Attorney Jan Schlichtmann and his innovative Public Shade Tree Trust were featured this week in over 200 media and news publications and outlets across the country and around the world. The groundbreaking project to help towns and cities protect the urban forest from the poisoning caused by leaks from our aging natural gas pipeline network can be reviewed by going to google.com and selecting “News” and putting in “gas leaks and shade trees” or “Schlichtmann”.

As of this date the following major media organizations have reported on this unique and pioneering project to protect our environment and health, Fox News, CBS, ABC, Washington Post, Newsday, Forbes, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, Houston Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and the Denver Post. There are currently over 200 different media outlets running the story.

The featured video on Channel 5 in Boston is available by clicking here.

Another featured story on CBS Channel 4 in Boston is available by clicking here.

If you want to learn more about the Civil Action Center, The Shade Tree Trust or Attorney Schlichtmann just subscribe to our RSS feed for the Shade Tree Trust Blog by clicking here and you can stay up to date on all the news, stories and progress this unique approach makes as it attempts to assist cities and towns, and their citizens, in identifying trees damaged by natural gas leaks and then working to save or replace them.

This original AP story is an excellent summary of how the Shade Tree trust was conceived of and put into effect by noted Civil Action Attorney Jan Schlichtmann and gas leak expert Bob Ackley while they were working on the horrific Danversport gas explosion that occurred in November of 2006 in Danversport MA. In their discussions on that case Ackley, one of the nations leading experts on natural gas leaks mentioned to Attorney Schlichtmann that slow, non-lethal gas leaks were one of the major causes of death of some of the old growth and stately trees that line the streets and avenues of most New England cities and towns. Their talks led to the creation of the Shade Tree Trust, and it’s approach of working with municipalities all over the region to first identify leaks and then determine if they were responsible for the death or decline of a major shade tree.