2011 National Arbor Day Awards

Tom Zetterstrom of Canaan, Conn., received the Public Awareness of Trees Award for bringing attention to the importance of planting and preserving trees. As founding director of Elm Watch, Zetterstrom, has worked to protect and plant hundreds of American elms over the past 12 years. Relying on the best available science, Elm Watch ensures that the American elm will remain a part of New England's historic and future treescape. Through its Elm Collaborators e-mail network, EW provides a way for scientists and elm activists to share current research on the next generation of disease-resistant elm cultivars, and has recently refocused attention on diseases such as elm yellows. The group provided peer review for the University of Minnesota's publication Pruning Young Elms and helps make the manual available to arborists. Zetterstrom has worked regionally with many communities and campuses to establish and guide tree committees, and through his lectures and presentations, conveys the importance of large canopy trees in sustainable community forests and green parking lot designs. Zetterstrom's photographic work is known throughout the U.S. His "Portraits of American Trees" have been displayed in numerous university galleries and national museums over the past three decades.