American Forests Forestbytes June 2008

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Wildfires in the summer of 2007 transformed the ancient, beautiful landscape of Greece into a blazing inferno. More than 60 people died and people worldwide feared the loss of artifacts at sites that date back to 900 BC. The fires covered more than half the country, sweeping through hundreds of square miles of forests, including nature reserves, ecological hotspots, and areas of great historical and cultural importance.

This year, American Forests teams up with Plant Your Roots in Greece to heal some of the damage. Founded in 1991 and now under the auspices of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad, Plant Your Roots in Greece seeks to involve Greeks and those of Greek descent in improving and protecting their homeland’s environment. This, it believes, upholds a philosophy that “combines the Ancient Greek principle of respect toward nature with the Olympic idea of voluntarism.” American Forests’ Global ReLeaf International supports this philosophy by providing aid to plant 80,000 trees between two areas of particular historical and ecological importance: Ancient Olympia and Mount Taygetos. READ MORE

Wanted: Tree DNA
Researchers from one of the nation’s foremost botanical gardens have launched a project to gather and catalog DNA from trees around the world. Called TreeBOL—short for Tree Barcode of Life, the project is led by the New York Botanical Gardens, a place often known more for its beauty than its science. The goal is to build a database that will enable scientists to ID and locate the world’s plant species and determine whether they are endangered. The database also will help conservation groups as population and development increases threaten species. Other groups have launched similar campaigns to document plant and bird DNA. READ MORE

	Beetle-resistant Ash Trees? The emerald ash borer, an Asian beetle, has been a threat to ash trees in North America since its introduction in the early 90s, the extent of its damage comparable to that of the infamous Dutch elm disease or chestnut blight. Given free reign, the beetle could wipe out the country’s entire population of ash. This species of tree is used in a number of different ways, including landscaping and the manufacturing of baseball bats. The adult beetle feeds on the foliage of ash trees, but causes minimal damage. It is the beetle’s larvae that poses the real threat. It feeds on the inner bark of the ash tree, which disturbs the tree’s natural ability to transport water and nutrients, causing it to die a slow death by starvation. Now Dan Herms, an entomologist from with Ohio Agricultural Research and Development center, has suggested developing an ash tree that is resistant to the beetle’s attacks. Read More

	Putting Trees Back “With so much buzz around ‘going green,’ especially on the printing side of our business where so many natural resources are being consumed, we decided to . . . do something positive for the environment and give our company and our clients a chance to replenish some of the resources we are using,” says Caitlyn Boyle of Creative Automation, a direct marketing services company. Reforestation with Creative Automation was born. For every $5,000 order placed with the company’s Graphics Printing Division during June, 25 trees were planted in the customer’s name with American Forests’ Global ReLeaf program. Boyle says the company hopes to repeat the program again later in the year. Founded in 1969, Creative Automation provides services ranging from list processing and data hygiene to graphics printing and personalization.

Earthquake Affects Panda Reserves
Turns out there’s another health issue helped by leafy green trees in the city: childhood asthma. A study of asthma rates among 4- and 5-year-olds in New York City found them to be lower when the children lived on tree-lined streets, regardless of proximity to sources of pollution, family income, or population density, thedailygreen.com reports. READ MORE

Miracle Mango Tree
Think you love mangoes? It’s nothing compared to the feelings of Kallimullah Khan of the small town of Malihabad in Uttar Pradesh, India. Asian News International reports that Khan has grown over 300 species of mangoes on a single tree, many of them rare and some of them even extinct. The original tree—the “miracle mango tree”—is nearly 80 years old. READ MORE

Stewardship Works
A study by the Rainforest Alliance says there are fewer wildfires and less deforestation in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified lands as compared to protected and other areas in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. The FSC-certified lands saw a drop in wildfires from 6.5 percent in 1998 to 0.1 percent in 2007 while fires during the same period affected between 7 and 20 percent of the rest of the reserve. READ MORE

	UN Meeting Leads to Forest Aid At a UN biodiversity conference in Bonn, Germany this May, representatives from 60 nations swore the common goal of stopping deforestation by the year 2020, reports the ÂFP. The conference lasted two weeks and included thousands of representatives from nearly 200 countries. Until recent years, the issue of deforestation was paid far less heed. However, with the consequences of climate change becoming harder to deny or ignore, leaders around the world have had to sit up and pay attention. READ MORE

	WWF Reports Global Decline in Biodiversity The World Wildlife Fund announced recently that global biodiversity has been reduced by nearly one-third in the past 35 years, according to the Environmental News Network. The WWF attributes most of this decline to habitat loss and wildlife trade, but warns that climate change will quickly hasten the decline over future years. The report shows that land-based species have been diminished by 25 percent in the last 35 years, marine species by 28 percent, and freshwater species by 29 percent. READ MORE
	Mourning Rubenstein American Forests is mourning the loss of one of its board members, Stephen Rubenstein of New Vernon, New Jersey, who died in June of acute myeloid leukemia. He was 69. Rubenstein was president of Rubenstein Properties of Little Falls, New Jersey, which he had built into a multi-million dollar conglomerate of real-estate development, construction and defense-contracting companies, according to an obituary from the University of Vermont, where he studied horticulture. Rubenstein and his wife Beverly donated $15 million to the University in support of environmental education and research in 2003, the school’s largest individual gift. In addition to American Forests, the Rubensteins supported other conservation groups including the Jewish National Fund as well as the state of Israel. READ MORE
	New National Park for Canada Canada has announced plans for a new 1.9-million-acre national park on the watershed of the South Nahganni River in the Northwest Territories. The land is considered important habitat for grizzly bear and woodland caribou, Reuters News Service reports. Called Naats’ihch’oh National Park and located next to the larger Nahanni National Park Reserve, its name means “stands like a porcupine” in the language of the local Dene aboriginal people. READ MORE
	Batter Up! Washington has a new ballpark and it’s one to crow about. The home of the National League’s Washington Nationals is the first green professional stadium, having received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The eco-friendly stadium, among other features, has drought-resistant plants, water-conserving plumbing, and a green roof over the concessions, reports Reuters. READ MORE
	You can still help American Forests win $50,000 Don’t forget to vote for American Forests in the Redwood Creek Greater Outdoors Project. American Forests is up for the chance to win enough grant money to plant 50,000 trees to restore damaged areas in fire-ravaged California. Since 1999, the California Wildfire ReLeaf program the has planted 1.3 million trees in 34 fire-damaged sites throughout the state of California. From now until July 31st, members of the public can help the project by casting their votes at http://www.redwoodcreek.com/greatoutdoors/voting.asp or text messaging the project’s code, also found on the website, from a wireless phone. Once registered, you can vote every date until the deadline—feel free, as the old saying goes, to vote early and often!

Tree or forest questions? Ask American Forests’ expert.
Email treedoc@amfor.org or treedoctor@amfor.org