Tree Tenders

 Become a Tree Tender!

Join over 600 people in caring for City trees

  Register for a Tree Tender Course by clicking here!  Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest is offering 6 different courses city-wide in 2010.

 

Tree Tenders are trained city residents who care for young street trees during Tree Care Days.  This special group of volunteers participate in a three-session course that equips them with the skills necessary to care for trees.  Local tree experts provide instruction, and the course covers everything from tree biology to planting and pruning.  Following completion of the course, Tree Tenders-in-Training participate in 8 volunteer hours (often at plantings in their neighborhoods) and a hands-on Pruning Workshop. 

 

 What will I learn in a Tree Tender course? 

Session 1 Introduction to Urban Forestry  
1.     Program Overview
2.     Test Pre-Existing Level of Knowledge
3.     History - Inventory, Management Plan, Flow Chart
4.     TreeVitalize
5.     Urban Tree Condition and Stressors and the Need for Tree Tenders
6.     Benefits of Trees & Advocacy
 
 

Session 2 Tree Biology and Planting  
1.     Tree Biology
2.     Tree Planting, Right Tree/Right Place, Review Permit & City Requirements
a.     Bare Root
b.    Container
c.     B&B
3.     Basics of Tree ID

 

 
Session 3 Tree Pruning and Health   
1.     Pruning – Why we do it, workshop introduction
2.     Mulching, Staking, and Watering
3.     Pest &Diseases
4.     Organizing a Tree Planting
 
 

* Class is generally lecture style.  Friends requests that Tree Tenders fulfill a "lab section" by working with us in the field for 8 hours over the course of a year.

Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest created Tree Tenders in Pittsburgh after examining the practices of other cities that had successful training programs for residents.  Friends staff collected manuals from Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Tree Tenders© course, from New York City's Citizen Pruner program, Casey Tree's Citizen Forester program, and L.A.'s Citizen Forester program.  Friends staff also consulted with Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Tree Tenders creators and attended one of their sessions, while creating our own Pittsburgh-based curriculum.  Friends was glad to have the help of so many well-established organizations as we formed our own citizen training program, and we are even happier to have kept in touch with them over the past several years. 

Want to become a Tree Tender? Click Here to Register Online!