Tree City & Tree Campus Programs

Tree City & Tree Campus Programs

Tree City USA is a national program from the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the US Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. The program has been greening cities and towns across the United States since 1976.

Tree City USA Tree Campus Higher Education Tree Campus K-12 Interested in Participating?

2023 Hawaii Tree City USA statistics graphic

2022 Statistics

2021 Statistics

Tree City Communities

The Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City program provides the framework necessary for communities to manage and expand their public trees.  Hawaiʻi has proudly been participating in the program since the program’s inception with our first community, Maui who joined in 1976.  Participation in the program has grown since and we continue to welcome new communities each year. Today, Hawaiʻi boasts ten Tree City USA communities, including:

image from Ohana Military Communities for Tree City USA

Maui

Since 1976

City and County of Honolulu

Since 1980

Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam

Since 1998

Schofield Barracks

Since 2008

Aliamanu Military Reservation

Since 2011

Image of Mililani Town Tree City USA celebration

Helemano Military Reservation

Since 2011

Fort Shafter

Since 2011

Wheeler Army Airfield

Since 2011

Mililani Town

2018-2021

ʻOhana Military Communities, Navy

2018-2022

ʻOhana Military Communities, MCBH

2020-2022

 

Tree Campus Higher Education Communities

The Tree Campus Higher Education program is also from the Arbor Day Foundation and allows colleges and universities join the national program! This program helps them establish and sustain healthy community forests. Tree Campus are required to meet the same standards as Tree City USA communities with an additional Service Learning Project aimed at engaging the student body. 

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Since 2008

Kapiʻolani Community College

Since 2019

Windward Community College

2019-2021

Leeward Community College

2021

 

 

Tree Campus K-12 Communities

In 2022, the Arbor Day Foundation added the Tree Campus K-12 program to inspire the next generation of tree stewards through experiences that bring the benefits of trees to life both inside and outside the classroom. The program fosters positive connections between youth and the trees in their community and cultivates within its participants a lifelong respect for trees on a global scale.  Local student Anna Learner ’22 led efforts to establish Punahou School as the first Tree Campus K-12 community in Hawaiʻi in the programʻs first year! Le Jardin Academy (LJA) student Zoe Wiechmann completed Kaulunani’s “My Tree Campus” challenge as part of the Hawaiʻi Youth Sustainability Challenge; a collaboration between Kupu and Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation.  

Le Jardin AcademyPunahou students plant a tree in observance of Arbor Day

Since 2023

Saint Louis School

Since 2023

Punahou School

2022-23

 

 

Is your community interested in becoming a Tree City or Campus? 

Tree City USA

Tree City USA communities are required to establish all of the following:

  1. a Tree Board or Department
  2. a Community Tree Ordinance
  3. a Community Forestry Program with a minimum of at least $2 per capita
  4. an Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation

 

Learn more about the Tree City USA program on Arbor Day Foundation’s website.

 

Tree Campus Higher Education

Higher education institutions are required to establish all of the following:

  1. a campus tree advisory committee
  2. a campus tree care plan
  3. a verification of the plan’s dedicated annual expenditures
  4. an Arbor Day Observance
  5. a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body

 

Learn more about the Tree Campus Higher Education program at their website.

 

Tree Campus K-12

Tree Campus K-12 schools must fulfill the following four goals:

  1. Maintain a Tree Campus Team of staff, students, and community members
  2. Establish an education plan to provide tree-related learning
  3. Provide hands-on opportunities to engage students and community members in tree-related activities
  4. Celebrate Arbor Day

 

Learn more about the Tree Campus Higher Education program at their website.

 

How To Apply

Applications highlight the community’s past year of accomplishments. Apply online at https://recognition.arborday.org/.

Application Timeline

Program

Application Deadline

Application Review (Kaulunani & Arbor Day Foundation)

Final Submission Deadline

Award Announcement

Tree City USA

Tree Campus Higher Education

 December 31st of each year

February-April

April 30 of each year

May-June
Tree Campus K-12

June 30 of each year (End of the School Year)

Through June

*No Kaulunani review*

June 30 of each year

 July

Reach out to Kaulunani staff to start your application today!