A turning point in the effort to restore elms was the planting of 88 Princeton American elms along Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House as part of the redesigned pedestrian avenue. The planting in March 2005 was the largest American elm planting in decades and marked a milestone in the 75-year effort to combat Dutch elm disease.

The documentary, The American Elm: Majestic, Imperiled, Renewed, and this website are part of an effort to help public officials, the media and individuals better understand the multiple benefits of urban trees, their importance in addressing local and global ecological problems, and their importance for healthy, sustainable communities.

Residents, researchers, arborists, mayors, activists and others were interviewed for the project, including in:

•  Minneapolis; Washington, D.C.; New Canaan, Conn.; Princeton, N.J.; Raleigh, N.C.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Kent, Ohio; Portsmouth, Manchester, and North Hampton, N.H.; and Great Barrington, Lanesborough, Deerfield, Sheffield, and Haverhill, Mass.

Production is in cooperation with Alliance for Community Trees, American Forests, Minnesota Tree Trust, Casey Trees, renowned photographer Tom Zetterstrom and his organization Elm Watch, Davey Tree Expert Company, and Roger Holloway of Riveredge Farms.

Special thanks is due to Thomas Campanella, author of The Republic of Shade, which won the Society of Architectural Historians’ Spiro Kostof Award for its detailed history of the American elm.  To order a copy, go to Yale University Press by clicking here.

The American Elm:  Majestic, Imperiled, Renewed

Producer and Director: Daniel C. Smith
Co-Producer: Catherine A. Smith
Editor: Beezhan Meezan
Sound and Original Music: Kevin Hill
Narrator: Sheilah Kast

To purchase the documentary, click here or send a check for $30 to:
	Community-Based Communications, LLC 6019 Inwood Street Cheverly, MD  20785-1216

The project was supported in part with a grant from the Northeast Region of the U.S. Forest Service upon recommendation of the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC).