The Case for GREENER CITIES.

SPRAWL IS INFLICTING MAJOR DAMAGE ON FORESTS ESSENTIAL FOR LIVABLE COMMUNITIES. HERE'S HOW TO TAKE A STAND FOR THE TREES.

Signs of America's success are everywhere - literally. Post-World War II development is sprawling out of control, stressing people and communities, taxing patience and wallets, and decreasing livability in the very places we call home.

American Forests has spent the last several years studying one consequence of sprawl: the loss of vital tree cover in our cities and surrounding areas. One look at how that green infrastructure has changed tells us we are headed in the wrong direction. Changing the momentum of the last five decades will be no easy task, but we must shift the way we build communities.

Trees and forests have become more than just an overlooked and underappreciated community resource - they are a resource at risk, and one whose loss is increasingly costly to communities and the environment. Since the early 1970s, three major metropolitan areas - Seattle, Baltimore/Washington, and Atlanta - have lost a third or more of their heavy tree cover. These areas function most like natural forests, protecting watersheds and providing wildlife habitat.

Developed areas with less than 20 percent tree cover are, in turn, rapidly expanding, costing communities, citizens, and the environment billions of dollars in added expenses for stormwater management, air pollution cleanup, and energy consumption.

One solution: protect and restore trees and forests as a cost-effective way to improve the environment, clean our water and air, and make our communities more healthy, livable, and affordable. Another is to concentrate development in ways that protect important natural elements and build community.

To that end, AMERICAN FORESTS is launching a campaign to help people and policymakers understand the full value of trees and forests in and around communities of all sizes. It is time for community leaders to support the upkeep of our green infrastructure every bit as much as that for transportation, water, and power. As part of this campaign, AMERICAN FORESTS is challenging communities to use trees and forests as indicators of the extent of sprawl development and as tools to slow and reverse its most negative effects. The urban forest can be a key indicator of community well-being. The first step is to fully integrate trees and natural resources into the planning process.

FORESTS FACTS

* Trees slow and absorb stormwater, reducing flooding and stream degradation. The trees lost to development in the Puget Sound region since 1973 would have reduced stormwater storage requirements by 1.2 billion cubic feet, the equivalent of a $2.4 billion stormwater management system. Cities across the country are likely experiencing similar losses.

* Watershed forests and streamside forest buffers greatly reduce runoff, providing a low-cost, natural approach to maintaining clean drinking water. This forest cover also protects and restores fish and wildlife habitat.

* Tree leaves help clean pollutants from the air. In large cities, these green filters are worth tens of millions of dollars in air pollution abatement each year.

* Trees make cities livable, adding beauty and keeping them cool. Trees lost in Atlanta's urban core have resulted in temperatures 6 to 10 degrees higher than the surrounding countryside. That directly threatens human health by increasing smog and, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has contributed to an ever-growing number of deadly heat waves in the past 50 years.

* A Virginia study concludes that as populations grow in rural forested areas, increased tax assessments severely squeeze small-forest landowners. The study estimates that no more than half the state's 15 million forested acres will be managed as working forests in the next century. And when small private forest owners can no longer cope with the tax load and the changing landscape, they are left with few options but to develop their land.

Sprawl's causes are many and complex and not always easy to isolate: the decline in livable cities, public subsidy of services and infrastructure in suburban areas, and rapid population growth to the tune of some 1.3 million new households each year. Since 1980 suburban populations around major cities have grown 10 times faster than their urban counterparts.

When surveyed in June, AMERICAN FORESTS members identified sprawl as the number one threat to trees and forests in the United States. Thirty-seven percent gave it top priority, three times as many as chose air pollution and acid rain (13 percent), overcutting (13 percent), or poor government policies and practices (12 percent).

Understanding the urban environment, where 80 percent of Americans live, is a critical challenge for the 21st century. Computer mapping systems use satellite imagery and aerial photography to help us see urban forests as integral to our ecological systems. That, in turn, helps us understand their role in safeguarding public health and the livability of our communities.

The challenge is to make these tools useful and accessible for communities of all sizes and to build planning and maintenance systems that utilize the best information available. The result: ecologically and economically sound solutions that equal the scope of the problem.

