National, state, and local tree news

By Patricia Leigh Brown, “Tasty, and Subversive, Too,” The New York Times (May 11, 2013)

Del Aire, CA — Food forests and urban orchards are flourishing across the country. In Los Angeles, a trio of activist artists have planted California’s first public fruit park, an “edible art” site inspired by pioneering local nonprofit TreePeople. In Seattle, the organization City Fruit has undertaken the Beacon Food Forest, funded in part by ACTrees, and Chicago is working to preserve forgotten fruit through the Rarities Orchard Project.
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Dorchester, MA (April 27, 2013) — Evan J., a 13-year-old who lives in a Boston suburb, recently celebrated becoming a Bar Mitzvah. As part of the event, Evan chose to focus the celebration on trees and to support ACTrees for his Mitzvah project. His is an inspiring and generous gesture that spans the rich Judaic tradition of planting trees to the healing power of community tree planting after the Boston Marathon bombings.
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Annapolis, MD (May 2, 2013) – Governor Martin O’Malley has signed into law ground-breaking legislation that recognizes the value of preserving and caring for forest land and the urban tree canopy. The Forest Preservation Act of 2013 (HB 706) includes a “no-net-loss of forest” policy—maintaining the current state’s 40% tree canopy. It also establishes incentives and reforestation tools to help private landowners, local governments, and the state improve water quality and support community sustainability through forests and trees.
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Washington, DC (April 26, 2013) – In honor of National Arbor Day, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-6) and co-sponsors Earl Blumenauer (OR-3) and Barbara Lee (CA-13) introduced The Residential Energy and Economic Savings (TREES) Act. The legislation aims at reducing residential energy consumption and costs through strategically planting shade trees nationwide.
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Chicago, IL (April 16, 2013) — Dubbed as Chicago’s “next great park,” the Bloomingdale Trail, built along a former rail line, will be a 3-mile-long elevated linear park and trail running through the heart of Chicago, connecting neighborhoods, the river, and Chicago’s park system. And by August the goal is for volunteers, along with the Chicago Park District, to plant 125,000 trees and shrubs in one day as part of a new wildlife corridor.
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Harrisburg, PA (April 15, 2013) – The Pennsylvania Department Conservation and Natural Resources announced that it is expanding TreeVitalize, a popular and successful community tree-planting and education program. Initially launched on Arbor Day 2004, the TreeVitalize program has planted more than 350,000 shade trees in 14 metropolitan areas. Governor tom Corbett has directed the DCNR to expand grant opportunities so that the benefits of trees can be extended to every county.
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New York, NY (March 2013) – A new book released this month, “New York City of Trees,” by Benjamin Swett, photographs and describes the role of trees and the shared experiences of the people who live alongside them. The book release coincides with an exhibit of his tree photographs at the Central Park Arsenal gallery.
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Albuquerque, NM (April 12, 2013) – The Blue Tree Project, an international art event, was installed in Albuquerque April 12–13 through the efforts of Tree New Mexico and event sponsors Wells Fargo, Albuquerque Arts Program, and others. Australian artist, Konstantin Dimopoulos, will also be part of an Earth Day celebration for the unsung role of trees in the community, and a re-launch of Tree New Mexico’s Energy Conservation and Trees Program.
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Seattle, WA (April 4, 2013) — Seattle’s vision of an urban food oasis is a seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood that is being populated with hundreds of different kinds of edible trees and plants–all available for public plucking. A People’s Garden Grant through ACTrees to Seattle-based CityFruit helped with purchase of fruit trees for the Beacon Food Forest, as well as public education and outreach.
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San Bernardino, Ca (March 23, 2013) — The Incredible Edible Community Garden was awarded a California ReLeaf Grant to plant a Veteran’s Tree Garden at Cal State San Bernardino’s Veteran’s Success Center. On March 23^rd, as part of the groundbreaking ceremony of the Veterans Living Memorial Garden, local veterans helped to plant 15 olive trees. They were planted in three clusters representing each of the five branches of the U.S. military–Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. An additional 35 trees will be planted throughout the campus.
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