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people planting a tree

Stewardship of the Urban Landscape (SOUL)
Tree Steward Program

Basic Stewardship of the Urban Landscape Tree Steward Course

This eight-week course prepares participants to become better stewards of and advocates for their community's tree resources. Presenters for the course are professionals in the field and represent a variety of organizations. The course is divided into four sessions on technical tree care and four sessions on community engagement. Technical tree care topics include planting, species selection, maintenance and pruning, and tree health and assessment. Community engagement topics range from running effective meetings, fundraising, and coalition building to working with the media and public speaking.

Course Curriculum

The eight-week course will provide an overview of the following topics:

  • Tree identification
  • Understanding tree biology
  • Landscape design
  • Tree planting
  • Tree maintenance and pruning
  • Municipal Forest Management
  • Tree health and risk tree management
  • Resource inventory
  • Establishing a tree board, or tree group
  • Funding community forestry
  • Networking and coalition building
  • Species Selection: Right tree, right place
  • Working with volunteers
  • Public speaking and presentations
  • Personality types and group dynamics
  • Working with media
Download the Become a Tree Steward course brochure (PDF)
SOUL is a joint initiative between University of Vermont Extension and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.

Last modified November 16 2011 11:34 AM

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