The Nashville Tree Foundation

WE ARE DEEPLY ROOTED IN NASHVILLE

In 1986 founders of the Nashville Tree Foundation wanted to create an organization to keep enthusiasm for Nashville’s trees alive after the highly successful planting of 1,986 trees across the state for the Homecoming ’86 celebration. These founding members, who served on the Davidson County team to plant trees, realized there was real value in helping preserve and protect our urban forests. Under the leadership of community volunteer and tree enthusiast, Betty Brown, the foundation gained recognition and support for several activities including the Big Old Tree Contest and High Tree Party, arboretum designations, educational programs in schools, and planting projects with partners like MDHA and Metro Nashville. 

It wasn’t until the devastating tornadoes of 1998 that the Tree Foundation catapulted into action in response to the loss of over 20,000 trees felled during the storms. ReLeaf Nashville began with mostly private funding of $1,000,000 raised in 6 months to replant trees that were lost in East Nashville. From that award-winning effort, ReLeafing Day evolved and is still a major project of the Nashville Tree Foundation that focuses on planting trees in neighborhoods. 

Today, Nashville Tree Foundation is launching a community-wide initiative to replant 10,000 trees ravaged by the tornado that struck Middle Tennessee on March 3. Called ReLeaf 2020, the campaign will raise $1 million to replant 10,000 trees in local communities decimated by the early morning storms, including North Nashville, Germantown, East Nashville, Donelson, Hermitage and neighboring areas. In addition to the ReLeaf 2020 campaign, Nashville Tree Foundation is working within the North Nashville community to address decades of environmental injustice that has resulted in this community less tree canopy than other areas of Nashville.

With your support, we can address urban tree equity issues that contribute to health issues among residents, higher crime rates, and lower test scores among local youth. One tree at a time, we can restore hope and the tree canopy to North Nashville.