October 2026

Identifying Social Barriers to Equitable Tree Planting and Quantifying Potential Benefits to Overcoming Them

Lindsay Darling

GIS and data administrator

Chicago Region Trees Initiative

Many cities and organizations have cited planting trees in under-resourced neighborhoods as one of their primary strategies for increasing green equity. However, these efforts have occasionally been hampered by resident concerns about tree plantings. A recent study surveyed 1200 residents in the Chicago region to gauge their perceptions about the services and disservices that trees provide, as well as barriers that residents face to planting/requesting trees for their yards or parkways. The responses of residents from under-resourced communities were compared to more affluent ones to see if the perceptions and barriers were unique across these groups.

Generally, residents had overwhelmingly positive perceptions of trees; 85% of respondents agreed that trees made it more pleasant to be outdoors and 84% agreed that they improved air quality. There were slight differences between the disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged groups, with around 3% more of residents from the non-disadvantaged agreeing with these tree services. On the contrary, fewer residents agreed that trees caused disservices like being expensive to maintain and messy—these differences were consistent across groups. This implies that differences in the perceptions of tree services and disservices is likely not causing a hesitancy to plant trees in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Additionally, 72% of residents approve of tree plantings in those neighborhoods; 6% more than in more affluent communities.

Residents in disadvantaged communities did experience more barriers to planting trees. Among the largest barriers were the inability to transport and plant trees and the lack of space to plant trees. This research found that residents approved of and largely wanted trees, and expects that working with neighborhood organizations to overcome barriers through tree giveaways, distributions, and plantings is likely the best method to ensure that trees are appreciated and stewarded into maturity.

This program was funded in part by TREE Fund's 2021 Bob Skiera Memorial Building Bridges Initiative and John P. White Grant Program.

Lead Donors

We are deeply grateful to the following people and organizations whose accumulated contributions to TREE Fund in 2026 recently surpassed $2,500:

Michael Connick

Florida Chapter ISA

Pamela Hendricksen

ISA Rocky Mountain Chapter

Gordon Matassa

Jeffrey McMullen

Ohio Chapter ISA

Penn-Del Chapter of ISA

Dave Scharfenberger

Sennebogen LLC

Pete Smith

David Walker

We'd like to thank all of our individual and corporate donors that have made a gift this year. Your donations are vital to our work in identifying and funding programs that support the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge and best practices in arboriculture and urban forestry.

Tour des Trees Riding is Done, But Fundraising Continues

Our Tour des Trees riders- 95 of them- trekked over the Blue Ridge Mountains in South and North Carolina, suffered through the heat and humidity, talked to people about the importance of trees, and had a ball doing it!

Congrats to all of our riders for conquering this year's Tour des Trees and thanks to everyone that has donated so far.

We are not done yet!

We are so close to the finish line; 89% of the way to our goal of $410,000. Can you help us cross the line? Make a donation today, before September 28.

View our Flickr album to see photos from the week by our Tour photographer, Chris Banks.

Plan on joining us at the 2027 Tour des Trees in Montreal, Quebec, August 3-9!

TREE Fund's 2026 Free Webinar Series

Save the dates for our 2026 TREE Fund Webinar series. Webinars are based on research funded by TREE Fund grants and open to anyone to view. Thanks to the Alabama Cooperative Extension System for helping us again with these videos.

Stay tuned for these 2026 webinars.

Additional dates for this year will continue to be added.

Friday, October 9, 2026. 12:00pm CST

Education and Impact through Community Groups, TREE Fund Education Grants

Presenters: Western Land Conservancy and Cornell Cooperation Extension

Registration link: October 9 Webinar Link

Tuesday, November 10, 2026. 12:00pm CST

Connecting and Creating Municipal Forestry Bridges to Build Urban Forest Resources

Presenter: Richard Hauer, PhD

Registration link: November 10 Webinar Link

Tuesday, December 9, 2026, 12:00pm CST

Building equitable campus canopy across California: Bridging the stakeholders who design, plant, and maintain public school trees

Presenter: Kirsten Schwarz, PhD

Registration link: Coming soon

See our Webinar page for more information. https://treefund.org/webinars

TREE Fund’s 1-hour webinars are free and offer 1.0 CEU credit for live broadcasts from the International Society of Arboriculture and the Society of American Foresters. Our website is updated regularly as we add on new webinar dates, so check the webinar page for details.

Missed a webinar? Watch it anytime on our website. You can also subscribe to our YouTube page.

TREE Fund to Host Utility Arborist Nelsen Money Scholarship

At the Trees & Utilities Conference in Portland, Oregon, Utility Arborist Association (UAA) and TREE Fund announced a new partnership designed to strengthen and expand the reach of the Utility Arborist Nelsen Money Scholarship. By transitioning administration of the scholarship to TREE Fund, the organizations aim to create long-term sustainability for the program while increasing opportunities for students pursuing careers in utility vegetation management, arboriculture, forestry and related fields.

The Utility Arborist Nelsen Money Scholarship supports students preparing for careers in utility line clearance, utility vegetation management, arboriculture, forestry, urban forestry and related disciplines. As workforce demand continues to grow across the utility and vegetation management sectors, the scholarship helps reduce educational barriers while encouraging talented students to enter and advance within the profession.

For more details on the announcement, click here.

Where is TREE Fund?

TREE Fund is back on the road for the next few weeks, attending and exhibiting at several conferences throughout the US. Look out for TREE Fund President & CEO, Paul Putman (who just got done conquering the hills of the Tour des Trees) and the rest of the staff and volunteers this fall.

Below is our schedule for the next month. Will you be at any of these conferences? Keep a look out for us and be sure to say, "hello."

Through Sept 24: Trees & Utilities (Portland, OR)

Sept 28-30: PNW Chapter ISA Conference (Boise, ID)

Oct 1-2: ISA Rocky Mountain Chapter Conference (Westminster, CO)

Oct 5-6: New England Chapter ISA Conference (Warwick, RI)

TREE Fund

Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund

1755 Park St. Suite #200, Naperville, IL 60563

(630) 369-8300

treefund@treefund.org

www.treefund.org

TREE Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to support scientific discovery and dissemination of new knowledge and best practices in the fields of arboriculture and urban forestry.

TREE Fund earned our 2026 Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency. Check out our nonprofit profile to keep up to date with our impact. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/shared/17bf1c65-c913-4096-8695-11f0dc3fa73f.

Keep this link handy, we want to make sure you always have the information you need to support our work with trust and confidence.

TREE Fund is proud to announce that its strong financial health and ongoing accountability and transparency has earned a Three-Star Rating from Charity Navigator. This rating designates TREE Fund as an official “Give with Confidence” charity, indicating that our organization is using its donations effectively based on Charity Navigator’s criteria.