Trees for Wildlife (formerly Trees for the 21st Century) educates youth about the role of trees in our environment, how individuals can take action to plant trees and provides stewardship for sustaining trees locally and across the nation. Trees for Wildlife also explores the unique connection wildlife have with trees and the essential role for habitat trees play for wildlife.
Additionally, Trees for Wildlife is a great opportunity to have youth learn about how to improve their environmental footprint and serves as a supplement to NWF’s Eco-School USA program which provides schools an opportunity to “green their school, green their grounds and green the students”.
National Wildlife Federation’s Trees for Wildlife program provides all the elements you need to successful implement the program through self-guided materials.
- Age-appropriate and downloadable activities (LINK to Sample)
- Native tree seedlings shipped directly to your home for planting
- Incentives (patches, pins and more)
- Educational Resources to support further projects
Trees for Wildlife program was inspired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. Thirty years ago, Maathai, from Kenya, Africa, was concerned that 90% of her forest had been chopped down. Soil erosion was devastating her country as a result. The women, whose job it was to look for firewood for their families, had to search for hours to find mere branches. Wangari took action. On June 5th, 1977 on World Environment Day, she planted nine trees in her backyard and founded the Green Belt Movement whose mission it is to restore Africa’s forests, put an end to the poverty that deforestation was causing, and recognize the intimate and fundamental link between the environment, democracy, and peace. Wangari gathered women from all over the country and empowered them to plant 30 million trees