Cool communities announced in Oklahoma, Maryland.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Frederick, Maryland, may not seem to have much in common, but they are teaming up with five other municipalities in an AMERICAN FORESTS pilot program to conserve energy and cool the urban "heat island."

The Cool Communities program focuses on environmental action to reverse a trend toward insufficient tree cover and above-normal temperatures, problems in cities around the country. The seven municipalities--which include Austin, Texas; Dade County, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; Sacramento, California; and Springfield, Illinois--are encouraged to save energy and reduce temperatures through strategic tree planting and light-colored surfacing.

AMERICAN FORESTS, in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency, will coordinate the program and help local advisory committees in each community implement practical, low-cost conservation measures. The local committees, which reflect a wide range of experience and views, are made up of representatives from citizen organizations, businesses, and government agencies.

The announcement of Tulsa's inclusion in the program met with enthusiastic approval from Mayor Rodger Randle. At the city's July kickoff, he said Tulsa was "thrilled to be selected as a model Cool Community." At Frederick's kickoff that same week, Mayor Paul Gordon was equally pleased: "The Cool Communities program gives us the opportunity to evaluate the health of our local environment and bring together many people to improve it."

On average, cities are three to nine degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas, and between 3 and 8 percent of national urban electricity demand is used to compensate for these higher urban temperatures. Frederick, the smallest city, has its peak energy use in winter, unlike the other communities, giving it a unique perspective in studying the urban heat island effect. Tulsa's climate--temperate in winter but hot and arid in the summer--is also unique among the seven model communities.

Neil Sampson, executive vice president of AMERICAN FORESTS, cites "a growing awareness of trees and high community involvement" in both Frederick and Tulsa as the "essential ingredients for making positive environmental change." Individual action is the cornerstone of the Cool Communities program, and residents of the seven model communities will plant trees, lighten surfaces, determine the resultant energy savings, and serve as examples for other communities developing similar projects. Individuals and families are especially encouraged to plant trees strategically around their homes, paint walls and roofs with light colors, and use light-colored asphalt or concrete when repaving driveways.

The coming of summer to Aspen, Colorado, coincided with the return of Jazz Aspen, a musical extravaganza that celebrates Global ReLeaf and planting and caring for trees. Four days of top jazz in an exquisite village setting were complemented by a tree planting in the Aspen Art Park with Grammy-award-winning members of the a cappella jazz gospel group Take 6.

In addition to Take 6, the four-day festival featured Dr. John, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Turtle Island String Quartet, the Jazznost Quartet, vocals by Diane Schuur and Stephanie Jordan, the piano work of Dave and Dan Ginsin, the saxophone of Ernie Watts, and more.

Earth stewardship was the theme Sunday morning when members of Take 6 joined Neil Sampson, AMERICAN FORESTS executive vice president, to plant six large aspens in the Art Park, across the path and around the hill from trees planted last year with the Modem Jazz Quartet.

Jazz Aspen unites musicians with lovers of music and the environment to focus attention on trees as a way to create a more harmonious world. In addition to tree-planting projects in ColOrado, the Jazz Aspen/Global ReLeaf partnership resulted in the first National Historic Jazz Grove, dedicated on Arbor Day in New Orleans' Congo Square, one of the places where jazz was born. - DAN SMITH

TESTIFYING FOR TREES

AMERICAN FORESTS' Executive Vice President Neil Sampson made two trips to Capitol Hill in June to testify on forest conditions before a House subcommittee. As a result, AMERICAN FORESTS was asked to draft legislation for a forest-health initiative.

At the first hearing by the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Forests, Family Farms, and Energy, Sampson offered comments on the U.S. Forest Service's new ecosystem-management policy for the nation's 156 national forests. At the second, he stressed the need to move beyond studies and reports and take immediate action to avert the high risks of major environmental, economic, and social disasters in unhealthy forests. He volunteered AMERICAN FORESTS' help in putting forth a plan of action.

* (For details on this subject, see this issue's Lookout column, "Pivot Point for Public Forests," beginning on page 13. --LANCE CLARK

AMERICAN FORESTS welcomed six new faces into the world of environmental conservation over the summer. The interns converged on the nation's capital to put their talents and enthusiasm to work for trees and forests.

Dennis Bell, who is supplementing his forestry degree with one in environmental planning from the University of Virginia, worked on an education package for the Cool Communities program. Ulana Bihun, a native of Maryland and a student at the University of Colorado, put her Ukrainian heritage and her fluency in that language to work for Global ReLeaf International. Michael Gangloft of the State University of New York-Plattsburgh spent his summer helping put togethera survey of urban forest areas for a land-use management system.

Hoang Huy Nguyen of Indiana University of Pennsylvania says his experience at AMERICAN FORESTS made him "appreciate the simple fact that a tree is so important to our planet and the people who inhabit it." He helped organize an educational learning kit to teach both children and concerned citizens about the necessity of conservation and preservation.

Margaret Richardson of St. Lawrence University helped in the marketing and advertising departments. Rachel Wiseman wrote for AMERICAN FORESTS publications. She is a veteran of environmental action programs, having started a mandatory recycling program in the dormitories at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Support for the internship/fellowship program comes from the Frederick Jensch Fund and the Hastings Foundation. --RACHEL WISEMAN

GREEN CITIZENS = GOOD CITIZENS

Conservation knowledge and good citizenship go hand-in-hand. That message is a key element of curriculum materials being created by AMERICAN FORESTS' education department, and teachers and urban foresters met in Kansas City, Missouri, in July to assess the progress. Five hundred middle-school teachers will field-test education packets in September and October; later in the fall, urban foresters will review a similar package for their own education programs. Both packets will be marketed nationwide next spring.

