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1. Celebrate Arbor Day this Saturday April 25 at Cambridge Common 10- 3 p.m. Cambridge Tree Project, Department of Urban Forestry, Department of Public Works, and Arborist Larry Acosta invite you to celebrate
Arbor Day
Cambridge Common
Sat. April 25
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

10:15 Proclamation: Mayor Frank Duehay
11:00 Sing-a-long with Anthony Sanchez, Eagle Eye Institute
12:00 John O’Connor: Arbor Day
10:00-3:00 Join artists from Zeitgeist Gallery painting a mural of trees, artist Mitch Ryerson bending wood for furniture, poet Jack Powers and other poets and artists praising trees.
  Learn how to care for our trees with help from Cambridge Urban Forestry Department
2. Legislative Alert: Urgent Action Requested by April 24th

Representative Jim Marzilli (Ariington) has submitted a 1999 state budget (GAA) "amendment for urban forestry' totaling $740,000 to create a first-ever line-item for urban forestry in the state budget.  These funds would be split as follows: $300,000 for tree-oanting grants to municipalities,, $400,000 in tree pruning grants to municipalites; and $40,000 to create a statewide storm response protocol with technical assistance from UMase-Amherst.  The Department of Environmental Management, Urban Forestry Program, would manage the grant funds that will enable municipalities to purchase trees from nurseries and hire Certified Arborists and Landscape Contractors to care for them.  The funds would become available on July 1, 1998.  Senator Durand (Marlboro) will submit a similar request in the Senate's draft budget.

Recommended Actions in -the House:

1 . Write, fax, email or call your state representative before April 24th.  Request that they contact Rep. Jim Marzilli to learn more about this budget Item. (You do not need more information to act on this Alert).
2. Ask that your state representative quickly prepare and send a letter of support for the Marzilli amendment to Rep. Paul R. Haley (Weymouth), Chairman of House Ways and Means, and to Rep. Thomas Finneran, Speaker of the House, AND copy you on the letter (this is your confirmation that the letter was sent).

Recommended Actions in the Senate:

A similar alert will be sent in May.  The actions will be the same, but the players will change to support the "Durand Amendment" with your senator mailing letters to Senator Stanley Rosenberg (Amherst), Chairman of Senate Ways and Means, and Senator Thomas Birmingham, Senate President.

Thank you for your timely aftendon to this request for support!
 
 

3. The Metropolitan District Commission - The City of Cambridge
The People for Riverbend Park - The Cambridge Historical Society

take pleasure in inviting you to

CELEBRATE THE SYCAMORES' CENTENNIAL

Sunday, April 26th, at 3:00 p.m.
(rain date May 10th)
MDC Tent at JFK Park on Memorial Drive
 

Bring your family and friends and help create a happy, historic moment to honor these wonderful trees.  Talk with walking historians, look at exhibits to learn about how the riverscape was given the shape and character it has, join in the tree planting, and raise your voices in chorus to sing Happy Birthday to the trees that have brought joy to so many!

The first sycamore tree was planted on April 22, 1897, as part of the transformation of the Cambridge riverfront, based on plans drawn for the Cambridge Park Comniission by F. L. and J. C. Ohmted.  That first tree is missing and as part of our celebration, the MDC will be planting a new sycamore, symbolic of their current efforts to conceive and implement a Charles River Basin Master Plan.

RUG A SYCAMORE
DANCE AROUND A SYCAMORE
SERENADE A SYCAMORE
WRITE A POEM TO THE SYCAMORES
PAINT A PICTURE OF A SYCAMORE
CELEBRATE THE TREES SIMPLY BY BEING THERE!

