Trees in Trouble: Saving America's Urban Forests

Gr 7 Up—This film broadly focuses on the problems resulting from tiny stowaways traveling along inside items that are shipped globally—invasive insect species for which American trees have no natural defenses. The loss of trees, especially in urban areas, will adversely impact the economy of cities and public health. Trees clean the air, help cool dwellings, and provide habitat for a diversity of creatures. Trees and green areas are also responsible for decreasing the risks of cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. After defining the problem, the film examines one urban area, Cincinnati, OH, an especially green city with 5,000 acres of parklands. It is estimated that the city is at risk of losing 20 percent of its canopy of trees to the emerald ash borer, an insect from China. Voice-overs and interviews with urban environmental engineers, horticulturalists, and the city's natural resources managers provide the facts. The film presents sobering images of the devastation: trees stripped of leaves and left hollow and streets lined with tree stumps. Solutions are costly. Cincinnati is now concentrating on removing dead trees but doesn't have the funds to replace them. Meanwhile, scientists are preserving some ashes by treating them with insecticides, but the problem is too widespread for this attempt to have a major impact. They are also working to save seeds in hope of breeding a resistant strain.