And this is just the prelims! - Sixth National Urban Forest Conference

American Forests, Sept-Oct, 1993 by Lori Wright

From celebrities to "solar green machines," the Sixth National Urban Forest Conference is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet.

As the Twin Cities started the countdown to September's Sixth National Urban Forest Conference, youth from Minneapolis Teen Teamworks formed a bucket brigade to water a home-made "tree factory," experts performed tree-care demonstrations, and leaders in the urban forestry movement celebrated the coming of the largest-ever urban forest conference. The event, covered by all four local television stations, took place in Minneapolis' Loring Park--site of the "ReLeaf in the Park" festival during the conference. The festival will feature entertainment, national celebrity appearances, and dozens of learning stations demonstrating state-of-the-art urban forestry techniques.

At the countdown, the tree factory, or "solar green machine," showed the workings of a tree by spraying out water (evapotranspiration) and inhaling red balls (representing carbon dioxide) and exhaling blue balls (oxygen). When the walls of the machine were torn down, a real live hackberry tree stood in place of the factory. A bunch of hard-working local kids were the masters of this work-of-art.

Meanwhile, experts in tree planting and care performed demonstrations. Offering remarks were: Don Willeke, president of AMERICAN FORESTS and the National Urban Forest Council; Rolf Svendsen, chair of the Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee; Rip Rapson, Minneapolis deputy mayor; John Nelson, representing Chevrolet/GEO; and representatives from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board.

Also announced at the event were $25,000 in state and national conference scholarships.