WHO WE ARE 

USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry 

Program is the only dedicated urban forest program 

in the federal government. It is a technical, financial, 

and educational assistance program, delivering 

nature-based solutions for climate and environmental 

justice, and green jobs where more than 84 percent 

of Americans live, work, and play. The program is 

delivered in partnership with 63 state and territory 

forestry agencies, more than 30 national partners, 

and more than 150 community tree groups. 

% US POPULATION IN URBAN AREAS 
PROVIDING EXCELLENT 

CUSTOMER SERVICE 

In FY2021, the UCF Program distributed $31.9 

million in funding to state forestry agencies and 

non-profit partners, helping communities perform 

tree inventories, prepare management plans and 

policies, and train staff and community residents to 

plant and care for trees. In partnership with NASF 

and state agencies, $2.5 million was competitively 

allocated in the new State Urban Forest Resilience 

program, distributing funds to eighteen recipients 

to restore urban forests due to catastrophic losses 

from forest pests and build climate change 

resiliency. Another $1 million was competitively 

awarded the National Urban Forestry Challenge 

Cost Share Program addressing Ten-Year Action 

Plan goals. 

Below are some FY 21 project examples on how 

we lead out on change and national priorities: 
PLANNING FOR 

DISASTER RESPONSE 

AND RECOVERY 

The Storms Online project, a partnership with 

Southern Group of State Foresters, has created a 

series of virtual training courses that will prepare 

State agency personnel, municipal arborists, and 

community staff to deal with the damage to 

community forests after destructive weather 

events. It contains three modules: one focuses 

on training urban forest strike team members to 

conduct tree risk assessments after storms which 

improve public safety while retaining viable 

tree canopy; another focuses on preparing 

state coordinators to assist storm-damaged 

communities by deploying the urban forest 

strike team; the last, provides valuable 

information that communities can use to 

develop storm plans which improves 

their storm readiness and resiliency. 
PROMOTING 

SHARED 

STEWARDSHIP 

We partner with the Montana Department of Natural 

Resources and Environment, the City of Helena, and 

the University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab to 

co-develop a transformative approach to achieving 

community tree canopy and wildfire mitigation goals. 

By combining high-resolution land cover with parcel 

administrative data, an approach popularized through 

urban tree canopy assessments, project partners 

have revealed an unmatched level of information 

on the area’s wildland-urban interface. This 

information provides insight regarding risk, 

resource needs, and tradeoffs that community 

managers will use to prioritize fire mitigation 

efforts, determine appropriate places for 

future tree plantings, and aid in 

landowner education. 
IMPROVING 

FOREST 

CONDITIONS 

We competitively awarded funds to the 

Fostering Community Forest Resilience in the 

Great Plains project that engages Nebraska, 

South Dakota, and Wyoming to collaboratively 

respond to community forest health threats 

and manage for the benefit of nearly 6.3 

million people in more than 1,500 cities and 

towns. This project will use a two-pronged 

approach to address this challenge: 1) expand 

forest data that can be used at local, state, 

and regional levels to improve management 

decisions; and 2) improve education and 

outreach to decision-makers responsible 

for the shared stewardship of our 

community forests. 
ADVANCING 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

JUSTICE 

We supported the Arizona Department of Forestry 

and Fire Management (DFFM) to provide green 

space access in the economically disadvantaged 

City of South Tucson, where there is less than one 

acre of designated park property. The Greenway 

project is a partnership connecting municipal, 

state, and non-profit organizations to increase 

local tree canopy, engage the community in 

volunteer beautification events, and connect the 

public to larger areas of green space. DFFM has 

partnered with the City of South Tucson and 

Tucson Clean and Beautiful to conduct bilingual 

outreach through community events, connect with 

schools and support Youth Tree Leaders, and plant 

native trees along the greenways. 
IMPROVING 

FOOD ACCESS 

With the University of Puerto Rico, we aided the 

Capetillo Garden and Community Forest, which 

is a community-led urban forest in the heart of 

San Juan. The forest boasts a community garden, 

a hoop house, and many fruit trees that provide 

fresh food and a place for educational and 

community activities. This project will help 

document forest conditions through a new tree 

inventory and identify tree management practices 

that will help increase forest resiliency to climate 

change and hurricanes. By engaging neighbors and 

students in fruit tree planting to enrich the existing 

fruit tree offerings, we will be helping communities 

steward, conserve and restore urban and 

community forests. 
TRAINING 

THE FUTURE 

WORKFORCE 

We planned, administered, and assisted in 

delivering the 2021 i-Tree Academy in partnership 

with Davey Institute and ReGreen Springfield. 

The four-month, online i-Tree Academy course 

trained 46 students from across the United States. 

Instruction focused on the hands-on use of the 

i-Tree suite of tools used to inventory, assess, and 

report on the value of trees and forests. Students 

represented urban foresters, city foresters, college 

professors and students, scientists, and community 

leaders. Final capstone projects focused on canopy 

assessment, ecosystem benefits, stormwater, social 

injustice, tree equity, and other innovative means 

by which the tools can be used. 
BRIDGING 

TECHNOLOGY 

& SCIENCE 

In partnership with Pacific Island Forestry 

Committee, Smart Trees Pacific, and California 

Polytechnic State University, we have developed 

the first comprehensive database of urban and 

community trees planted across the Pacific. 

Pacific Island SelecTree is a mobile-friendly, 

searchable website that catalogs important tree 

characteristics for over 250 commonly found 

urban and community tree species. Along with 

information on tree performance, the database 

pulls together local information on invasiveness, 

biocultural uses and stories, and common 

indigenous names to ensure access by all 

audiences, from local islanders to specialists. 

SEARCH 

SEARCH TERM ►

SITE CONDITIONS ►

Enter a tree name... 

SEARCH BY CHARACTERISTICS 

TREE CHARACTERISTICS ►

FLOWERS & FRUIT ►
PROMOTING 

COMMUNITY 

VOLUNTEERISM 

In partnership with Anchorage Parks Foundation, 

we supported youth crew and volunteers to 

improve urban parks across Anchorage, Alaska. 

As part of the foundation’s Youth Employment 

in Parks program, youth crews will plant trees, 

revegetate trails, and remove invasive species 

on public lands in Anchorage, providing crew 

members meaningful first job experience and 

natural resource management training.