Neighborhood Tree Steward Program

DCH’s Neighborhood Tree Steward Program (TSP) engages, educates, and trains community leaders and activists to assess tree conditions in neighborhoods, identify needs for tree planting and care, and develop and lead projects that increase local-scale, urban tree canopy. Currently, the City of Wilmington has just 14 percent tree canopy coverage, well below the national recommendations for urban tree canopy at 30 percent or more. DCH's TSP program helps to address this urban tree canopy need by developing a network of local leaders who can advocate for their neighborhood's tree needs and benefit from shared experiences, learning, and engagement. TSP creates a scalable resilience solution that benefits affordable housing and low- to moderate-income families. Your donations will support projects such as street tree plantings, vacant lot stabilization, and streetscape beautification programs in communities that need them the most.

TSP engages residents in tree inventories, needs assessments, and goal-setting, ultimately adding new trees in areas where they are most needed. This program also includes the mitigation of potentially hazardous trees in low-income acres by replanting healthy trees appropriate for each location to prevent future infrastructure conflicts. The most impactful goal of the TSP program is to “train the trainer,” thereby building neighborhood-level leadership as a way to expand capacity for tree stewardship, increasing advocacy efforts by residents, and create and environment for sustained efforts over time.  

For more than 40 years, DCH has been committed to community greening and urban forestry as an effective tool for neighborhood revitalization and urban blight abatement. Annually, Wilmington can lose more trees than the amount planted, so planting more new trees on a regular basis is especially critical to keep up with tree mortality due to maturity, pests and diseases, root zone intrusion, and conflicts with surrounding infrastructure. For the last 35 years, DCH has worked with the City of Wilmington to plant urban street trees and increase tree canopy, as street trees and community greening is an important low-cost strategy to improve the quality of life for city residents. It is well-known plants and trees clean the air, purify the water, reduce the heat island effect, and help mitigate stormwater runoff, but urban trees can produce a wide range of economic, environmental, social, and aesthetic benefits and can greatly enhance the quality of life, which are critical to strong neighborhoods. According to research, residents living in buildings with access to trees and green spaces have a greater sense of community, stronger social networks, lower levels of violence, and greater quality of life. DCH's TSP is an important way to continue building connected communities and introducing more people to the power of plants.

We need your help to expand this existing program and increase the effects of these positive outcomes. Please donate today, so we can make our community healthier and greener!