The Vital Role of Urban & Community Forestry in Vermont

April 25, 2025

Brattleboro urban forest

Why Urban & Community Forestry Matters Now

Vermont communities are grappling with real challenges — more extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and health disparities. Urban and community trees are a practical, place-based response. They reduce stormwater runoff, cool streets and buildings, capture carbon, and improve air quality. They also offer something less quantifiable but deeply needed in hard times: comfort, connection, and a sense of continuity.

Trees don’t just make places prettier—they make places better. And VT UCF is committed to helping communities unlock those benefits, whether it’s by training local tree stewards, supporting tree planting projects, or offering technical assistance to towns creating tree inventories and management plans.

Adapting to the Times

VT UCF staff know the importance of this work and know that our program and the communities we serve may be directly or indirectly impacted by the priorities and actions of the current federal administration.  Earlier this spring, both the City of Winooski and the City of Newport lost large urban forestry grants from the USDA Forest Service, as detailed in this VTDigger article.   

Amid much uncertainty, VT UCF is adapting and doubling down on its mission. This means working in partnerships, leveraging relationships, seeking new funding sources, and sharing tools and resources to make urban and community forestry more accessible and impactful across the state.

We believe in the power of trees to create resilient, equitable communities. As Vermont navigates a complex future, this work offers something enduring: hope, shade, stability, and a reminder that even in uncertain times, we can grow something good.

Below are a few projects on which the VT UCF team is focusing, and we look forward to growing them with you:

  • Check Out Forestry: financial and technical assistance package designed to unite the practical benefits of trees with the vibrant role of public libraries in our communities.
  • Climate Smart Schoolyards: financial and technical assistance package offered in partnership with the Vermont Department of Health. The goal of this project is to collaborate with one school partner to design and implement a tree planting plan that meets the needs of the school.
  • Community Tree Fund: a collaborative effort with the Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO) to support Vermont’s communities by addressing the need for more flexible funding for small-scale tree planting projects.
  • 2025 Rural Roadside Ash Tree Removal Grants financial and technical assistance offered to selected municipalities ready to fell ash trees within the municipal right-of-way along unpaved roads.

Selected partners and recipients for the spring 2025 rounds of the four above projects will be announced soon!