Finding New Friends for Urban Forest

It’s easy to get comfortable working with our colleagues on the tree board or fellow volunteers that help plant trees. In many communities, however, this means that most of the work is done by a few people, the load becomes burdensome, and ideas grow stale. This, coupled with funding that is rarely sufficient to meet all the needs, makes it essential to expand the circle of those willing to help. 

Following a study of strategies for community success conducted by the Kettering Foundation, Dr. David Mathews, head of the organization, wrote, “What stands out in the high-achieving community is not so much the characteristics of the leaders as their number…The high-achieving community had 10 times more people providing leadership than communities of comparable size. This high-achieving community is ‘leaderful;’ that is, nearly everyone provides some measure of initiative. And its leaders function not as gatekeepers but as door openers, bent on widening participation.” 

This leadership, along with those who follow, is found in virtually every community — but often in places not normally associated with urban forestry. Finding and enlisting these new friends will provide refreshing new talent, perspectives, willing workers and — sometimes — new sources of financial assistance.