SPRING PLANTINGS.

Spring brought a flurry of tree-planting activities for AMERICAN FORESTS' partners, as communities planted trees in global ReLeaf Forests and state launched Millennium Groves.

In celebration of the opening of its 500th store in 50 state, specially retailer Eddie Bauer on May 20 planted its 3 million Global ReLeaf tree at Ala Meana Beach Park in Honolulu. Hawaii, Volunteer from local groups and from Eddie Bauer, the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recretion, and The Outdoor Circle planted 50 native Hawaiian trees, including coconut palm, monkeypod, and beach hellotrope. The urban park received several large trees.

The planting was a high point of Eddie Bauer's "Add A Dollar, Plant A Tree" program, which allows customers to add a dollar to retail, catalog, or online purchases to plant a tree in a Global ReLeaf Forest. The trees go toward AMERICAN FORESTS' goal of planting 20 million trees for the new millennium.

Eddie Bauer and AMERICAN FORESTS celebrated another milestone this spring with Mountains To Sound Greenway Trust. That group planted its 200,000th tree along the Interstate 90 corridor as part of its "200,000 Trees in 2000" project. With AMERICAN FORESTS, Eddie Bauer, and other partners, Mountains To Sound seeks to restore watershed forest, upgrade salmon habitat, and improve water and air quality in the Puget Sound region. Recently, 2,000 volunteers helped put trees in the ground in the largest single-county tree-planting effort in the country this year.

Meanwhile, leaders across the country planned and planted Millennium Groves. Deputy Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Rominger unveiled plans for a Millennium Grove of 100 of AMERICAN FORESTS' Famous & Historic Trees at Washington, DC's historic Fort Stanton Park at a March luncheon sponsored by The Scotts Company (see "Historic Trees: 4 Stars," page 11). Under the program, launched by Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, the capital of every state and territory will receive a gift of 100 Famous & Historic Trees from the Department of Agriculture as part of its Millennium Green activities, which are endorsed by the White House Millennium Council.

So far 35 states and territories plan to plant Millennium Groves. Several have already broken ground:

* AMERICAN FORESTS corporate sponsor SmithKline Beecham, which produces health-related consumer products, planted 100 Famous & Historic trees in Pennsylvania's second Millennium Grove. Volunteers from SmithKline Beecham planted the trees at Norristown Farm Park in a northwest suburb of Philadelphia.

* Texas dedicated its Millennium Grove in Euless, site of the three-day, nationally known Arbor Daze festival (see "Emerald Cities," Summer 1999).

In other tree-planting news, The Bay Weekly, a Chesapeake Bay area newspaper, planted 3,300 trees at four projects in the Bay area. The trees support AMERICAN FORESTS' commitment to plant 1 million trees in the Chesapeake Bay area. So far, more than 900,000 have been planted.