By Tony Fessler, Co-Coordinator – Restoration Of Our Trees Sheboygan, www.sheboyganrotary.com or 920-946-6770.

Photo Credit: Tony Fessler
A collaborative urban reforestation project involving the Sheboygan Area School District, the Sheboygan Rotary Club Restoration of our Trees Sheboygan (ROOTS) and the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP) completed a second major milestone on May 10, 2025. This first-of-its-kind urban reforestation collaboration was initiated in 2024 through a matching $25,000 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry Grant to ROOTS and LNRP. Continue reading “Collaborative Reforestation – Sheboygan Area School District”

Beginning July 1, 2025, cities, villages, towns, counties, tribes and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in –or conducting their projects in – Wisconsin can apply for a regular or startup 2026 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry grant. The total 2026 available funding is $559,680, with a possible release of $139,920 of catastrophic storm reserve to fund a second round in March 2026.
When your newly planted trees are getting comfortable in their new homes, you’ve pulled the splinters from your hands and you find yourself at a desk asking yourself, “What now?”, we have an answer for you.


Are you a forestry expert interested in working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), forest industry professionals and natural resource leaders to ensure sustainable management practices of Wisconsin’s forest resources?
Arbor Day’s roots began in the late 1800s in Nebraska where, according to the Arbor Day Foundation, residents of Nebraska City felt a lack of trees in their community. The secretary of the Nebraska Territory at the time, J. Sterling Morton, proposed a statewide tree-planting holiday, and on April 10, 1872, the first Arbor Day was celebrated.