The grants and scholarships work to support programs and new knowledge in the arboriculture and urban forestry fields.
Posted by Lauren Cohen, Intern
The Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund has announced its spring 2025 grant and scholarship recipients.
After approval during the TREE Fund Board of Trustees meeting, one research grant and three education grants, including two for the new Davey Tree Expert Company Community Arboriculture Education Grant Program, are being awarded. In addition to these grants, 10 students were awarded TREE Fund scholarships in the amount of $5,000 each toward their continuing education.
With these new grants and scholarships being awarded, TREE Fund has surpassed $6 million in giving in accordance with its mission to identify and support programs that discover and disseminate new knowledge in the fields of arboriculture and urban forestry.
Celebrating its 15th year, a $50,000 grant from the Utility Arborist Research Fund Grant Program was awarded to Melody Mount of the University of Tennessee for the project “Impacts of Accessor Perceptions, Species and Defects When Performing Tree Risk Assessments.”
Three education grants were awarded this spring, with two grants coming from the new Davey Tree Expert Company Community Arboriculture Education Grant Program.
One grant of $4,985 was awarded to the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County, New York, for its “Urban Tree Equity Education and Outreach” program, and a second grant of $5,000 was awarded to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, for its “Educating St. Olaf and Carleton College Students on Disease/Pest Identification, Safe Chainsaw Use and Tree Care as a Profession” program.
The Ohio Chapter ISA Education Grant was awarded to Western Reserve Land Conservancy in Ohio for its Tree Steward Training Program in the amount of $5,000.
A total of 10 student scholarships were awarded this cycle, five of which came from the Robert Felix Memorial Scholarship Program. Scholarship recipients include Clayton Mahoney of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Georgia; Jackson Wilson of Michigan Tech University; Tyler Stewart of Brigham Young University, Utah; Patience Tongo Fouelefack of College La Cite, Ottawa; and Connor Will of Virginia Tech University.
Also receiving scholarships this cycle were Keely Zuber of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who received the Bonnie Appleton Memorial Scholarship; Olivia Shetterly of the College of DuPage, Illinois, who received the Larry R. Hall Memorial Scholarship; Owen McKinley of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who received the Will Nutter Memorial Scholarship; Trinity Willoughby of Pennsylvania College of Technology, who received the Fran Ward Women in Arboriculture Scholarship; and Alex Prideaux of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, who received the John Wright Memorial Scholarship.
TREE Fund was founded in 2002 via a merger of the International Society of Arboriculture Research Trust and the National Arborist Foundation of the National Arborist Association (now known as the Tree Care Industry Association) with a mission to identify and fund programs that support the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge in arboriculture and urban forestry began.
It has eight research grant programs, two education grant programs and six student scholarship programs that provide arborists and researchers with the money they need to not only improve the health and care of trees in urban forests but also keep workers in the industry informed on the latest safety techniques, information and best practices needed to do their jobs safely.
"We are very excited to have surpassed the $6 million mark in grant and scholarship funding,” said Paul Putman, president and CEO of TREE Fund. “The support TREE Fund provides through our research and education grant programs helps improve best practices in the industry in plant health, worker safety, utility arboriculture and more. Our scholarship programs have helped dozens of new arborists complete their education with less of a financial burden, while encouraging a lifelong commitment to best practices informed by research."
TREE Fund has two application cycles during the year, with different grants and scholarships available for application during each cycle. Each grant program has a specific purpose as far as what topics to fund, and applications are reviewed by anonymous volunteer committees comprised of researchers and industry professionals to help ensure the research being funded is relevant and useful to those who need it.
"TREE Fund has a long history of funding research projects and supporting young arborists that will one day guide the industry," said Rachel Barker, TREE Fund board chair and vice president of operations support at ArborMetrics. "The people and projects that TREE Fund are able to support are a key ingredient in the way the industry operates day to day and how they care for trees. The Board of Trustees is proud of all the projects that TREE Fund has been able to fund over the years."
By having several different grant programs, TREE Fund is able to fund research projects that are useful to the industry in different ways, allowing the findings to be beneficial to arborists and professionals that need that information when performing different tasks. The impact of that research has also been seen by TREE Fund’s supporters, both corporate and individual, who have made donations to these programs.
"With approximately $6 million in our endowment and an equal amount granted out over the years, TREE Fund is a powerful example of how endowment-driven philanthropy can sustain long-term impact,” Putman said. “This balance demonstrates not only our commitment to supporting arboriculture research and education, but also the enduring strength of our financial stewardship.”
