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I'm Donna Nolan with the Tinker Air 

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Force Base Natural Resources Department . 

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Our participation in Tree City USA 

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started in 1993 when former Air Force 

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Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak 

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urged Air Force wide participation in 

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Tree City USA in response to the 

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America the Beautiful program , which 

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sought to plant one million trees 

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annually nationwide . The Air Force 

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School today is the same as it was then . 

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Environmental and warfighter resiliency . 

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We all know that trees contribute to 

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environmental resiliency . They 

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mitigate pollution , combat urban heat , 

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islands and sequester carbon . But 

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tankers commitment takes it further 

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when trees must be removed . Their 

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value isn't lost to our mounting 

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landfills , but instead reclaimed 

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through our urban forest products 

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program . Trees are savaged as 

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timber , firewood , mulch and habitats 

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such as pond structure for fish and 

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wildlife with revenues return to our 

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forestry program . Trees 

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also contribute to the resiliency of 

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our airmen . Squadron's host fitness 

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runs in calisthenics , which start 

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under 100 year old baroque . 

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During the covid pandemic , use of our 

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forested trails surged 

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recently . One commander had his unit 

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plant 85 trees with the express intent 

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of providing a welcoming home 

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environment , a place of respite and 

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recuperation for his warriors coming 

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home from the austere desert overseas . 

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For 28 years , the Tree City USA 

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program has walked arm in arm with 

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Tinker , helping it develop a resilient 

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environment and a resilient community . 

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So next time you visit Tinker , we 

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invite you to stop and see our forest 

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for the trees .