Arbor Day Foundation's Community Tree Recovery Program Plants Roughly 150,000 trees in 2021

LINCOLN, Nebraska (January 19, 2022) – The Arbor Day Foundation's Community Tree Recovery Program held nearly 200 events where volunteers helped plant approximately 150,000 trees in communities impacted by natural disasters in its fiscal year from June 2020 to June of 2021.

The Arbor Day Foundation, the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, founded the Community Tree Recovery Program to identify and help communities affected by natural disasters by relying on a vast network of local community tree-planting organizations.

"The work that we do as a Foundation is absolutely essential to people and communities everywhere," said Dan Lambe, president at the Arbor Day Foundation. "Communities that have been affected by natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and floods have so much to rebuild that it can feel daunting. However, restoring the trees a community has lost is a wonderful way to provide hope and healing for communities who need it the most."

Through its program the Arbor Day Foundation and its network of local tree planting partner organizations, held almost 200 planting and distributing events to provide residents with trees. As a result, more than 100,000 trees were distributed, and more than 45,000 trees were planted in events designed to engage and educate communities thoughtfully. The events were held in several different states (Indiana, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, etc) and eight additional countries (Sierra Leone, Thailand, Tanzania, Haiti, Ethiopia, Burundi, Guatemala, and Nicaragua). Over 100 of these plantings were held in New Jersey as part of the state's ongoing efforts to reforest their urban tree canopy following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

The Arbor Day Foundation began the Community Tree Recovery Program in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina contributed to the loss of 320 million large trees. The program has grown to provide aid across the country and even internationally. Through Community Tree Recovery, residents who have lost trees in significant disasters caused by wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and insects can receive free trees to plant in their yards.

To learn more about the Community Tree Recovery program, please visit arborday.org.

About the Arbor Day Foundation

Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters and valued partners. Since 1972, almost 500 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world. Our vision is to lead toward a world where trees are used to solve issues critical to survival.  

As one of the world's largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

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