Taking part in the summer review were teachers from Alaska, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania--all members Of AMERICAN FORESTS' "working group" of teachers. The urban foresters represented education programs in California, Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri.

Local participants rolled out the red carpet for their out-of-town counterparts, treating them to a picnic and education program by The Nature Center of Kansas City, Missouri. Center volunteers, as well as members of the Urban Forest Committee of Kansas City, Kansas, and working-group member Carroll Rinker and her husband Mike, provided a place for participants to stay. Also lending support were Nature Center Director Beth Howard, urban forester Carol Green, and teachers Suzette Slocomb and Gary May. AMERICAN FORESTS' educational activities are sponsored in part by U.S. Agency for International Development, ARCO Foundation, National Geographic Education Foundation, and CONOCO. Working Group meetings in Kansas City were made possible by a generous grant from city residents John and Mary Francis.--TED FIELD

GET THE SCOOP

Advertising Age "scooped" other national magazines by being the first to print one of the new Global ReLeaf public service advertisements in its special "green marketing" issue. The gd, headlined "The End Result of One Dirty Phone Call," pledges to plant a tree and "guarantees satisfaction" for each $5 phone call to 900/420-4545.

"How Beautiful Would America Be Without Them?" is an appeal for more trees in rural areas; "Just What We Need, A Few More Shady Characters" makes the case for healthier trees downtown; and "Dial-A-Tree" makes tree planting that much easier.

Mark Jespersen and Sharon Occhipinti, a New York-based creative team, produced the magazine ads, and advertising photographer Harry DeZitter photographed muddy, but nurturing hands holding a seedling.--Lori Wright

REACH YOUR CHILDREN TREES

"This book should be in every school. This book should be in every place where children can read. We must teach our children a better way of doing things. That's why I wrote the song, and that's why I continue to sing the song today."

The words are from Graham Nash. The song is the Crosby, Stills and Nash classic, "Teach Your Children Well." And starting this fall, the book-- Growing Greener Cities, coauthored by AMERICAN FORESTS' Gary Moil and writer Stanley Young of Los Angeles-will be distributed to seventh grade teachers and students in the cities initiating the Cool Communities program.

Nash, who wrote the forward for the easy-to-read paperback, made his remarks at Growing Greener Cities' kickoff party. The book has been a hit with environmental educators, and sponsors for it have been identified in all seven model Cool Communities. --DAN SMITH

BANKS BRANCH OUT FOR TREE PLANTING

Money in the bank will mean trees in the ground at branches of two banks in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Maryland National Bank and American Security Bank have joined together to plant trees as part of a new account promotion. The sister banks will contribute to a tree-planting fund for each new preferred account opened at one of 115 branches over a two-month period. The fund will be used to plant groves of Famous and Historic Trees--the progeny of trees associated with famous people and events--in Maryland and Washington, DC, this fall. --KURT REDENBO

SPREADING THE WORD

AMERICAN FORESTS salutes five Global ReLeaf Corporate Partners. Corporate partnerships continue to help spread the Global ReLeaf message by planting trees and educating people.

* Seybold Seminars will plant a tree in a Global ReLeaf Heritage Forest for each attendee at Seybold San Francisco, the computer publishing industry's annual conference. Attendance is estimated to exceed 25,000. Global ReLeaf will have its own booth at the four-day conference.

* H. Alpert & Company will continue its support by planting a tree in a Heritage Forest each time a customer returns the box-top from its new fragrance, EarthSource.

* Soccer World Catalog is featuring AMERICAN FORESTS' 900-number and information about Global ReLeaf on the back of its current catalog.

* Westgate Publishing's "How To Graduate From College In Four Years" devotes a page to the Global ReLeaf story and encourages college-bound students to consider careers in forestry and the environment. Westgate will donate $.25 from each sale to Global ReLeaf for tree planting.

* Too Much Fun Rubber Stamps will donate 5 percent of its sales over the next two years to planting trees in Heritage Forests. -- CINDY KRICK

THE WORLD ON GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

The latest book from AMERICAN FORESTS should be invaluable as a sourcebook for foresters, policymakers, land managers, and others. Forests and Global Change, Volume One: Opportunities to Increase Forest Cover, edited by R. Neil Sampson and Dwight Hair, assesses domestic opportunities to mitigate the effects of global climate change through land conversion, urban foresfly, and non-traditional forestry approaches.

Volume Two, expected out in late 1992, will focus on traditional forest management, its effects on biomass and terrestrial carbon storage, and adaptive strategies forest managers can use to minimize the effects of climate change on all forests.

The 290-page first volume includes the work of more than 25 researchers and represents state-of-the-art analysis. Cosponsors are the USDA Forest Service, the Climate Change Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Forest Council, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. --LANCE CLARK

PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY

It's clear there will never be enough dedicated forest reserves to adequately protect biological diversity, so what can be done to give greater protection to biodiversity on that vast majority of forest land that is, and will continue to be, managed for other purposes? This and related questions were the focus of a week-long conference, "Biodiversity in Managed Landscapes: Theory and Practice," cosponsored by AMERICAN FORESTS' Forest Policy Center and held in Sacramento, California, July 13-17.

Center Director Al Sample chaired sessions in which economists, policy experts, and other social scientists reviewed changes that would have to be made to existing policies and institutions to implement suggestions offered by biologists and ecologists. The information presented at the conference will be published as a book, which Oxford University Press expects to have available early next year. AL SAMPLE

HEAD COUNT FOR TREES

Everyone knows urban trees contribute to the local economy by reducing summer temperatures and controlling stormwater problems. But until now there hasn't been a way to place a dollar value on this valuable resource. AMERICAN FORESTS' Forest Policy Center is developing a nationwide inventory system to identify the size and location of urban forests. Geographic data and aerial photographs will be used, and the information will be recorded in a form suitable for land-use planners. --GARY MOLL