Mission Statement

Our mission is to improve urban and community forests by providing Internet-based information, tools and inspiration.

Our Vision

TreeLink's vision is to provide the best technology resources to grow the movement and discipline of urban and community forestry to the widest audience. We plan to expand the canopy of knowledge about Urban and Community Forestry and reach into widespread community roots with potent, accessible communications resources.

TreeLink provides inreach to traditional resources and outreach to more than 70 countries. All can benefit from networking, research, community building and education outreach to expand name recognition and participation in the movement and discipline of Urban and Community Forestry.

It's increasingly true that the success of urban forestry depends on information, education and communication. We have the knowledge to plan cities that are both environmentally and economically sustainable. Internet technology allows TreeLink to share that knowledge with every small town and large city in this country.

Today, technology plays a critical role in cost-efficient outreach and communications. TreeLink will spotlight the vital role of urban and community forestry to the future of our rapidly growing human habitat.

 

 

History

TreeLink was established in 1996 with a grant from the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program on the recommendation of the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council, and a grant from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation. The purpose of the competitive grant was to create a national urban forestry communications hub. At first TreeLink was a program of TreeUtah, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit, but by 2002 the program outgrew TreeUtah and TreeLink became a separate and distinct nonprofit organization.

Since its creation, the staff of this nonprofit Internet resource has leveraged support from around the country to expand recognition and respect for the movement and discipline of Urban and Community Forestry.

With growing concerns over population growth, urbanization, pollution, sprawl, habitat fragmentation, and rising energy and health costs, the urban forestry movement resonates, and the sound that people are hearing is harmony. Technology has become critical to share this information faster and farther. TreeLink receives nearly a million hits a month and thousands of unique visitors every day from as many as 70 countries.

TreeLink also created the first international coalition to advocate for Urban and Community Forestry in partnership with the Olympics -- for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games -- bringing together the National Tree Trust, the Arbor Day Foundation, the International Society of Arboriculture, and American Forests to work together for the first time. The coalition also included the White House Millennium Green initiative.

Today TreeLink serves as an information repository and networking center for urban forestry professionals while providing outreach to land agencies, academics, green industry and the general public.

 

Awards

 

Global ReLeaf Award for Organizational Achievement, National Urban Forestry Conference, 2003

National Arbor Day Foundation Media Award, 2003

Chief's Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer, USDA Forest Service, 2003

$250,000 competitive grant to expand TreeLink, the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council, 2001

$100,000 competitive grant to create TreeLink, the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council, 1996