Hillary Clinton Urges America Plant 250 Mln Trees
12/16/99
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Title: Hillary Clinton Urges America Plant 250 Mln Trees
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 16, 1999
Byline: Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First lady Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged
Americans to celebrate the coming millennium by planting 250 million
trees and one million gardens over the next two years.
``All over Washington, D.C., and indeed all over the country, we are
seeing forests and trees and green open spaces disappear right before
our eyes,'' Clinton said in an event at the Agriculture Department,
where an approximately 65-year-old white oak tree was dedicated in
her name.
``This is not something we have to learn to live with. This is a
trend we can reverse,'' she said.
One key goal of the ``Millennium Green'' campaign, which will rely
heavily on private sector contributions, is to restore green to urban
areas, such as the nation's capital.
Back in 1973, a heavy tree canopy covered more than one-third of the
District of Columbia. Now that figure is just 13 percent, U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said.
In other urban areas, canopy cover has fallen to less than 20
percent, from more than 40 percent previously.
``Trees are much more than decorative ornaments. As a society, we
must begin to see them as part of our national green infrastructure,
as important to the health and prosperity of the nations as our
roads, bridges and ports,'' Glickman said.
Not only do trees capture greenhouse gases and put out clean oxygen,
they keep pollutants out of waterstreams and act as natural coolants,
which reduces the need for air conditioning, Glickman said.
To reach the goal of 250 million new trees -- about one for every
American -- the first lady helped plant a flowering cherry flower
tree on the lawn of the Agriculture Department, which is not far from
the Washington Monument.
The tree, known as a ``Dream Catcher,'' was developed by scientists
at the National Arboretum in Washington to have a high tolerance to
insects and diseases.
Clinton is only the tenth person or organization in 33 years to be
honored with a tree on the department's grounds. Others include civil
rights leader Martin Luther King and U.S. Forest Service mascot
Smokey the Bear.
The Millennium Green project is being led by the Agriculture
Department, with assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency
and the departments of Justice and Energy.
The Agriculture Department is donating 100 trees to each of the fifty
states and the District of Colombia to create ''Millennial Groves''
in capital cities across the America.
The saplings will be descendants of famous and historical trees
collected by American Forests, a conservation group that has set its
own goal of planting 20 million trees by the end of 2001.