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 State & Private Forestry NewsJuly 26, 2012 |
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Pittsburgh, PA, Reveals First
Urban Forest Master Plan
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl delivers comments on Pittsburgh's Urban Forestry Program; USDA Deputy Under Secretary Arthur "Butch" Blazer (in background) spoke at an evening reception. (Photo: Anne Cumming, U.S. Forest Service)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.--Tree Pittsburgh hosted an urban forestry tour that included USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Arthur "Butch" Blazer, on June 28, at which it revealed Pittsburgh's first Urban Forest Master Plan.
Through a $100,000 grant from NA S&PF, Tree Pittsburgh had hosted an Urban Forest Master Planning Symposium in 2010, which gathered more than 50 key stakeholders from across the country to begin creating the plan.
"The master planning process here is extremely important because it connects to the president's Great Outdoors Initiative," Blazer said. "When people think 'great outdoors,' they think of places like Yosemite. They need to start thinking about places like Pittsburgh, too. Eighty percent of our country's population is in urban areas, and we know the importance trees have on the psyches of humans."
The Pittsburgh Shade Tree Commission used the Forest Service's software suite, i-Tree to gather data on Pittsburgh's urban forest resources and the benefits they provide. Data show that Pittsburgh has more than 2.5 million trees that sequester 13,900 tons of carbon dioxide a year, save residents millions in energy bills and remove 519 tons of pollution at a savings of $3.6 million a year. Street trees alone divert 41.8 million gallons of stormwater.
Tree Pittsburgh is an independent nonprofit group, founded in 2006 as Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest by the Shade Tree Commission after a 2005 street tree inventory counted 31,524 trees, half of what people in the field had expected. It began raising money to reverse the decline of the city's trees.
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| New Coordinator at Philadelphia Field Station
 NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.--Northern Research Station Director Michael T. Rains announced the selection of Sarah Low as the new coordinator of the Philadelphia Field Station. Launched last year as a partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Philadelphia Field Station is designed to enhance the Forest Service's role in linking environmental health with community stability in urban areas. As owner of an environmental consulting firm, Low has been known for her ability to motivate and challenge others and has established a record of exceptional community organizing and project coordination. Low began working at the field station on July 2. Phillip Rodbell of NA S&PF's Urban and Community Forestry Staff has served as acting coordinator at the field station on a part-time detail since November and will continue through the July transition period.
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New Director of Michigan Department of Natural Resources
LANSING, Mich.--Gov. Rick Snyder announced the appointment of State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Director Keith Creagh as director of the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), effective July 9.
"Keith is a natural choice to become our next DNR director," Snyder said. "He has a strong understanding of Michigan's conservation, economic and environmental needs, vast experience and ability to bring people together, and a love of our state's great outdoors that will make for a seamless transition."
Clover Adams, having served as the state Department of Environmental Quality's Policy and Legislative Affairs director since 2011, replaces Creagh as MDARD director.
Creagh fills the vacancy of outgoing DNR director Rodney Stokes, who was recently named by Snyder as special advisor for city placemaking, where he will work to help cities become more vibrant and inviting by enhancing their existing resources.
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Predicting the Movement of
a Wildfire
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Martin Savidge of CNN recently reported from the Waldo Canyon Fire on how Rick Stratton, fire modeling analyst with a nonprofit research, development, and educational organization in Missoula, MT, uses a laptop to predict the movement of a wildfire. Before joining the nonprofit staff, Stratton worked with the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service for eight seasons. Watch video.
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Close Ups of Hot Shot Crew in Colorado
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md.--AirmanMagazine, the online magazine of the U.S. Air Force, recently published this photo gallery of Hot Shots in Colorado. View photos.
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Stay Well in Extreme Heat
ATLANTA, Ga.--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have put together a guide to help people avoid heat-related illness. View the guide.
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Manufacturing and Marketing Eastern Hardwood Lumber Produced by Thin Kerf Band Mills
PRINCETON, W.Va.--Dan Cassens, Professor of Wood Products in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University, recently completed a book with this title using a grant sponsored by the Wood Education and Resource Center. This publication is a resource for both beginners and experienced operators of portable band mills. For additional information, contact Dan Cassens at 765-494-3644. View this document online.
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Three Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water
Mike Ash, ST. PAUL, Minn. --Marketers would have us believe that bottled water is healthy water. In reality, however, bottled water is just water. That fact isn't stopping people from buying a lot of it. Estimates variously place worldwide bottled water sales at between $50 and $100 billion each year, with the market expanding at the startling annual rate of 7 percent.
1. Energy cost. Energy output levels to produce bottled water far exceed those of tap water. In a recent California study conducted by the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, the energy output level for bottled water is 2,000 times that of tap water. The energy to pack, ship, market, and retail is really just the cost of the bottle itself, making it worth many times over the water in it.
2. Waste. Plastic bottles take upwards of 10 decades just to begin to break down in landfills. Every hour Americans throw away on average about 2.5 million plastic bottles! They never fully degrade, they just "photo degrade," which means that in a million years they will still be decomposing.
3. Negative impact on the environment. Plastic bottles in landfills and oceans are soaring. The ocean's delicate ecosystems are beginning to show the effect of plastic waste floating at sea level. The Atlantic has more plastic than plankton. Estimates show more than 13,000 square kilometers of the ocean's surface are covered in plastic refuse.
There's a simple alternative to bottled water: buy a stainless steel thermos, and reuse it. Don't like the way your local tap water tastes? Inexpensive carbon filters will turn most tap water sparkling fresh at a fraction of bottled water's cost.
On that (hopefully rare) occasion when you do use a disposable bottle, always be sure to pour out any remaining liquid so it can eventually work its way back into the water supply. If residual liquid is left in a capped bottle and tossed in the trash, the water will be trapped until the bottle disintegrates, which could be over 100 years!
Information is from the Web sites of these organizations:
Natural Resources Defense Council
United Nations Environment Programme
mother nature network
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