Socorro artist Karyn DeBont knows trees. She is a certified arborist, a landscape designer and works at New Mexico Tech as the associate director of facilities management. It's her job to plant trees and other vegetation.

DeBont also spends a lot of time painting natural scenes, which she sells at local art galleries. So when she found out about a national campaign to promote urban tree renewal, it was an easy decision to donate one of her paintings.

The painting "It's a Matter of a Piñon" was made into a banner, which is now hanging on the north side of the Albuquerque Civic Plaza, on the corner of 3rd Street and Marquette. Her banner is one of 50 hanging in Albuquerque to promote tree planting through the Urban Forest Project.

The Urban Forest Project is a national campaign, which began in New York in 2006, to raise awareness about urban tree planting. The project was initiated by multinational marketing firm Worldstudio. There are similar projects in New York, Baltimore and Denver.

The Albuquerque Urban Forest Project uses banners designed by New Mexico artists, who create visual works using a tree as the symbolic basis of an awareness campaign to plant trees.

Non-profit organization Tree New Mexico is also sponsoring the project. Since 1991, they have planted more than 950,000 trees in New Mexico.

DeBont isn't new to such projects. She has worked with the New Mexico Forest Re-Leaf program, and has helped plant trees at Socorro schools and other public places. She believes such work has a positive impact on the environment and local air pollution.

"I'm not a hardcore scientist, but what we do with our environment isn't good," she said.

DeBont says that the climate has changed over the 27 years she's been in Socorro. "Different plants you can grow here now, you couldn't before. It is warmer," she said.

DeBont admits it seems contradictory to plant trees in a desert environment, "Trees need water, and water is scarce here."

But she thinks the overall impact of desert tree planting is positive.

"What it does is help with run-off and to re-oxygenate the air," DeBont said.

Every time trees are planted, the air gets a little cleaner.

"I think all of these things we do have an impact. We just have to chip away at it," she said.

DeBont said she gets a lot of satisfaction from her work, "To just go and plant a lot of stuff, and to help others plant things is great."

The university campus, which she helps to landscape, is a big draw for everyone in the community who "wants to walk or ride bikes."

DeBont believes that trees not only help the environment, but also make life more enjoyable for people.

Some of Karyn DeBont's artwork can be seen at Alamo Mercantile & Gallery, located at 1008 N. California St.

For more information on The Albuquerque Urban Forest Project, Tree New Mexico and Re-Leaf program on the internet, visit the following links: www.ufp-abq.com/; www.treenm.com/ or www.emnrd.state.nm.us/FD/Releaf/Releaf.htm.