Photo Credit: R. Jeanette Martin
This summer, the STIHL Tour des Trees celebrates its silver anniversary—25 years of challenging participants to hop on their bikes for a weeklong, 500-plus-mile, cycling event in support of trees, environmental conservation, and sustaining urban green spaces. A few like-minded arborists with ambitions of making the future more green began the tour in 1992 to support the Tree Research and Education Endowment (TREE) Fund.
This crusade requires tactics more dynamic than a pamphlet and a plea approach. It provides a platform for people to experience and enjoy the benefits of trees—from the saddle of a bike. Enjoying long rides through city landscapes and exploring tree-lined neighborhoods, parks, and downtown streets offer participants a tangible adventure. As a swift breeze blows against sturdy branches and rustles leaves, participants bask in the cool shade of a grand oak while stopping to hydrate on a hot day. They can find “Zen” in the green of a downtown park, or relish the spectacular color displays along country highways. The tour goes beyond asking for donations—it encourages the public to reach out and touch the richness that trees bring to our homes.
Since 2002, the TREE Fund has issued nearly $3.2 million in grants to finance vital research on urban tree care with the help of STIHL Tour des Trees fundraising efforts. The tour has grown to become America’s largest fundraiser to improve the current state of trees through research, education, and awareness. These projects have succeeded in making significant advancements in major areas, such as root and soil management, plant health care, urban-forestry propagation, planting, and establishment. But the work of the TREE Fund stretches beyond field studies and laboratories; it strives to engage the public to help build and maintain a better, cleaner world. Money raised also produces arboriculture-education programs—from scientific webinars to those featuring the kid-friendly Professor Elwood Pricklethorn—and provides scholarships to the next generation of aspiring arborists.