URBAN TREES: A WIN-WIN PROPOSITION.

Save forests and money with a saw mill and a community partnership? Some trail-blazing cities are proving it can be done.

The city of Hammond, Indiana (near Chicago) knew there had to be a better use for the nearly 400 urban trees they had to take down each year due to disease, storm damage and construction site clearing. Hauling, Chipping and dumping the trees in a landfill cost more than $500,000 a year, and filled up limited landfill space. The city realized it was dumping a valuable resource, and cutting down additional trees to meet its lumber needs.

Enter a portable sawmill owner and a solution is born. Instead of trashing the trees, the Hammond Parks and Recreation Department now drops them at the sawmill to be turned into usable lumber, "In exchange for milling, Hoosier Sawmill keeps 70 percent of the lumber, which they sell to a local pallet company, preserving local jobs,' says Nora Loechel, a spokesperson for Wood-Mizer, manufacturer of the portable sawmills used in this project and a partner in the effort across the U.S. "The other 30 percent of the lumber goes to the city for park maintenance, saving money on wood they used to purchase. No money changes hands and everybody benefits."

"Any city can do this and they probably should;' says Greg Fennig, executive director of the Indianapolis affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. His non-profit organization is working to coordinate a similar but much larger partnership in Indianapolis, Indiana. He and Wood-Mizer presented the idea at a recent national KAB conference in Washington, D.C. "Trees don't live forever. If something must be done with them, this is a perfect solution."

"It's a community-builder too," adds Fennig. "Our growing coalition in Indianapolis includes a wide range of groups that may never have worked together. With partners like local government, non-profits, utilities, private companies, developers and associations--it's a partnership with powerful potential because everyone wins."

"Cities and towns have to take down trees every day," says John Parry of Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "From Indianapolis public land alone, that's over 600 trees a year--and utilities and developers take down many more than that, into the thousands. Most of the trees end up as firewood or woodchips, or go in landfills. People like to see their resources well-used, not wasted." CONTACT: Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, 445 North Pennsylvania, Suite 330, Indianapolis, IN 46204/[phone].