THE LEAFLET

A big shout out to Casey Trees’ friend and tree expert, Jill Jonnes, on the release of her exquisite new book, Urban Forests.  Founder of the Baltimore Tree Trust, a staff member of the 2010 National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Off-Shore Drilling, Jonnes has compiled a passionate, wide-ranging, and fascinating natural history of the tree in American cities over the past two hundred years.

Jonnes’s survey ranges from early sponsors for the Urban Tree Movement to the fascinating stories of particular species including Washington, DC’s famed cherry trees. Her book takes on the American chestnut and elm, and the diseases that almost destroyed them. It examines such questions as the character of American urban forests and the effect that tree-rich landscaping might have on commerce, crime, and human well-being. This is the author’s sixth book. She studied “Trees as Green Infrastructure” at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC in the fall of 2011, and was named a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar.

Catch Jonnes’s interview on the Dianne Rehm show, October 5 at WAMU.org.