Trees For Houston

Trees For Houston's projects include purchasing, planting, and caring for trees. The organization's role in any given project varies greatly, as the needs and abilities of our various partners in the public and private sectors are engaged in the process.The organization works with public and private sectors, encourages the involvement of corporate, foundation, and individual partners, and is responsible for planting over 880,000 trees and seedlings in the last 40 years along streets, in neighborhoods, and in parks throughout the Houston region. During the 2023-2024 planting season, Trees For Houston planted and maintained over 113,000 trees and watered an additional 4,000 under its planned maintenance program.

The mission of the Trees For Houston (TFH) Education Program is to expand the awareness of the critical role that trees play in our community for residents of all ages and grade levels. In addition to planting trees at 25 schools or more per year, TFH conducts education presentations to school children and adults throughout the region. During the 2023-2024 planting season, our classroom education program provided Growing Together kits containing native tree seed, soil, a container, and a ruler to nearly 1,000 students. Continued on Schedule O The hands-on events educated more than 47,000 adults and children on proper tree planting, protection and care, and we presented tree planting information and materials to over 1,000 people at outreach events including civic association, garden club and professional organization meetings. TFH also provides educational and hands-on activities to encourage the community to learn about the importance of trees in our urban environment at the Trees For Houston Kinder Campus. TFH has provided children and families with more than 50 different opportunities to engage with our organization. Activities include potting up seedlings, children's book series programs, and basic tree biology and identification.

More than 1,000 public and private schools have over 55,000 trees thanks to our Trees for Schools program. Schools are chosen based on recommendations from parents, teachers, principals, neighbors, and administrators. Trees For Houston surveys the school grounds with the school staff to determine the number and species of trees that should be planted.After the trees are planted, Trees For Houston waters, stakes, and mulches the trees for a minimum of two years to ensure their survival. This year, the Trees for Schools program planted and maintained 3,711 trees at 64 Houston area school grounds.

The Trees For Houston Nursery program allows the organization to further lower tree and transportation costs, gives the ability to grow more trees rather than having to purchase them on a per-project basis, and ultimately helps TFH get more trees in the ground in areas where neighborhoods cannot afford trees. Trees For Houston has expanded the nursery program to include three tree farms. We currently have about 10,000 trees of various species and sizes growing at these farms.