Olympic Champion Seeks Support For Sarajevo Trees

American Forests
Saturday, 24 March 2001

300,000+ Tree Goal Set For Former Olympic City

Debbie Armstrong, 1984 Olympic giant slalom gold medal winner, announced today that she will return to Sarajevo, host city for the 1984 Olympics, in late May to build support for a massive tree-planting effort to restore the urban forest in and around the city that was decimated by the recent war. Armstrong, in Whitefish for the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships and to participate in today's Return of Champions Race is working with Washington, DC-based nonprofit, American Forests (americanforests.org), to enlist individuals, corporations, and organizations in the effort.

"I want to give something back to the people and the city who were so wonderful to me," said Armstrong. "But to avoid an environmental crisis we must act quickly, so we are beginning with those I know best, the ski community. I am challenging skiers, ski areas, and the ski industry to provide a solid foundation for the Sarajevo tree-planting campaign before we expand it to the general public this fall. I hope we can raise all the funds by the end of the 2002 Winter Olympics. To do so will require an outpouring of public and corporate support."

The U.S. Ski Team, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics (SLOC), State Department representatives, and the US Department of Agriculture have all cooperated in development of American Forests' Global ReLeaf Sarajevo campaign and are all expected to have representatives join Armstrong and American Forests in Sarajevo. The campaign to plant 300,000 hillside trees and 3,000 street trees was announced at a White House press conference last October where Mitt Romney, president of SLOC, gave $10,000 to the campaign as part of the Olympic Committee's environmental program, Plant It Green 2002 (www.saltlake2002.org).

During the seige of Sarajevo in the early 1990's up to 90 percent of the urban forest was destroyed, mostly by citizens cutting trees to fuel their survival for several winters. The lack of trees on hillsides today is causing erosion and landslides that, if not curtailed, will cause an estimated $100 million in damage to buildings and infrastructure. The campaign's first twenty thousand trees were planted in November in cooperation with the city of Sarajevo, many by youth volunteers. Nine additional slopes have been stabilized for planting this Spring. Nearly all of Sarajevo's Olympic venues were destroyed during the war, but the city recently announced a campaign to bid for the 2010 games.

Donations to Global ReLeaf Sarajevo are tax deductible and every dollar donated results in the planting of a tree. Trees can be planted online at www.americanforests.org or by phone through the Global ReLeaf tree-planting hotline, 1-800-545-TREE.

Debbie Armstrong and Global ReLeaf Sarajevo are profiled in the Spring issue of American Forests magazine along with the articles on making communities safe from wildfire, and the little-known professionals who plant trees to restore America's forests. Founded in 1875, American Forests is a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration through its Global ReLeaf program.

For more information, or to contact American Forests, see their website at: www.americanforests.org