The sky above, the trees below: a neighborhood land-use scuffle turns into a satellite-aided fight for forward thinking in urban/suburban planning.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO if you found out that your neighbor was about to clearcut his property and turn it into a wasteland of barren fill dirt? Gone would be stately pines, gone the rabbits and deer that make their home in your neighbor's woods and pastures, gone the bluebirds and painted buntings, the pileated woodpeckers and flickers.

This was the painful situation that faced the McKee family--Gwen and Tom and their three children (ages 13, 10, and 5)--on the Isle of Hope, a residential community on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia. Tom is a pediatrician who spends all his free time outdoors. Gwen, a civic leader, has served as a trustee of the Georgia Conservancy, president of the Coastal Georgia Land Trust, and active member of the Savannah Tree Foundation. The McKee family did what most of us would do: They fought for the trees.

As a result of their battle, Savannah is now in the high-tech vanguard of urban forestry. Gwen McKee initiated a sequence of events that led to the use of computers and satellite imagery to prove conclusively that the city is undergoing significant tree loss. And that in turn resulted in the appointment of a task force that is working to beef up the city's tree ordinance.

It all started when their neighbor decided to carve nine acres into small residential lots and apply for a development permit. Previously, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had declared the nine acres to be wetlands, under the government's controversial 1989 definition, and thus the nine acres were ineligible for development into a subdivision. But backlash forced federal agencies to revert to an earlier, looser definition for the delineation of wetlands, and now only half an acre of the neighbor's property was declared off-limits to development. That sealed the fate of the trees and the deer and the bluebirds.

The neighbor's land was so low that houses could be constructed only after trucking in massive amounts of fill dirt. Since trees do not survive when their roots are smothered by fill, the neighbor planned to start by clearcutting.

The plan went public in late 1991 when he submitted a subdivision proposal to the local metropolitan planning commission. The McKees could not look to Savannah's tree ordinance for help, because it applies only to commercial property, not residential development. Even so, the planning commission ruled in the McKees' favor, rejecting the development plan because of the proposed housing density, the loss of trees, possible drainage problems, and traffic concerns.

The neighbor sued.

When the lawsuit went to trial, the judge ruled in the neighbor's favor. Clearcutting began in spring 1993.

"It was a traumatic month," recalls Gwen McKee. "Our whole house would shake every time a tree came down."

The Isle of Hope is a stable community where little or no development has occurred during the past 20 years. While the chainsaws were at work, neighbors called Gwen to ask if there was anything they could do. The Savannah Tree Foundation had spearheaded passage of the tree ordinance, and McKee found it frustrating to tell her neighbors the ordinance could not help. Not only does it not protect trees on residential property, the ordinance does not require developers to replant. That task is left up to homeowners once lots are sold.

The next step in the neighbor's plan was fill dirt. Truckload after truckload arrived, with dumping starting at the back of the property and working toward the front. As the McKees watched, they realized the root system for one of their large live oaks was partly on the neighbor's land. They called the county arborist, who came out and appraised the 60- to 80-year-old tree at $10,000 based on its species, location, condition, and size--33 inches in diameter. The tree is a favorite of the McKee children, who like to climb its massive branches.

The arborist agreed the tree was at risk from fill dirt and heavy machinery compacting the fill. Digging for a concrete swale for drainage also posed a threat to the tree's root system.

The McKees wrote a letter to the neighbor, letting him know the value of the live oak and asking him to do what he could to protect its roots. The arborist and county engineer helped him redesign the swale, and they put up a yellow plastic line (the kind police use) to show heavy-equipment operators that the area around the tree was sacrosanct.

"We think the tree will be fine," Gwen reports. "We've noticed no signs of distress. It put out new leaves this spring."

What they have noticed, however, is an influx of rabbits and birds. "They needed a place to go," she says. "Our property is immediately adjacent, and we became their refuge."

Despite the painful aspects, the story has something of a happy ending. The local historical and community associations have decided to write a plan to protect Isle of Hope's tree-lined streets. The county manager has hired a staff person to help.

"This has been a significant positive outgrowth;' says Gwen. "It rallied the community and made them realize what is valuable here. We are working on an ordinance that has some teeth in it."

Then came one of those fortuitous events that make life interesting. Gwen McKee attended a meeting in early 1993 and heard a statement she found interesting. Someone mentioned that a scientist had used satellite images to study tree loss in a section of the county around Savannah and the Isle of Hope, and found that the county may have lost a third of its urban forest during the past 10 or 15 years.

McKee did some detective work and learned the scientist's name, Charles Watson. She went to see him, and what she saw on his computer was a revelation. Watson had used satellite images and computer analysis to document declining tree canopy in part of the county.

"I felt that for the first time we had scientific evidence of tree loss," she recalls. Deforestation was occurring on a countywide basis. McKee knew that Watson was offering the kind of hard evidence they would need if they were going to persuade the metropolitan planning commission to strengthen the tree ordinance.

McKee put Watson in touch with Beth Glass, president of the savannah Tree Foundation, who realized the importance of the scientist's research. But his work would have to be expanded. The foundation immediately applied to the Georgia Forestry Commission for a $10,000 grant to help fund a study to document tree loss specifically in Savannah and the Isle of Hope. The Savannah Park and Tree Commission agreed to support the proposal with matching funds.

The grant was submitted to the Georgia Forestry Commission in May 1993 and accepted one month later. The study was completed by October and presented to a tree advisory task force, appointed by the metropolitan planning commission to revise the tree ordinance. The task force includes representatives of business interests, developers, city and county staff, Tree Foundation people, and concerned citizens. Task force members hope to have a revised ordinance finished by the end of 1994.

What happened to the McKees has heightened the community's awareness of the need for land-use planning, associated zoning regulations, and especially the importance of protecting its tree canopy. Thanks to Gwen McKee and others with the Savannah Tree Foundation, Savannah may once again live up to its nickname.

"At one time Savannah was called the Forest City," says McKee, referring to the city's formerly extensive tree cover. "We have a strong history of loving our trees, but we strayed from that."

ReLeafing New Communities

AMERICAN FORESTS and the National Association of Home Builders have teamed up on an innovative recognition program that rewards builders who maintain high environmental standards in their developments. To achieve the Global ReLeaf for New Communities designation, developments must pass a stringent review by both NAHB and AMERICAN FORESTS, and developers are paired with certified natural-resource experts and offered materials on saving and planting trees.

The two groups also are collaborating on a book, tentatively titled Saving Trees Is Good Business, that focuses on the economic and environmental importance of trees. It is scheduled for publication early next year. For more information about the book or the New Communities program, contact AMERICAN FORESTS at 202/667-3300.

NORAH DAVIS--former managing editor of AMERICAN FORESTS, writes on natural-resources issues from aboard her sailboat, Richmond Studio, in Washington, DC.