News from the world of Trees

American Forests, Autumn, 1999

TAKE A BOW!

The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC) awarded AMERICAN FORESTS a competitive urban forestry grant for the project "Exploring Environmental Linkages Between Urban and Rural Communities," under the category "Creative and Innovative Projects."

This June, Forest Service grant monies and matching funds totaling more than $1.8 million were conferred to 15 of 94 proposed urban and community forestry projects nationally. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck says the grants will "improve our understanding of the value of community forests to people in the urban setting and build cooperation among all involved in the care of urban natural resources."

The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council advises Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on issues concerning the care and management of trees, forests, and natural resources in both urban and community settings.

TREES IN STORE

AMERICAN FORESTS will join the celebration when specialty retailer Eddie Bauer celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founder's birth in October.

The company will thank customers and commemorate the day by giving out close to 500,000 Global ReLeaf seedlings in its North American stores. The seedlings will also symbolize the outstanding effort that Eddie Bauer customers and associates have shown in sponsoring the planting of 2.5 million trees through the Eddie Bauer Global ReLeaf Tree Program. Eddie Bauer associates and community volunteers will dig in by planting urban trees in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Vancouver, British Columbia, adding more trees to the company's 2.3 million total so far.

TREES: THE QUICKER PICKER UPPER?

Ever wonder how paper towels absorb all that liquid? A recent study says trees can do the same thing--but for pollutants.

Scientists from the University of Washington are designing trees to sponge up and convert dangerous chemicals to products as harmless as table salt. Milton Gordon, Lee Newman, and Stuart Strand head a team that successfully introduced a mammalian gene into poplar, tobacco, and koa DNA. The gene triggers the release of up to 10 times the base concentration of a naturally occurring enzyme that decomposes toxins, transforming ordinary trees into "superheroes" capable of tackling pollutants on a landscape scale.

The team has screened nearly a dozen trees for "superhero" status. But so far none have withstood the high pollutant levels of Superfund sites, areas identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as most toxic.

Phytoremediation--the way trees repair ecosystems contaminated by industrial chemicals--is fast becoming as popular as traditional "pump and treat" removal by machine and bacterial conversion. This alternative technology owes its existence to the public's fear of bacteria, Strand says.

"Nobody will complain about the revegetation of a contaminated field," Strand says. "That is the beauty of our using trees to pump out pollutants."

At an experimental field site in Tacoma, Washington, scientists are planting various trees in soil contaminated to mimic spill site conditions. Thus far, hybrid poplars have proven the most flexible workers, processing a wide range of contaminants across a variety of ecosystems. Researchers are now applying their knowledge to help with hazardous waste clean-up projects nationwide. - Danielle Denenny