A special Sycamore Birthday Cake will be cut by Julia O'Brien, Chief Planner for the MDC

4. Sat. May 2 and 3rd, Tree and Bird Celebration at Mount Auburn Cemetery. 617-547-7105 x 821. Show of works produced by artists from wood at Mount Auburn Cemetery in memory of the blizzard of last year 547-1413
5. Cambridge Tree Project, Concilio Hispano, Cambridge Community Development, Cambridge Conservation Commission, and Department of Urban Forestry invite you to a

Tree Walk of
Central Square/
Cambridgeport
Sat. May 9
Demo at 9 a.m.; Walk 10-12 a.m.
 Meet at Green & River St in center of Central Square

with Larry Acosta, Cambridge City Arborist, our Urban Forester. If you cannot make a walk in your neighborhood, you are welcome to join other walks. Walks will include neighborhood tree care demonstration at 9 a.m. and a tree identification and common problem analysis walk 10-12 a.m.

Sat. March 21  Area 4: Sennott Park on Broadway
Sat. April 4   Strawberry Hill/ Fresh Pond: Red House Huron & Park
Sat April 18  Agassiz: Playground on Oxford St next to School.
Sat. May 9  Central Square/ Cambridgeport : Meet at Green & River St.
Sat. May 30  East: Cambridge St. at Sciarappa St.
Sat. June 13  North: Massachusetts Ave
Sat. June 21  Along Charles River towards Weeks Bridge
Sat. Sept 19  Mid Cambridge (proposed)
Sat. Sept. 26  Porter Square and Area 9
Sat. Oct.3  Riverside (proposed)
Sat. Oct. 24  To be determined

Our goals are to teach you to 1.) provide basic care for trees and identify “green teams” around the city who will help care for trees; and, 2.) identify some common trees and tree problems so you can help us be the eyes and ears for our city’s trees. For information, to register for a walk, or to join a green team to care for our street trees or a tree inventory team or to help develop policies and plans to protect and maintain our trees in Cambridge, call 547-1413 or fax 876-8991 or email. Please don’t forget to give us your name, address, telephone number, email if you have it, and interests. Thanks!

6. Tuesday April 21 National Day of Service: Summerbridge 5th, 6th and 7th graders worked with Urban Forestry and Cambridge Tree Project and college students from Harvard, MIT, Bunker Hill, Roxbury Community colleges to weed trees on Bishop Allen Drive. Arborist Larry Acosta and the Urban Forestry Dept. will mulch the trees and will teach them basic street tree care to empower them to continue green teams for street tree care this summer. THANKS SUMMERBRIDGE!!!!
7. CALENDAR OF TREE EVENTS
Sat. April 25 Arbor Day celebrated in Cambridge Common. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Join Zeitgeist Gallery artists painting a mural, Mitch Ryerson bending wood with steam, Anthony Sanchez of Eagle Eye Institute celebrating trees, Urban Forestry Dept. demonstrating mulching and tree care, artists and poets. Call Cambridge Tree Project if you are willing to help and have ideas. 547-1413

Sun. April 26 JFK Park at corner of Memorial Drive and JFK street 3:00 p.m. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sycamores lining the river.

Wed. April 29 Identification of Temperate Woody Plants, series begins. Arnold Arboretum 524-1718 x 162

Sat. May 2 and 3rd, Tree and Bird Celebration at Mount Auburn Cemetery. 617-547-7105 x 821. Show of works produced by artists from wood at Mount Auburn Cemetery in memory of the blizzard of last year .547-1413.

Sat May 2, 9, 16. Tree Identification. Arnold Arboretum. 524-1718 x 162

Sat. May 9 Tree Walk in Central Square, Cambridgeport. Meet at Green & River Streets. Demo at 9. Walk 10-12 a.m. 547-1413

Sat. May 30 Tree Walk in East Cambridge Cambridge St. at Sciarappa St.
begins 9-12. 547-1413

Sat. June 13 Tree Walk in North Cambridge. 547-1413

Cambridge Tree Project is an organization composed of citizens’ groups and individuals working together with the City of Cambridge in building support for the protection and management of community trees.  http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/DoanePerry/homepage.htm, Partial funding by MA Dept. of Environmental Management. &  USDA Forest Service.
1657   Cambridge    Street,     Suite  # 3,      Cambridge,   MA       02138-4316
E-mail: doaneperry@compuserve.com or 617-547-1413 or fax: 617-876-8991