Newsroom

College Park, MD (January 9, 2012)- ACTrees members are invited to submit comments on revisions of the ANSI A300 national tree care standards. The period for public review is January 6 to February 5, 2012, for ANSI A300 Part 6- "Planting and Transplanting of Trees and Shrubs," and January 6 to February 20, 2012, for ANSI A300 Part 7- "Integrated Vegetation Management."

College Park, MD (December 29, 2011)- Congratulations to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful of Indianapolis, IN, for their winning National NeighborWoods^TM Month photo! Their photograph best captured the spirit of volunteerism that thrives in NeighborWoods^TM programs across the nation. Featuring three Indianapolis youth working together to plant a new neighborhood tree, the bright snapshot conveys the determination, cooperation, and positive action people are taking to strengthen their communities with trees.

By Joshua Davidovich

Miami, FL (December 19, 2011)- Picture a line of gently swaying palm trees. Is there a greater signifier of a pleasantly warm climate and a great vacation spot? But while palms are aesthetic superstars, a number of cities have started to recognize that the environmental issues fronds wreak can't justify the eye candy.

College Park, MD (December 19, 2011)- During the November meeting of the Board of Directors and our Annual Member Meeting, ACTrees leadership reflected on the many reasons for our successful 2011. The primary reason is ACTrees' network of member organizations and their remarkable leaders and volunteers.

By Randall Higgins

Cleveland, TN (December 14, 2011)- Just two months after the April 27 tornadoes churned through Ringgold, Ga., a group of residents joined restoration efforts by organizing a tree planting for fall. David Dunn, public defender for North Georgia's Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, told the Cleveland Tree Board on Tuesday how Trees For Ringgold was formed and how the idea can be adapted here.

College Park, MD (December 12, 2011)- Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) is pleased to announce the Alliance for Community Trees People's Garden Grants, a new grant opportunity designed to explore and deepen connections between trees and community agriculture.

College Park, MD (December 5, 2011)- The Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests report was officially released at last month's Partners in Community Forestry Conference in Orlando, FL. Bringing together the observations and recommendations of 25 experts across multiple disciplines, the Vibrant Cities Report presents a new framework for understanding the benefits of urban and community forestry.

Hartford, CT (December 4, 2011)- Once again, Connecticut's trees are at the center of a storm. Countless trees and limbs were brought down by the remnants of Hurricane Irene in late August. Two months later, trees with their leaves still fully on branches were overwhelmed by a rare October snowstorm and were felled by heavy snow. Both times, overhead electric lines were tangled in downed branches, which blocked roads and slowed repair trucks.

By Gene Duvernoy

Seattle, WA (December 4, 2011)- New economic realities are forcing new approaches to making progress on environmental objectives with fewer resources. Regions will come out on top by aligning their economies and environments with a vibrant family life.

Baton Rouge, LA (December 2, 2011)- Southern University and its Urban Forestry Program have signed an agreement with the United States USDA Forest Service to enhance urban forestry education on the Baton Rouge campus.

By Lowell Brown

Denton, TX (November 27, 2011)- Angie Kralik grew up climbing trees in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. She doesn't climb trees anymore, but she's hardly left them behind. "I attribute those years of running around in the woods to becoming a forester later," said Kralik, Denton's new urban forester. "That's when I did my tree climbing, and I probably developed a big imagination out there, too."

By John Miller

Boise, ID (November 21, 2011)- When lightning ignited a wildfire near Idaho's Sun Valley in 2007, environmental regulators used monitoring gear to gauge the health effects for those breathing in the Sawtooth Mountains' smoky, mile-high air.

By Nate Berg

Los Angeles, CA (November 21, 2011)- Cities are hot spots. Their paved surfaces and dark rooftops absorb energy from the sun, which creates localized areas of high temperatures. Expanded out from the building scale to the city scale, these hot roofs and blacktops collectively create a blanket of retained warmth in a city, raising temperatures an annual average of about 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

By Jim Robbins

Helena, MT (November 21, 2011)- On a forested hill in the mountains north of Montana's capital, beneath a canopy of pine and spruce, Marc and Gloria Flora have planted more than 300 smaller trees, from apple and pear to black walnut and chestnut.

By Matt Rocheleau

Boston, MA (November 10, 2011)- The state's recreation department awarded $30,000 today to a four-year-old campaign that hopes to plant 100,000 new trees in Boston over a 13-year-span ending in 2020. Earlier this summer, preservation nonprofit Boston Natural Areas Network, through its Urban Forest Program, took over leadership of the Grow Boston Greener Campaign, an initiative Mayor Thomas M. Menino launched in 2007.

By James Bruggers

Louisville, KY (October 28, 2011)- Louisville's trees are fighting a losing battle to storms, invasive pests, neglect and age - and the mighty oaks, maples and ash that once towered over parkways, neighborhood streets, parks and backyards are not being replaced.

By Mark Reutter

Baltimore, MD (October 24, 2011)- Just two days ago, a thin, bespectacled 51-year-old patted down the final shovelful of dirt near a corner of Latrobe Park and entered into his book "13,849." That's the number of trees- maples, oak, cherry, dogwood, river birch, among others- that Gene DeSantis has planted in Baltimore.

By Nate Berg

Los Angeles, CA (October 24, 2011)- Trees clean the air, which is increasingly important in urban areas where high rates of asthma and other health conditions are rampant. They also reduce the urban heat island effect, and of course add to the aesthetic beauty of streets and neighborhoods. For all these reasons, tree planting programs are easy sells for local politicians.

College Park, Md. (October 3, 2011) - In more than 150 cities around the country, local nonprofit organizations and their partners will participate in this year's National NeighborWoods^TM Month, organized by Alliance for Community Trees and sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, TD Bank, and Boise ASPEN's Project UP. After this year's many devastating storms destroyed towns and leveled trees across the country, now is the time for concerned residents to replant and return the benefits of trees to their recovering communities.