The Nature Conservancy
Treesilience, a national initiative launched in 2020, partners with The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service, Davey Tree Expert Company, and community-based organizations to enhance urban tree canopy. In St. Louis County, Treesilience managed tree maintenance in underserved areas.
Creating An Equitable Urban Forest
Treesilience is a national initiative launched in 2020 and is administered by a partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service, The Davey Tree Expert Company, and a myriad of community-based organizations. It aims to reduce disparities in tree cover by removing and replacing dead or dying trees, pruning existing trees, and planting new trees in urban neighborhoods where tree canopy has been threatened or lost. The program targets underserved communities with the most need, using the best available science, and engages young emerging professionals from within the community to provide new pathways for careers in arboriculture.
Comprehensive Urban Forestry Management Solutions
In St. Louis County, Treesilience completed tree maintenance on private properties in multiple municipalities in underserved areas and then removed trees from the City of St. Louis Park system. Davey Resource Group, Inc. (DRG) acted as the project manager for this effort, focusing on managing client relations, stakeholder engagement, prioritization of work, and quality control. Davey Tree Expert Company’s residential and commercial (R/C) office completed the tree maintenance work (removals, prunes, stump grinds). We worked with other Treesilience stakeholders—Beyond Housing and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri—to prioritize tree work and provide training under the workforce development umbrella. The project was funded by public funding, two federal grants, and a grant from the U.S. Forestry Service.