mink, and migrating songbirds. Open, unshaded streams can run 12 to 15 degrees E hotter than forest streams, making them far less habitable to aquatic life.

The Chesapeake Bay is more than just 2,500 square miles of water. The nation's largest estuary is the product of the upstream activities of 15 million people spread out over 64,000 square miles in parts of six states and the District of Columbia. Slowing tree loss from development and expanding reforestation efforts throughout the region will not alone solve what ails the Bay. But without these efforts, the Bay will never again reach its potential.

With our Global ReLeaf campaign, AMERICAN FORESTS and many of its partners are setting measurable goals to improve the environment of this and other watersheds throughout the country. Our effectiveness will be measured by how well we succeed in involving individuals, businesses, and organizations in reaching these goals.

RELATED ARTICLE: greening the bay area

This year AMERICAN FORESTS will plant 135,000 trees in 14 projects, part of a campaign to plant 1 million trees in the Bay watershed for the new millennium.

MARYLAND

8. Broadneck High School, Annapolis; 100 trees

An urban ecological analysis by AMERICAN FORESTS showed a local "tributary team" that tree planting at this site would provide water-quality benefits to the Bay and its tributaries. The school's A.P. Biology class and Outdoor Club adopted the buffer site and developed a planting and maintenance plan to reduce runoff from the athletic fields that otherwise would flow into the Magothy River and the Bay.

14. Janes Island State Park, near Crisfield; 1,700 trees

Last summer's pfiesteria outbreak hit the Pocomoke River watershed, which includes Janes Island State Park on the Tangier Sound. This forest buffer along an agricultural ditch that flows into Annemessex River will contribute to wildlife habitat, water quality, outdoor recreation, and public education.

3-4. Monocacy River Restoration, Frederick County; 35,720 trees

Restoration of riparian areas along sections of the lower and western Monocacy River will enhance water quality, reduce soil erosion, and benefit wildlife habitat including establishing significant travel corridors for neotropical migrant birds.

9. Mt. Rainier/Brentwood NW Branch, Prince Georges County; 600 trees

The culturally diverse neighborhoods of Mt. Rainier and Brentwood have long been active in tree planting and care. This planting, part of their long-term urban management program, was on the northwest branch of the Anacostia River.

13. Nanticoke Wildlife Management Area, west of Salisbury; 1,455 trees

Increasing the riparian forest buffer at this 3.8-acre site along the Nanticoke River between Rewastico and Quantico Creek will enhance and increase habitat for upland game and nongame birds, mammals, and waterfowl through increased mast and fruit production, creation of a widened riparian travel corridor, and winter cover.

6. Patapsco Valley State Park, Howard County; 7,000 trees

Ten acres of riparian forest buffer was planted along a highly visible tributary of the Patapsco River. The site is currently leased by a farmer, who will install and maintain fencing to keep cattle out of the stream. Volunteers planted the trees.

2. Savage River Complex, west of Cumberland; 2,100 trees

Willow and alder were planted on this three-acre riparian buffer to repair extensive erosion caused by Savage River flooding. By stabilizing adjoining soils this planting will reduce erosion and cool water temperatures, which is vital to fish.

7. Schoolyard Reforestation Wildlife Habitat Program, Baltimore County; 1,000 trees

Eighty elementary, middle, and high school students planted riparian buffers along Bear and Bullneck creeks at Standsbury Pond, Chesterwood Park, Sussex Elementary, and Bear Creek Park. The high school students have adopted the two parks and will educate the elementary schoolers on the value of trees and the environment.

5. Union Bridge Riparian Buffer Restoration, Union Bridge; 8,750 trees

The MD DNR and the town of Union Bridge planted floodplain species on 37 acres of town property on Little Pipe Creek within a priority watershed for non-point nutrient control. This open grass field needs woody vegetation to stabilize stream banks and shade the water.

PENNSYLVANIA

1. Two Rocks Run Fire Reforestation, Sproul State Forest; 4,000 trees

AMERICAN FORESTS previously planted 11,000 hardwoods at this 10,000-acre wildfire site. Another 4,000 will be planted this year and sheltered to protect them from nibbling deer, a rampant problem in Pennsylvania's woods.

VIRGINIA

12. Appomatox- Buckingham State Forest, Phase II, east of Lynchburg; 55,000 trees

This is the second phase of a plan to restore pines damaged by a severe southern pine bark beetle attack and two sleet storms. Pine will be planted on various-sized sites on land managed for hunting, fishing, hiking, timber production, applied forest research, soil and water conservation, and education and demonstration areas.

11. West Ox Road Landfill Restoration, Fairfax County; 18,000 trees

This two-year project aims to turn a highly visible 90-acre, 80-foot-tall closed landfill into an environmentally sound example of urban forest renewal. Replacing the grass cover will reduce maintenance costs, improve aesthetics, enhance air and water quality, lessen erosion, cool summer air, store carbon, and mitigate stormwater runoff. And, the project will show that it is possible - and safe - to manage these types of wasted lands for public benefit.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

10. Kenilworth Park; 600 trees

AMERICAN FORESTS, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and the National Park Service coordinated this tree planting to establish a 1.5 acre riparian forest buffer along the Anacostia River at Kenilworth Park in Washington, DC. The planting event served as the kickoff for Global ReLeaf for the Chesapeake Bay.

Corporate sponsors helped fund each of these projects: Deer Park Spring Water (Two Rocks Run, Union Bridge, and West Ox Road), Mobil Corporation (Appomatox-Buckingham), and Eddie Bauer, which sponsored the 50,250 trees in the 10 remaining projects.

Planting projects sought for 1999

Applications are now being accepted for Global ReLeaf cost-sharing grants for 1999. If you have a project you would like to have considered for Global ReLeaf Forest status, downlead the application form from our website (www.amfor.org) or contact: Bill Tikkala, AMERICAN FORESTS, P.O. Box 2000, Washington, De 20013; 202/955-4500, ext. 204. Project proposals are due by July 1.

Dan Smith

Dan Smith is AMERICAN FORESTS' vice president for communications.