Urban and Community Forestry
Achievements in 1998

The Northeastern Area

Bringing Forestry to the People

Dear Friend,

The decade of the 1990s has witnessed significant change in the Urban and Community Forestry Program, We have reclaimed our responsibility as stewards of the environment evidenced by the shift in emphasis from individual trees to the comprehensive management of natural systems and processes. Our accomplishments for Fiscal Year 1998 reflect an emerging change in attitude about caring for the land and serving people where they live and work by integrating all of the appropriate USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, programs.

In 1989, the Northeastern Area assembled a core team to develop the first urban, issue-based, five-year strategic plan for the period 1990-1994. During its deliberations the team identified land use change, shifting demographics, inner city deterioration, and environmental degradation as the critical issues affecting natural systems in populated areas and, consequently, the quality of life for all citizens. As a result the focus of the urban and community forestry program was changed to include the management of all forests and related natural resources.

With development of the second five-year plan, 1995-1999, the state program coordinators reexamined the issues. Simultaneously, the comprehensive management approach advocated for urban and community forestry became more viable because of the increased national emphasis on ecosystem-based management. Several states, as illustrated in the following pages, expanded their scope of urban and community forestry to link social, economic and ecological issues.

Urban and Community Forestry has become the largest of the state and private forestry programs administered by the Forest Service in cooperation with the state foresters. With continued support from congressional leaders we are responding to the expressed wishes of the people for an improved quality of urban life. The accomplishments described here demonstrate that we can maintain traditional program values that emphasize the planting and care of individual trees but in the context of addressing larger societal issues. This is important information as we approach the task of updating our strategic direction during Fiscal Year 1999 to deal with a new century of growth and change.

I am proud of the accomplishments for Fiscal Year 1998 represented in this report. The collective activities described here reflect a commitment and professional dedication among non-governmental organizations, local citizen groups, private individuals, and local, state and federal government workers that is rare indeed.

This report and all of its many accomplishments is dedicated to the memory of Sharon Ossenbruggen, a Forest Service employee from Durham, New Hampshire. Her untimely death saddened us all but her legacy will influence urban and community forestry for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Michael T. Rains

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