Trees Forever announces the appointment of Michelle Beisker as Chief Executive Officer, following an extensive search. Beisker succeeds Interim CEO Debra Powers, who will remain with Trees Forever to help with the transition. Beisker will begin her role as CEO at Trees Forever on April 29, 2024.  Beisker brings extensive not-for-profit and for-profit experience to the role, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Development at the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation. Beisker also served as Chief Operating Officer at Waypoint Services in Cedar Rapids, Program Director at F ..read more

Trees Forever is excited to announce the election of five new Board members! These members will officially start in February of 2024. We are excited to have such a talented slate of members guiding us further in our mission. Welcome to the Trees Forever Board! Ben Curtis Impact 7G – Urbandale, IA Mr. Curtis leads the Sustainability group at Impact7G, which focuses on urban and regional planning, climate science, and renewable energy. His work aims to establish relationships with key stakeholders to foster realistic and impactful planning and sustainability initiatives. He finds creative ways ..read more

Thirty-four years ago, our founders committed to plant and care for trees and the environment by empower people, building community and promoting stewardship.  On September 14, 2023, the federal government backed that belief by awarding $1.13 billion dollars to 385 communities to plant trees over the next several years. Trees Forever Interim CEO, Deb Powers, was front and center as the announcement was made.  Powers participated in a private roundtable session with Secretary Vilsack and Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  During the privat ..read more

Imagine creating a product that could never be destroyed – and mass producing it on a global scale. That is plastic. The production of plastic invokes a heavily resource-extractive and pollutant-emitting process to create a product that can almost never be destroyed. What makes plastic so attractive? Plastic is extremely cheap to make. It is made from various nonrenewable elements, including crude oil and natural gas (two of the most common fossil fuels). Despite these two nonrenewable resources being cheap, they emit a lot of greenhouse gases during their extraction, as well as when they are ..read more

Water is life. Just like young children, trees require the most intensive care during their first few years of life. Newly planted trees should be watered immediately after planting and should continue to receive water daily for the first couple of weeks post planting. Between three and twelve weeks after planting, trees can be watered every 2-3 days. After twelve weeks, the tree can be watered weekly. For the first two years of a tree’s life, it will focus on establishing its roots in the soil and adjusting itself to the landscape. Tree owners can assist the tree by watering it with 5-15 ga ..read more

One of our most cherished traditions from the annual Trees Forever Our Woodland Legacy Symposium is the sharing of Good Green News. Attendees of the event share success stories from their personal lives or from their organizations related to positive environmental work and accomplishments. This year the Our Woodland Legacy Symposium was hosted at the Kirkwood Hotel and Event Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 15 and featured Good Green News shared both in-person and from online virtual participants. Read on for some of the great work being done in our area! Good Green News 2022: Indian C ..read more

Pruning Practices for Healthy Trees Most trees, especially those in your yard or community, will require pruning and care for their entire life. However, giving special attention to trees in the first few years after planting is most important in determining their form and strength as a mature tree. Pruning is one of the most beneficial services you can provide to your tree. Why Prune Trees Pruning is done for several reasons: Safety – Remove branches that might cause bodily injury or property damage if they fall. Also prune so that branches don’t block street or traffic signs or impede views ..read more

Green Iowa AmeriCorps By Dina Haveric Green Iowa AmeriCorps, founded in 2009, is a state-wide community service program operating out of the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education. GIA members are partnered with host sites to serve Iowa communities through one of three branches: Energy and Community; Sustainable Schools; and Land and Water Stewards. Personal Experience As a Green Iowa AmeriCorps member, I am serving in the Land and Water Stewards branch as Marketing and Communications Support Coordinator at my host site, Trees Forever. What I love most abou ..read more

By Dina Haveric, Green Iowa AmeriCorps Member While it is extremely difficult to put a monetary value on all the ways nature enhances our lives, there are real, tangible benefits to living in a world with healthy ecosystems. The value of nature to humans has been discussed for decades, but more recently the idea of ecosystem services was introduced to describe these various benefits. An ecosystem service can be defined as any direct or indirect contribution that ecosystems provide for human wellbeing and quality of life. They provide natural solutions to purify water, pollinate crops, filter s ..read more

By Dina Haveric, Green Iowa Americorps Member Generally, when one thinks of forests and trees, they understand the crucial role they play in purifying the air we breathe by removing harmful particles and pollutants. What one oftentimes overlooks, however, is the important role they play in keeping our water sources clean too. Water is a valuable global resource and vital for our survival. Unfortunately, human activities are degrading the quality of the water sources we depend so greatly on. Pesticides, fertilizers, and excessive sedimentation from both agricultural and urban sources are jeopar ..read more