Tennessee Tree Program

Help Us Plant 1 Million Native Trees By 2025

Trees Planted Since 2007

Tennessee Tree Day 2021 takes place on March 21, 2021.

Read About Tree Day 2020

Our Goal: One Million Native Trees Planted in Tennessee by 2025.

Our goal is to plant and care for 1 million native trees in Tennessee by 2025. We have worked with the public and state agencies across Tennessee to distribute and plant trees in all 95 counties of Tennessee. As a result, the Tennessee Environmental Council has planted 679,100 trees since 2007. In 2015, the Council was awarded the Friend of Forestry Award, by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry, for its large tree planting efforts.

Why is planting trees so important to us as an organization?

More than two million acres of Tennessee’s native forests have been cut and more than 500 thousand acres of forest were converted to other uses.*
Tennessee is the most biodiverse inland state in America, and every year around 12,000 acres of trees are cut down due to human activities.*
Studies indicate communities with more trees have less crime.*

*Source: U.S. Forest Service

Planting 30 trees each year offsets greenhouse gases from your car and home.
In 50 years one tree provides $130,750 in total benefits including oxygen, air pollution control and stormwater drainage.
(Southeast Watershed Forum, The Value of Community Forests)

(Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition FY2007 Funding Recommendations, April 2006.) Learn more about the Benefits of Trees at the Arbor Day Foundation.

Read about tree varieties we planted in Tennessee

Our Tree Program total now stands at 679,100 native trees planted in Tennessee, providing the following ecological benefits:

2,300 acres of new tree canopy providing wildlife and pollinator habitat
11 million tons of carbon dioxide captured
26 billion gallons of rainwater filtered
Enough oxygen produced for more than 2 million Tennessee residents every year.

How to Plant Your Tree

Interested in organizing a tree planting event? Click here for suggestions on how to have a successful event that’s fun, builds community and shares the love of nature.

Tree Care

Now Partnering With Root Nashville - How to Register Your Trees

Tennessee Environmental council is excited to partner with the Root Nashville campaign. We have a common goal to plant 50,000 trees in Davidson County by 2050.

Trees planted during 250K+ Tree Day event in 2019 are eligible to count toward this city-wide goal. An online mapping tool called TreePlotter is used to track our progress. As we plant trees across Davidson County, we will register each tree and place a point on the map on our website. Individuals or groups who want new trees they plant to be counted can register their trees on the Root Nashville website.