Greening and Cooling Texas Since 1982
Simply put, the motto of the Texas Trees Foundation (the “Foundation”) is “The Greening of North Central Texas.” Renamed in 2003 to more accurately reflect its mission, the Foundation sustains a tree planting initiative for neighborhood parkways and medians, schools and other public open spaces, a tree growing facility to assure a healthy supply of trees for the future, and education programs to teach the importance and benefits of maintaining a healthy urban forest.
The Foundation received its Certification of Incorporation from the State of Texas in April 1982. Originally named The Dallas Parks Foundation, its founders established the organization as a resource to support the existing Dallas park system. In 1989, the mission of the Foundation was expanded to focus on the planting of trees in public open space. The tree planting activity of the Foundation has grown from providing several hundred trees per year to providing thousands of trees each year, all on public property.
Mission of Texas Trees Foundation
The mission of the Texas Trees Foundation is (i) to preserve, beautify and expand parks and other public natural green spaces, and (ii) to beautify our public streets, boulevards, and rights-of-way by planting trees and (iii) encourage others to do the same through educational programs that focus on the importance of building and protecting the “urban forest” today as a legacy for generations to come.
"He who plants a tree plants a hope."
-Lucy Larcom
In 1988, the Foundation merged with Treescape/Dallas, Inc. a project that had been funded by the Dallas Junior League and the Central Dallas Association. In doing so, the Foundation gained an even greater ability to impact urban landscape projects. Treescape’s successful history of attracting and utilizing volunteers and in-kind donations of services and products provided the model currently followed by the Foundation, enabling it to implement its programs in a cost-effective manner.
In 2003, the Foundation was renamed the Texas Trees Foundation to expand the area of focus from Dallas to a six county area that includes: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Rockwell, Tarrant, and Kaufman. At this time, the TTF decided to create two urban tree farms as its main focus. Quality native trees were needed for projects, and the Foundation saw it as a way to create a self-sustaining social enterprise, which we hope to accomplish by the year 2013. With the efforts focused on the nursery production, the link to people and places was diminished. We must now circle back to our roots and reestablish our outreach efforts, programs, and projects so we can get trees planted throughout the Dallas Metroplex area.
1982
Founded in 1982
Dallas Trees and Parks Foundation 2004 - Name changed to Texas Trees Foundation to serve North Texas
1988
The Foundation secured the donation of a 3.7 mile section of the MKT Rail line for Dallas County to be used to form the Katy Trail
1994
Pioneer Plaza features bronze sculptures that depict early trail drives of Texas longhorns and has become one of the most popular tourist sites
2000
Opening of our TXU Urban Tree Farm and education center at Richland College
2006
Partnered with the Super Bowl XLV-NFL Environmental Program to launch Super Grow XLV and planted over 6,000 trees
2010
Launch of the GIS Roadmap Model for Urban Tree Planning & Planting
2012
Introduced urban forestry initiative in North Texas with the support of 40 mayors
2013
Inventoried 100% of the tree canopy on the Southern Methodist University campus
2014
Conducted comprehensive tree inventories at Abilene Christian UnivE ersity and in Downtown Dallas
2015
Launched State of the Dallas Urban Forest Report with Mayor Rawlings
2016
Launched Cool Schools Program
2017
Created Dallas Urban Heat Island Mitigation Study with Dr. Brian Stone, School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology
2017
Completed comprehensive tree inventory at the George W. Bush Center and Library
2018
Accepted invitation by Laura Bush to Texan by Nature Conservation Wrangler program
2019
$2.5 million challenge grant met, gifted by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, to reach a total of $5 million for the Southwestern Medical District Streetscape plan
2020
Partnered with PlanIt Geo to develop an interactive online tree mapping website
2021
City of Dallas unanimous acceptance of Urban Forest Master Plan
2022
Celebrated 40th Anniversary
2022
COMING SOON… Dallas Tree Equity Planting Map & Nature Lab
2023
Fort Worth Urban Forest Master Plan
2023
Green Jobs Workforce Program
Our foundation is focused on making spaces cooler, greener and cleaner, and trees are vital to achieve this laudable and critical goal.
The Texas Trees Foundation has a rich history and is positioned to build on the traditions established by its founders and nurtured by its stewardship of the Urban Forest. The investment in the production of trees has sidelined the social benefits that we provided. It is now time for us to return to our “roots” of providing quality education and tree planting opportunities, along with the quality stock that we grow.
In the fall of 2007, the Board of Trustees hired a new Executive Director, Janette K. Monear. The focus for the new hire was to invest in and rebalance the organization to meet the social outcomes with the nursery production business. TTF has a new business plan, “Greening North Central Texas” which takes Ms. Monear’s 25 years of experience in urban forestry, combines it with new technology, and provides a roadmap that will make the Texas Trees Foundation a national leader in greening our communities with trees. The plan integrates the social, economic, environmental, and health benefits that trees provide to community development. We are planning for the future and with the new “Greening North Central Texas” business plan; we will reorganize, reposition, and revitalize the Foundation.
WHERE ARE WE PLANTING?
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Lifetime Monetary Value of TreesDonate
Please consider donating to support the Texas Trees Foundation’s urban forestry mission. Your contributions will go toward funding our programs and projects.
Volunteer
Interested in getting directly involved with the Texas Trees Foundation? Learn more about upcoming opportunities and Tree Tender volunteer events.
Resources
Browse our many reports and studies about urban forestry in North Texas. In addition to information on Pioneer Plaza and our Tree Tracker platform.