Tree Planting Donation

Tree Trust, a unique tree planting organization, transforms lives and landscapes all year long. Our mission is to transform lives and landscapes by engaging people to build skills for meaningful careers, inspire people to plant trees, and make our community a greener, healthier place to live. To do this, we provide significant opportunities for greening local communities through tree planting, and offer young people valuable work experience through hands-on, paid job training.

Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, we are committed to planting trees to grow a vibrant and resilient urban forest. Since 1976, Tree Trust has planted over 105,000 well-established trees!

We Plant Urban Trees

Cities have an intense demand for trees as these areas are more prone to severe weather conditions and tend to be hotter and more polluted than rural areas. This results in poor air and water quality for city residents. Increased numbers of people are moving to cities every day, which means more cars, more pollution, and more stress for our cities’ air, land, and water. That’s why our cities need trees now more than ever!

Every year, Tree Trust plants thousands of trees in the Twin Cities metro area to grow a vibrant and resilient urban forest. Planting urban trees provides many benefits, such as:

Improving quality of life by producing oxygen, helping to purify the air we breathe, and providing valuable natural resources, cleaner water, natural beauty, ecosystem benefits, and wildlife habitat.
Increasing property values and business traffic.
Reducing the risk of health problems caused by polluted air, such as asthma and respiratory illnesses.
Providing shade and cooling relief during hot summer days.
Reducing crime, noise, and stress.
Providing much-needed food and clean water for local wildlife habitat, and healthier ecosystem conditions overall.
Promoting safe speed control with a traffic calming effect.
Serving as a “carbon sink” to absorb the carbon dioxide our fossil fuel-driven economy releases into the atmosphere.
Lowering the risk of flooding by absorbing rainfall which reduces stormwater runoff.
Mitigating the effects of climate change.

Planting trees in urban areas is a simple investment for future generations. We all have the opportunity to do what we can to leave our planet in a better place than we found it. Planting trees is an easy step in this direction. As we see our climate changing across the world, trees can help mitigate the challenges of climate change.

We Plant Where Needed

Tree Trust’s Community Forestry department organizes efforts to increase the urban tree canopy through community and school-based volunteer plantings, municipal tree distributions, and other special forestry initiatives. As we are learning from emerald ash borer’s (EAB) devastation of the metro’s ash trees, diversity is key for a sustainable forest. Accordingly, we plant a wide variety of tree species for a more diverse urban forest, where they are most needed, through our Green Futures program, Learning with Trees™ program, city tree sales, and volunteer events.

Green Futures Program

Since 2009, the Green Futures program has created greener futures for communities throughout the Twin Cities metro. This initiative has already added thousands of trees to our urban forest, and our efforts are only increasing due to the onset of EAB and the imminent loss of 2,000,000 trees in the coming years. Through this program, Tree Trust raises awareness of EAB, advocates innovative solutions to homeowners, helps communities plant more trees, and creates more hope for a brighter, greener future for generations to come. Thanks to our generous donors, this program is free for municipalities with public parks or recreation areas.

Learning with Trees™ Program

For almost 30 years, the Learning with Trees™ program has brought hands-on environmental education to Minnesota schools. This initiative inspires the next generation of leaders to plant trees. Tree Trust offers engaging experiences with trees as a learning tool, both inside and outside the classroom, taking students beyond what might be learned in books or a science class. Funded by foundation grants and corporate sponsorships, schools may apply year-round to participate in this free program.

City Tree Sales

Each year, Tree Trust partners with communities around the Twin Cities to grow the urban canopy through tree sales. City tree sales are not only a solution to urban canopy loss from EAB, but also an important way to increase the variety of tree species, resulting in more diverse and healthy forests. We partner with various cities to increase their canopy on private property through community tree sales, an innovative cost-share program. Homeowners purchase high-quality trees provided by local nurseries at a steep discount so that everyone can experience the benefits of trees.

Volunteer Events

Tree Trust engages hundreds of volunteers every year to plant thousands of trees to grow greener, healthier communities. Every fall and spring, we host several tree planting and distribution events throughout the Twin Cities metro area. We provide training, tools, snacks, and trees, so that volunteers can simply show up and enjoy the planting experience.

We Provide Training for the Trees We Plant

The trees we plant need proper care while they are young to withstand the harsh conditions of an urban environment. Tree Trust provides all the tools and training to ensure survival for the trees we plant at community planting sites. For all of our planting projects, we do everything possible to ensure each tree will have a fighting chance to grow into a healthy tree that will provide benefits for generations to come.