Youth

New Urban Forestry LEAF Curriculum Available

Posted on by janness

The Urban Forest Lesson Guide helps Wisconsin teachers educate students about the value of and need for our urban forests. Additionally, the Urban Forest Lesson Guide can help teachers in urban areas teach the importance of forests by using familiar urban forest surroundings to engage students and ultimately make the Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Lesson Guide units more relevant.

Take a peek at the newly added Urban Forestry Career Biographies, and you may see some familiar faces.

Visit the UW Stevens Point LEAF website to access the new and improved curriculum.

Go Outside Funds Available

Posted on by janness
children learning outdoors

Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR

The Go Outside Fund provides funding that helps connect youth to outdoor, nature-based learning experiences. Teachers or partner organizations may apply for funding to cover costs that facilitate getting kids outside and hands-on with nature, such as purchasing field supplies or paying for transportation and educator costs. Grants between $100 and $1,500 are available. Educators, as well as eligible organizations, are welcome to apply, with the next deadlines for applications being Sept. 1 and March 1, 2026. Continue reading “Go Outside Funds Available” →

The Urban Forestry Staff Springs Into Action For Arbor Day

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Laura Buntrock hosted an urban forestry booth at Rhinelander’s Earth Day Sustainability Fair, where she educated the public on the benefits of urban trees, provided resources and answered questions.

April and May might just be the busiest months of the year for the Urban Forestry staff. This small but mighty team participates in as many Arbor Day, Earth Day and Forest Appreciation Week events as they can fit into their schedules. Municipalities, schools and nonprofits tend to spread out their events over a couple months rather than scheduling them all on Arbor Day, which allows the staff to get to more events.

The Urban Forestry team’s involvement in these events varies and can include tree planting, seedling distribution, education and tree-related activities, such as competing for the loudest Arbor Day cheer. If you have an event you would like an Urban Forestry staff member to attend at any time of the year, get your request in early!

Here are just a few of the events that Urban Forestry staff attended. Continue reading “The Urban Forestry Staff Springs Into Action For Arbor Day” →

Arbor Day Caps Off A Week Of Environmental Action And Celebration

Posted on by janness
kids planting a tree

Photo Credit: Olivia Witthun, Wisconsin DNR

Don’t think of Arbor Day as the end of Forest Appreciation Week, think of it as the beginning of tree planting season! Arbor Day is a celebration rooted in a simple but powerful idea that planting trees is an investment in the future.

The first Arbor Day started as a community effort to restore trees in Nebraska. The secretary of the Nebraska Territory at the time, J. Sterling Morton, led this effort, and on April 10, 1872, the first official Arbor Day was celebrated. The success of the first tree-planting holiday spread quickly, and today, it is observed in all 50 states and in many countries around the world. The Arbor Day Foundation estimates tens of millions of trees are planted each year in honor of Arbor Day. Continue reading “Arbor Day Caps Off A Week Of Environmental Action And Celebration” →

LEAF Lessons

Posted on by janness

Leaf websiteArbor Day is right around the corner, but why wait to start celebrating and learning about trees? The LEAF K-12 Forestry Education Program provides resources to incorporate into the classroom for Arbor Day or any day! The downloadable Urban Forest Lesson Guide provides a pathway for teachers to engage students and teach them about the trees in their neighborhood. Forestry Education Kits on a variety of different themes are also available for checkout for both formal and non-formal educators. Check out the LEAF website and consider utilizing the resources they have to offer this spring. Continue reading “LEAF Lessons” →

Fourth Grade Arbor Day Seedling Orders Now Open

Posted on by janness

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is offering free tree seedlings to every fourth-grade student in Wisconsin as part of its annual Arbor Day tree planting program.

Wisconsin fourth grade principals, teachers and homeschoolers can now place seedling orders and coordinate delivery by completing the 2026 Arbor Day application by March 16, 2026. Continue reading “Fourth Grade Arbor Day Seedling Orders Now Open” →

Kids Climb Event: Volunteers Needed

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Volunteers are needed to be on the ground and up in the tree. Tasks on the ground include helping parents fill out waiver forms, outfitting kids in helmets and saddles and belaying kids up into the tree using pulley systems. Volunteers are needed in the tree to teach kids limb walking, hanging upside down, etc.

Please sign up online to help.

When: Oct. 5, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Riverbend Nature Center
3600 North Green Bay Road
Racine, WI, 53404

Continue reading “Kids Climb Event: Volunteers Needed” →

Wheels To Woods Grants

Posted on by janness

Wheels to Woods is a school to forest or forestry-related field trip transportation grant program supported and administered by the WI Society of American Foresters DEI Committee.

This program is open to any Wisconsin K-12 schoolteacher to apply; however, teachers of underrepresented student populations will receive priority funding.

Continue reading “Wheels To Woods Grants” →