Tree Ambassador Program
Information on the sessions for the 2025 Tree Ambassador Cohort will likely be updated in late 2024.
If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a Tree Ambassador, please Fill Out Our Interest Form Linked Below.
In 2021, WSA was awarded an Urban Trees Grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to develop a new tree planting program called Tree Ambassadors. This program is focused on planting trees in urban areas with low median household income levels, high unemployment, and neighborhoods with housing projects or that were historically red-lined at any time. With funding from both the Trust and RePlant, this grant award supports stipends for program participants and tree plantings in priority areas within the county/city.
The Tree Ambassador program is directly in line with WSA’s DEIJ Strategic Plan, specifically the Restoration goal of creating an urban tree planting program. To learn more about DEIJ and how WSA is incorporating it across all of its programs, click here.
Based on the Tree Trooper model, the Tree Ambassador program follows a similar approach to community-based tree planting projects. Tree Ambassadors are trained on the basics of tree biology, site assessment, and project implementation. After the training, Ambassadors are tasked with recruiting “tree hosts” who will receive trees on their properties. Ambassadors then coordinate and implement tree planting projects within their communities, with support from WSA staff. Post-planting, Ambassadors are responsible for coordinating the maintenance of their tree projects, ensuring that the trees grow to their full potential and provide maximum benefit to their respective “tree hosts” and the surrounding community.
Tree Ambassador planting event at the Chesapeake Children’s Museum
Program participants and planting locations are identified through the use of the Urban Trees priority map, which can be accessed here. In 2022, the first cohort of the program completed projects in Brooklyn Park and the City of Annapolis, totaling 38 trees.
In Spring 2024, we trained our second cohort of 14 Tree Ambassadors. During our in-person training session, we added to the existing project at the Brooklyn Park Library, planting 10 more trees. We also supplied our new Tree Ambassadors with tree guides, planting manuals, program fliers, and clipboards; materials to help them engage their communities and spread the word about trees! The cohort is now in the process of planning their Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 plantings throughout the County. We are so excited to see what they accomplish!
Program PArtners
Anne Arundel County Public Schools provided translation services for the Tree Ambassador training sessions
WSA worked closely with Abel Olivo, the Executive Director of Defensores de la Cuenca, to develop the framework of the Tree Ambassador program
