april is earth month a time to celebrate
our natural world it’s also a call to
reflect on our impact and think of new
ways that we can protect and restore the
planet i’m ginger zee chief
meteorologist at abc news my family and
i are hitting the road to help rebuild
and get a first-hand look at what it
takes to save the planet adrian on board
miles my husband ben and me leading the
way through this epic eco adventure all
in the name of science we’re branching
out
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more than 3 trillion trees live on
planet earth and i know that might seem
like a lot but wildfires disease and
clear cutting now destroy as many as 15
billion trees every year today my family
is hitting the road with national
geographic explorers and writers to see
how we can fix our forests so we went
out in search of solutions starting in
the soil so what we want to do is get
the roots used to the soil and working
our way up oh there we go to discover
why it’s so important to plant new roots
and reached new heights
to kick off our journey we connected
with national geographic writer sarah
gibbons so sarah i know that national
geographic is all about fixing forests
that’s the may issue and you wrote the
article on the american chestnut tell us
all about it so at national geographic
we devoted the entire may issue to
forests and the great thing about
chestnut research is that it’s not just
about the american chestnut tree today
so many of the world’s trees are facing
diseases like the blight and if we can
figure out how to save the american
chestnut which is one of the first trees
to really be
overtaken by a horrible disease like
this then we might figure out how to
save other trees which would ultimately
save our forest so we’re about to go
explore and plant some american chestnut
trees what should we know before we get
in there
you should think about all of the great
benefits that you’re providing to the
ecosystem it’s only through scientific
research and the hard work of a lot of
volunteers that these trees even still
exist in the form they exist in today so
hopefully your tree planting will be
part of a large effort to restore
something that’s been lost with that in
mind we trekked up a true new york city
mountain with us two american chestnut
saplings
all right so we’ve made it to the
chestnut part of our plantings so we
want to take these disease resistant
trees put them back to where they belong
and have them once again be part of the
landscape so let’s pick that out
see a large tree can provide enough
oxygen for a family of four so that’d be
like all of us and the american chestnut
was once one of the largest trees on the
east coast it could reach higher than a
10 story building and it was wide enough
to fit a car back at the turn of the
century the once dominating american
chestnut was nearly eliminated by blight
that’s a tree sickness that still exists
today how about miles of me you and
adrian we both race to see who could
plant a tree faster let’s do it dig fast
how’s it going over there daddy go well
i think we’re good okay age you ready to
put the tree in yeah yeah oh cool all
right you wanna do the the final step
okay is literally a step stepping on it
you gotta step on all the soil make sure
it’s nice
while our trees might not grow quite as
large as their ancestors they do
represent a step in the right direction
especially in a city like new york okay
high five babe
yes
our tree welcome to our chestnut tree
with those roots firmly in the ground we
head south to meet a scientist who has
spent her life in the tree tops
meg meg
hi guys welcome to florida welcome to
the treetops all right so my nickname is
canopy meg i am a national geographic
explorer and i was one of the world’s
first
arbornauts you know what an astronaut is
right guess what arbornauts do
they explore the treetops
and she’s not just an arbornaut but also
a detective
a leaf detective her job is to uncover
the secret life of trees we have to
really save our big trees we can’t just
plant a little tree and say it’s okay to
cut down the big trees we gotta really
save these senior citizens as i call
them and while most trees do grow from
the ground up meg brought us to one that
grows in a different direction
this is my favorite tree in the whole
world this is called a fig tree but
there’s about 800 species of fig and
specifically there’s about 300 called
banyans and see how they kind of walk
they look like they’re walking that’s
because they start life at the top of
the tree a fig bird poops out a seed on
another tree and they grow their roots
down these are new roots that are
looking for soil and when they hit the
soil then they’ll grow into something
like this so this is a baby version baby
version and that’s what tarzan hangs on
banyan trees provide fig fruits that
sustain so many species of birds but
also these giant tree trunks carry water
and nutrients from the ground all the
way to the towering treetops which is
where we’re headed next
this is actually the first public canopy
walkway in north america the whole
continent how tall meg 35 feet for the
canopy bridge 75 feet for the tower this
canopy walk in florida’s myakka river
state park is a portal to a place that
most humans don’t get to access
especially those who are a little more
apprehensive
i feel like indiana jones
without any bravery whatsoever
up here scientists like meg can
literally get a bird’s eye view climbing
into the forest ecosystem meg hold my
hand
here i’ll switch your neck hold my hand
okay
oh my gosh but you’re gonna love the
view yeah i hope so you was worth
everything
wow
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if you’re brave enough you can probably
find a canopy walk in your state they’re
the perfect way to see our forest from a
whole new angle
our ascent to the sky was only the
beginning this time we ditched the
stairs for one final epic climb
so just around this corner
is our climbing tree
that’s a big tree that’s a big tree is
that great or what gravity in new york
oh it’s a beautiful big live oak but to
see these glorious behemoths from the
ground just doesn’t give you the full
experience so i’m suiting up to join the
birds in the treetops 60 feet up
and this is i imagine we’re being very
careful this is not harmful to the trees
this is not harmful to the tree when you
get up
to the top of the tree you’ll notice
that the rope actually doesn’t even run
over the tree there’s a
piece of webbing which is like this that
goes over the tree it’s called a cambium
saber because if you use if your weight
was on the tree it would start rubbing
it but we want to take care of them get
me hooked up buddy safety first
yes that’s a good look
oh there we go
it’s so fun to branch out because you
get to be up in the trees with national
geographic you learn about all of the
little creatures that are up in the
trees the biodiversity and there’s no
better way to do that than the climate
go mommy go go mommy go
no way daddy’s going that high go mommy
go
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there’s no better place to branch out
than at the canopy
oh yeah
being up there you can really feel the
importance of preserving our forests
deforestation invasive pests and disease
and of course climate change they all
threaten our oldest trees and while
planting new trees does help replace
those that we lose it’s just as
important to protect those that have
been growing for hundreds of years
because bigger trees make more oxygen
and they can hold more carbon dioxide
they’re also a whole lot more fun to
climb
in our next episode our family meets
some extraordinary farmers that are
exploring new ways to grow food and
lessen our environmental impact click on
the links below to watch more episodes
of branching out
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