GROWING WITH TREES

AMERICAN FORESTS believes trees can and must be a central part of the solution to sprawling development and to the challenge of building livable communities. Here is our five-step plan for tree-smart development.

Step 1: Know what you've got

Communities need to assess their tree canopy before they can develop a plan to improve it. The best way we've found to do that is by using satellite and aerial images coupled with ground surveys. AMERICAN FORESTS designed CITYgreen software to facilitate this process. In addition to measuring tree canopy, CITYgreen analyzes the benefits provided by the trees and calculates a dollar value for the work trees do slowing stormwater, reducing energy consumption, and cleaning the air.

Step 2: Set tree cover goals

Based on extensive research over the last 20 years, AMERICAN FORESTS recommends metropolitan areas strive for an overall tree cover of 40 percent (30 percent in the arid Southwest). While local conditions vary, a city could achieve this with 15 percent coverage in downtown area, 25 percent in urban residential and light commercial areas, and 50 percent in suburban residential areas.

Step 3: Get organized

Organizations and institutions must work together to achieve community tree cover goals. Local, state, and regional decision-makers must agree to and promote specific plans. The preservation of tree canopy must become an overriding concern for local government agencies, both in their long-range plans and everyday work. Neighborhood, civic, and business organizations can help, and the resulting plan should include a role for all local institutions and agencies.

Step 4: Make policy

Good public policy is essential for ensuring that the work of community organizations and institutions is preserved and that trees that are saved or planted are protected in the future. Citizens and officials should plan for long-term funding of urban environmental programs and explore the creation of ordinances that protect existing trees and allow for significant new plantings. This is also the time to ensure that the inventory and assessment completed in Step 1 is regularly monitored as a measure of success.

Step 5: Take action

To reach the recommended 40 percent tree canopy goal, communities need to plant trees and take better care of the ones they have. Every community AMERICAN FORESTS surveyed has lower-than-recommended tree cover and too few good tree-planting sites. They need more trees, and the planting sites should be improved. In addition, the trees they have need better care so they can live long enough to provide the community with natural benefits. AMERICAN FORESTS is supported by individuals, corporations, and foundations who want to help plant trees. You can help by visiting our web site at www.americanforests.org. AF

HOW AMERICAN FORESTS CAN HELP YOU STOP SPRAWL

These five steps outline an effective way to return the green to your community in both trees and dollars. AMERICAN FORESTS is committed to supporting community efforts to halt sprawl, and we offer products, services, people, and advice that will help you succeed.

As with any journey, the most critical steps are the first and the last. AMERICAN FORESTS' CITYgreen 3.0 software can help you make that first step by developing a snapshot of your community's "green infrastructure" that will help local decisionmakers quickly and easily understand the effects of development policies. Confronted with the hard economic realities of deforestation, we believe most communities will take positive action.

Also, AMERICAN FORESTS has satellite images of tree cover in regions where we conducted a Regional Ecosystem Analysis. These data sets are part of a package we are offering at a very low cost to citizens and schools.

Once the snapshot has been taken, AMERICAN FORESTS can assist your community in setting your course of action. We bring to the table a bank of applied knowledge gathered from 20 years of research. Some communities need to halt sprawl, others need to reverse its effects, and still others need to forestall its appearance. Which applies to your town, and what can you do about it? AMERICAN FORESTS has the answers. Finally, for most communities, reforestation is going to play some role in stopping sprawl or remedying its ill effects. AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf 2000 campaign is the world's leading not-for-profit tree-planting effort. For example, if your community's analysis calls for a tree canopy increase in one area of 5 percent, we can work with you to re-green that area. Our Global ReLeaf program helps restore native species, stops topsoil erosion from muddying streams, provides new habitat for wild creatures, and improves air and water quality.

AMERICAN FORESTS is not against growth. The human community needs room to grow and will never stop growing. What is needed - and what AMERICAN FORESTS wants to provide - are tools and techniques so this growth results in sustainable, livable communities. - Bob Leipold

Dan Smith is AMERICAN FORESTS' VP for communication.