How to Be a Friend to Trees When You Travel

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By Woody Nelson • Posted on Mar 22, 2019

WHEN WE THINK OF FORESTS, WE THINK OF TREES, THE WONDERS OF NATURE, OF SHEER BEAUTY, AND CLEAN, FRESH AIR. WE OFTEN DON'T THINK ABOUT THE WATER WE DRINK. WE SHOULD. NOW YOU CAN HELP TREES AND WATER SUPPLY WHEN YOU TRAVEL.

More than 180 million Americans, 56 percent of the U.S. population, have abundant, healthy drinking water thanks to forests.

Forests help snow melt and rain water soak into the soil to replenish rivers and streams during dry times. Trees stop silt from eroding into our waterways. They serve as natural filters to clean sparkling mountain streams, healthy lakes and reservoirs, and our nation’s vast web of rivers.

Why is that important to us? As U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “While most Americans live in urban areas, most of us depend on rural lands, particularly forest lands, for clean water and a healthy climate.”

One example is New York City. In the late 1990s, city leaders balked at a $6 billion water treatment system and instead opted for natural forest management to clean the water it receives from the Catskill/Delaware watershed in upstate New York. The focus is on creating conservation easements along streams and reservoirs, and protecting forest lands to keep sediment and runoff from entering the water supply. The watershed provides New Yorkers with more than 1 billion gallons each day of some of the cleanest, healthiest drinking water in the world.

Millions of Californians rely on crystal-clear water flowing from the San Bernardino National Forest and other California forests to quench their thirst.

In Colorado, the South Platte watershed, which rises high in the Pike National Forest, supplies Denver with drinking water. In Scotland, trees in The Trossachs National Park protect nearby Loch Katrine, which provides Glasgow its water supply. These are just a few examples of how our dependence on clean water also depends on healthy forests.

ONE WAY OF KEEPING OUR FORESTS HEALTHY IS TO PLANT TREES.

The need to replant our forests is vitally important because of damage from insects, disease and unprecedented wildfires. Every year, new areas in critical need of replanting are identified – places where fires burn so hot that the seeds of future forests are destroyed. While we don’t know where the critical needs will be 10 years from now, or 40 years from now, we do know that our forests will continue to need our help, and that trees will be planted wherever they will best serve people, our environment, and water resources for generations to come.

There is no substitute for clean water. Water is a vital resource that we rely on every day. We can’t create something else to take its place.

But we can plant trees.

The next time you turn on the tap, remember the role trees play in keeping our drinking water clean and safe. And when we next think of forests, we’ll think of majestic beauty, clean air, habitat for wildlife…and healthy, abundant water for this and future generations.

How You Can Travel Kindly + Nurture Trees:

Book Kind Hotels on KindTraveler.com + choose the Arbor Day Foundation as your choice charity. A $10 donation unlocks exclusive hotel rates up to 25% off and helps plant more trees. 100% of donations to charity.
Explore the flora at your destination
Avoid traveling with plants
Admire the trees at your destination and spread the love
If you're not drinking a glass of water, pour it on a tree
Breathe (and thank the trees)
Educate your friends on how they can help trees with the Arbor Day Foundation when they book hotels with Kind Traveler

Learn more how to #TravelKindly with the Arbor Day Foundation here.

Arbor Day Foundation Vision

Woodrow Nelson, Vice President of Marketing Communications for the Arbor Day Foundation, is a lifelong tree planter. After a long-time career as a creative and marketing executive in the catalog and retail industries on both coasts, he joined the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation in their Nebraska headquarters in 2006 to further its mission of inspiring people to plant trees.

How to Be a Friend to Trees When You Travel

WHEN WE THINK OF FORESTS, WE THINK OF TREES, THE WONDERS OF NATURE, OF SHEER BEAUTY, AND CLEAN, FRESH AIR. WE OFTEN DON'T THINK ABOUT THE WATER WE DRINK. WE SHOULD. NOW YOU CAN HELP TREES AND WATER SUPPLY WHEN YOU TRAVEL.

ONE WAY OF KEEPING OUR FORESTS HEALTHY IS TO PLANT TREES.

The next time you turn on the tap, remember the role trees play in keeping our drinking water clean and safe. And when we next think of forests, we’ll think of majestic beauty, clean air, habitat for wildlife…and healthy, abundant water for this and future generations.

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WHEN WE THINK OF FORESTS, WE THINK OF TREES, THE WONDERS OF NATURE, OF SHEER BEAUTY, AND CLEAN, FRESH AIR. WE OFTEN DON'T THINK ABOUT THE WATER WE DRINK. WE SHOULD. NOW YOU CAN HELP TREES AND WATER SUPPLY WHEN YOU TRAVEL.

ONE WAY OF KEEPING OUR FORESTS HEALTHY IS TO PLANT TREES.

The next time you turn on the tap, remember the role trees play in keeping our drinking water clean and safe. And when we next think of forests, we’ll think of majestic beauty, clean air, habitat for wildlife…and healthy, abundant water for this and future generations.

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