Arbor Day Foundation's Community Tree Recovery
Bringing Hope, Healing, and New Trees to Communities Beginning to Rebuild
Learn more about the Arbor Day Foundation's Community Tree Recovery program.
Since 2005, the Arbor Day Foundation's Community Tree Recovery program has been devoted to providing restoration assistance for disaster-stricken communities. In 2020, the program was able to produce major accomplishments through an adversity-stricken year.
- 121 distribution and planting events
- 106,155 trees distributed to community members
- 5.3 million total trees distributed since program's beginning
Through this program, residents who lost trees in major disasters caused by wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and insects can receive free trees to plant in their yards. This work is critical for reestablishing neighborhood trees… as well as a sense of community.
The Arbor Day Foundation works with local partners on the ground to help organize events and to make sure we’re delivering the trees at a time when the community is ready to replant.
This year, 36 active campaigns were held in 11 states as well as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Burundi. The Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, California, was one of the many communities supported through the program. With the pandemic preventing the planned tree distribution, the event was reworked into a tree planting. A local landscaper was contracted, and the trees were planted along the street where requested. Nina, one of the residents who received a tree, said, “The trees will be one step closer to making it home again.”
The beauty of this program is that, time and time again, we bear witness to the power of trees. They are a sign of life and a vibrant step toward recovery for entire communities.
