Partner Project Highlights
Here is a sample of the work done by CRTI and its partners across the Chicago region and the state of Illinois.
Restoring Tree Canopy Lost to the Emerald Ash Borer
Chicago and Chicago Heights were able to replace some of the thousands of ash trees lost to the devastating scourge of the emerald ash borer when CRTI helped secure funding from the USDA Forest Service’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In Chicago Heights, CRTI helped volunteers, elected officials, and city staff plant 150 trees. In Chicago, another 150 trees were planted, and the city’s staff received important training and certification opportunities.
Planting Trees to Improve Community Health
In a Chicago neighborhood with residents who come from more than 40 countries, Latinos Progresandos collected data to document low canopy cover, higher temperatures, poor air quality, flood risk and other threats to health. Turning to nature-based solutions, the community group spearheaded the planting of more than 120 street trees and contracted for watering and other support to help the young trees thrive.
Creating Career Pathways in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry
Administered by Openlands, a major Chicago-region nonprofit, the Arborist Registered Apprenticeship is a three-year training program in partnership with the Department of Labor and tree industry partners. It is the first such training program in Illinois. The paid apprenticeship aims to improve recruitment and retention and create a path to welcome more diverse and experienced applicants to a wide array of potential careers in arboriculture, tree care, and urban forestry.
Making a Suburban Village an Arboretum
Volunteers with Hazel Crest Open Lands in south suburban Chicago have worked for 30 years to transform buckthorn-infested green space into a recognized arboretum with 130 species of trees.
Bringing Professionals Together to Help Trees
CRTI’s work groups bring together tree professionals and other stakeholders to share their expertise and help the program set its priorities in four areas: forest composition, tree stewardship and planting, trees and green infrastructure, and tree risk assessment and management. Some projects that have been developed from work group recommendations include expanded tree protection ordinance recommendations, the annual Trees and Tacos Arboricultural Career Fair, and CRTI’s Community Tree Canopy Summaries, which show where trees are and where there is room for growth.
Growing Healthy People with a Food Forest
In 2023, middle school students at John R. Lewis Middle School in Waukegan, a city north of Chicago, planted 26 fruit and nut trees donated through CRTI to create a food forest. This unique growing and learning space serves as a hands-on laboratory for more than 225 students every year.
Specifying Standards to Protect Trees
The Forest Preserves of Cook County developed and adopted a Tree Protection and Preservation Specifications Manual, ensuring that all land use decisions made by the forest preserves and other users take the preservation, protection, and maintenance of trees into consideration. The manual also sets standards for tree protection during construction and guides the selection and planting of new trees.
Building Skills in the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders
A partnership between The Morton Arboretum and the Student Conservation Association gives students the opportunity to do hands-on work toward a healthier tree canopy that is more abundant, more diverse, and more equitably distributed. Each four-person SCA crew serves for six months, working with community residents on tree planting and tree maintenance and helping to train community members in urban forestry stewardship. The conservation crew has access to the Arboretum’s networking and training resources for tree care and professional development and career exposure.
Creating a Public Orchard in a City Park
CRTI helped neighbors plant more than two dozen fruit-bearing trees of mostly native species in the McKinley Park Community Garden, a volunteer-run project in a public park on Chicago’s South Side. Among the trees planted were pawpaw, persimmon, pecan, hazelnut, witch-hazel, serviceberry, pear, and plum trees. Since planting, the garden has added peach and black cherry trees as well as blackcurrant, black raspberry, and raspberry bushes. The garden’s trees increase the neighborhood and the region’s tree canopy and serve as a gathering space for people and animals by providing shade, food, and shelter.
Working to Bring Trees to the City
Through the Tree Ambassador Program, Friends for a Natural South Chicago has made nearly 400 requests for new street trees throughout the city’s Southeast Side. Their tree ambassadors have gone door to door helping neighbors request trees and have set up booths at local street festivals to help people request trees in their neighborhood and stay in touch with residents on the status of their requested tree.
Clearing Space for Oaks to Thrive
In the wake of a devastating tornado that damaged 10 acres of irreplaceable old-growth oak forest, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County undertook to clear invasive woody brush from its remaining oak woodlands in the sprawling Greene Valley Forest Preserve. The restoration project, in partnership with CRTI and supported by a USDA Forest Service Grant, focused on invasive shrub removal and prescribed burns. It is one example of efforts guided by CRTI’s Oak Ecosystem Recovery Plan.