Bostonforest.org

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Contact: Lisa Patterson (508) 698-6810, classic.pr@verizon.net

BUFC’s 2006 Arbor Day Celebration
Encourages Community Education and Involvement

Boston, MA—May 4, 2006—Boston’s Urban Forest Coalition (BUFC) planted nearly 100 trees in Boston as part of the 2006 Massachusetts and National Arbor Day Celebrations, April 28-29.  The two-day event was part of a 10-city national program funded by the National Arbor Day Foundation and The Home Depot Foundation.

“A healthy environment, including trees, provides benefits beyond just the physical ones,” said Sherri Brokopp, Chair of BUFC, a coalition of non-profit, city, state, and federal organizations working to improve Boston’s urban forest ecosystem.  “Healthier neighborhoods mean healthier people, and healthier people create better communities!”

Sixty trees were planted in Dorchester on Friday, April 28 at the Holland Elementary School complex, which includes the Pine Street Inn and the ABCD Daycare and Senior Centers.  On Saturday, April 29 in Mission Hill, 26 trees were planted at the Mission Main housing development and more than 50 additional street trees were mulched along Tremont Street, between the Roxbury Crossing and Brigham Circle T stops.

“The plantings provided an excellent opportunity to educate local youth and the public about the value of our city’s trees and the importance of proper care and maintenance,” said Rita Renée Toll-DuBois of UMass Extension who was the Arbor Day plantings Project Chair for BUFC.  “We involved area young people and adult volunteers in the whole process—selecting, planting, watering and upkeep—and even had an interactive exhibit set up at One Brigham Circle on Saturday so the public could learn and get involved in their own communities.”

On Friday, Massachusetts and National Arbor Day, staff and students from YouthBuild Boston and Eagle Eye Institute assisted BUFC members and volunteers from local Home Depot stores in all phases of the tree plantings, including digging holes, placing the trees, back-filling the soil, mulching and giving the newly planted trees a good watering.

Everyone took a break from working to gather for a special press conference which featured brief addresses by James Hunt, III, the City of Boston’s Chief of Environmental & Energy Services; Boston Parks Commissioner Antonia Pollak; BUFC Chair Sherri Brokopp; Steve Pearson and Jade Blacksher of the National Arbor Day Foundation; and representatives from The Home Depot Foundation.

“The City of Boston is immensely grateful to Boston’s Urban Forest Coalition, who hosted this great event, and to the National Arbor Day and The Home Depot Foundatons for providing all 100 trees,” said Hunt.  “In part because of the accomplishments of everyone involved with these Arbor Day activities, the National Arbor Day Foundation has also awarded the City with the Tree City USA Award for the 10^th consecutive year for its commitment to community forest.”

Commissioner Pollak awarded certificates of appreciation to each organization and volunteer group involved with the project.  “Your effort to improve the health of our communities by planting more trees is a great example of what our city is all about,” she said.

On Saturday, Boston Arbor Day, BUFC joined with three other Boston organizations—Mission Hill Main Streets, UMass Extension’s Boston 4-H Urban Stewards, and Earthworks’ Hyde Park Wild teen crew—plus youth from local groups, including the Tobin School, CityYear Young Heroes, CYFAR South End Lower Roxbury Peer Leaders Environmental Stewardship crew, and Mission SAFE, to plant and mulch trees at the Mission Main housing development and to mulch existing trees along Tremont Street.  The event was held in conjunction with the 4th annual Keep It Clean/Keep It Green tree care event, part of the city’s Boston Shines neighborhood cleanup.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino was on hand for the festivities just prior to the scheduled break for lunch.  He spoke to several young people about their involvement with the tree planting and maintenance and thanked them for their help and spirit of community.  After lunch, Boston Parks Commissioner Pollak once again expressed her thanks for the efforts to beautify Mission Hill, one of the city’s areas most in need of green and open space.  She awarded personalized certificates of appreciation to the young volunteers who assisted with the cleanup.

Volunteers on both days were instructed by horticulture and arborculture professionals, including Boston Parks Department arborist Leif Fixen and members of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Boston’s Urban Forest Coalition, the Urban Ecology Institute, and others.

Rounding out the widespread effort to increase the number of healthy trees in Boston will be additional plantings at later dates at the Haley School in Roslindale; Dell Rock Urban Wild in Hyde Park; and “Our Garden” in East Boston, bringing the total number of trees planted to more than 100.

Formed in March, 2005, Boston’s Urban Forest Coalition includes the USDA Forest Service; Boston Parks and Recreation Department; Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation; Mass GIS; Mapping Sustainability; DotWell; UMass Extension; Franklin Park Coalition; Boston Department of Neighborhood Development; Urban Ecology Institute; Boston Natural Areas Network; and Urban Natural Resources Institute.

Among BUFC’s other ongoing projects is an inventory of all public street trees in Boston.  Inventories of Jamaica Plan, East Boston, Roslindale and the South End have been completed with a plan to complete the remainder of Boston’s 17 neighborhoods this summer. Volunteers are still needed.

For more information on Boston’s Urban Forest Coalition and its projects, or to volunteer, please call Sherri Brokopp at (617) 552-0672, email her at brokopp@bc.edu or visit BUFC’s website at www.bostonforest.org.

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