Community Forest Management

Learn strategies for choosing woody plants that thrive in Pennsylvania's toughest sites, from poor soils to extreme moisture and temperature conditions.

The Miyawaki Method encompasses soil preparation, careful species selection, and intensive aftercare with the goal of speeding up the development of mature forests in small spaces.

Winter is an ideal time to devote to learning more about tree care, urban forestry, and managing small forested properties.

Hands-on tree planting and care help students better connect to biology lessons and the natural environment.

Develop an annual work plan for a municipal tree commission to ensure public trees receive the regular care they need to remain attractive, healthy, and safe.

This article explains the essentials of budgeting for the costs of a community tree program each year. It includes a community tree budget worksheet.

Explore planning and implementing simple stewardship practices on your lot to create and enhance natural areas and make a positive impact on the environment during this series.

After 34 years of providing educational programs and assisting communities in southeastern Pennsylvania, Urban Forester and Natural Resources Educator Julianne Schieffer has retired from Penn State.

TreePennsylvania grants are helping environmental justice communities plant trees that provide a wealth of environmental, health, and social benefits.

Street and park tree inventories provide information for the planning, design, planting, maintenance, and removal of community trees.

A Shade Tree Commission or Environmental Advisory Commission plays an important role in community management of trees and natural resources for the greatest ecosystem benefits.

Timber harvesting is regulated by a fraction of Pennsylvania's local governments, but more municipalities are beginning to regulate harvesting in order to maintain forests for future generations.

Over 1600 large caliper bare root trees were planted by Pennsylvania communities in Spring 2025 with help of mini-grant program.

Designing green parking lots with large canopy trees can reduce urban heat loads, air and water pollution, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on our communities.

Trees and woodlands enhance beauty, property values, health, and community appeal, but many areas lack policies to protect them during development.

A community tree plan does not need to be long or complicated to provide a guiding document for your shade tree commission.

This article contains links to useful resources designed to help municipalities, community planners, shade tree commissions, volunteer organizations, and others that plant and manage community trees.

If you are topping a tree to make it smaller, DON'T. It doesn't work!

If your community has an active tree program, it could be awarded Tree City USA status.

Working with partners and a long-term strategy key to 39 years of maintaining and enhancing the Lewisburg community forest according to a shade tree commissioner and a Tree Tender volunteer.

Urban forested natural areas are critical to improving the quality of life for residents, but they need some management.

This article explains planning hierarchies and putting tree planning into practice, including effective administration; analysis of hazardous trees; proper site preparation; and proper tree selection.

Podcast tells the stories that made certain trees important witnesses to history and how those trees are being preserved as reminders of that history.

A cursory look at an unhealthy tree may lead to some initial ideas of what is causing a decline in health, but a closer look may reveal other causes initially unnoticed.

If you can't see the trunk flare/root collar at the base of a tree, it may be buried, which can lead to decay and whole tree failure.