Although I have lived in Florida for almost 2 decades, I spent my formative years in New England, including 3 years in Central Vermont. If you have not visited the state capital of Montpelier during leaf-peeping season, you owe it to yourself to do so in 2008!
Anyway, my years in New England gave me a love for birch, fir and spruce forests. In fact, when I moved to Florida and saw only palms for months on end, I felt like nothing would replace my love for forests of pine and spruce trees. In fact, the first time I saw a stand of native pine trees in Florida, the long leaf pine, I thought that they were the oddest pines I had seen.
Now that I have spent many years away from the Great Northern Forest, I have adjusted and find the long leaf pine of my new home, the Southeast, a simply wonderful tree.
Well, no place in North America in 2007 has seen a faster loss of forests due to excessive timber harvesting than the Southeast. We are losing them at a killer pace, literally. This problem has worried me for some time. This is one of the top reasons why I embraced the Green Earth Expo so quickly once Jim Griffin told me what he is doing and why.
What's more, as you read in my previous post about the Expo, Jim Griffin is very concerned about the urgent need for reforestation, too. His concern set him on a plan of action which ultimately bloomed into the Green Earth Expo and 25% of the revenue from Florida exhibitors at the event will be dedicated to planting native species on protected land in areas of the Sunshine State which have been damaged by fires and/or tropical storms.
The long leaf pine is an excellent shade tree for the Southeast, especially Florida. The more long leaf pines we can replace, the better. Jim expects to have at least 50,000 people attend the Expo and visit hundreds of exhibitor booths. Since many of them will be from Florida, a number as great as 250,000 trees could be planted through Jim’s initiative, which I wholeheartedly endorse.
In short, Florida’s shade tree canopies will be aided by the Green Earth Expo. That’s my kind of event!
Sustainable Justice For All!
Corbett Kroehler
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