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April 2000
Something significant is happening in Lewiston
and Auburn. At a joint meeting on
February 22, the City Councils approved a measure creating a municipal
Lewiston-Auburn Community Forest Program. The next step is to recruit members for the Community Forest
Board, who will develop the program. Residents
or landowners in either city, who are willing to work and are committed to a
healthy community forest, are encouraged to pick up an application at their City
Clerk's office or call to have one mailed.
Questions about the Board may be directed to Doug Beck in Auburn's
Recreation Department at 784-0191 or Steve Murch in Lewiston's Public Works at
784-5753.
Soils, waters, plants and animals make up the
community forest. Ownership of the
forest influences management approaches. A
municipality is responsible for street trees and parks. Education and incentives
are often used to encourage private landowners.
It makes sense to manage the forest within the political jurisdiction
making local land use policies and decisions, hence the term "community
forest."
The possibilities for the L-A Community Forest
Program are just about limitless. Board
members will develop a management plan that defines the vision for the community
forest and guides what projects are undertaken.
In other communities, visions have included goals for thirty percent
canopy closure in the downtown and seventy percent closure in residential areas,
wildlife corridors, and riparian buffers for water bodies.
As a result of these programs, there are more parks and green spaces in
business and residential areas and more street trees.
There are cost-share programs for homeowners and businesses to add trees
and shrubs to their properties. Workshops
are offered on topics such as pruning trees and shrubs, backyard wildlife
habitat and landscape design for small yards.
Youth become involved in caring for the forest. Volunteers are trained to
inventory street trees and identify potential planting sites.
Forest Boards secure grants and raise money to support projects.
The members have fun while involving people with the forest and enhancing
the life of the community.
Surely, people in the future will marvel at the foresight of these
communities and be thankful for living in a healthy community forest.
Homes protected by windbreaks and shade trees can expect energy savings
up to thirty percent in winter and twenty percent in summer. Rows of trees can reduce wind speeds by more than fifty
percent, so it is more comfortable being outdoors.
They create more pleasant living and working conditions around homes,
schools, recreation areas, parking lots, businesses and industrial parks.
Trees can screen and buffer us from unwelcome sights, sounds and dust.
They protect soils from erosion and waters from pollution.
Trees improve air quality by trapping and
holding dust particles. The leaves
absorb carbon dioxide and other poisonous gases, and release oxygen back into
the atmosphere. One acre of trees
provides oxygen for eighteen people and will absorb the amount of carbon dioxide
each year equivalent to that produced by a car driven twenty-six thousand miles.
Research indicates that people linger and shop longer along tree-lined
streets. Apartments and offices in
wooded areas rent more quickly and keep tenants longer than those in non-wooded
locations. Healthy, mature trees
add about ten percent to a property's value.
A vibrant community forest provides an ecosystem where a diversity of
wildlife can survive and thrive. The
more trees and shrubs, the more wildlife species are attracted.
Birds help control insects that we consider pests.
Northern flickers eat thousands of ants.
A single northern oriole can eat seventeen munching caterpillars in a
minute.
Trees create feelings of relaxation and well being in humans.
Whether at home or work, driving, walking or shopping, being in the
forest elevates life experiences from the mundane to the natural and perhaps
even, to the poetic.
This morning just before dawn, I heard the
cardinals singing in the yard. As it was getting light, a small V-formation of Canada geese
flew low over the house. The sight
of their long outstretched necks and the sound of honking made an adventure of
the morning routine. As I left for
work, I saw buds swelling on our shrubs and trees; the ground was soft
underfoot. I am looking forward to
spring in my yard, this small piece of my town's community forest.
By Nancy Coverstone (ncstone@umext.maine.edu), University of Maine Extension Educator in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties
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08/13/06
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