Tree Trust Marks 50 Years of Transforming Lives and Landscapes
Twin Cities nonprofit planning a community celebration on September 12, 2026
St. Paul, MN, June 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tree Trust, the Twin Cities nonprofit dedicated to transforming lives and landscapes, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. Founded as Twin Cities Tree Trust on March 16, 1976, the organization continues its long-standing dual focus of training young people for meaningful work and planting trees for a healthy urban forest. In this significant milestone year, Tree Trust is sharing its rich history, building on its community connections, and providing a look at what the next 50 years might bring.
Tree Trust's 50th Anniversary celebrates half a century of planting trees and building careers.
Join the Celebration at the September Event
The centerpiece of the anniversary is a community celebration event on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at Tree Trust’s Eagan facility. This free event will bring together program alumni, community partners, donors, and supporters for an afternoon of inspiration, food, and fun. Details will be announced in the coming months on the Tree Trust 50th Anniversary webpage.
“Fifty years is a remarkable milestone, and it belongs to every person who has ever planted a tree with us, trained through our programs, or partnered in our mission,” stated Tree Trust's Board Chair, Michael Huntington. “This anniversary is a celebration of what we’ve built together — and a call to action for the next chapter.”
Tree Trust History: A Legacy Rooted in Community
Tree Trust was born out of an urgent environmental need. In the mid-1970s, Dutch elm disease was devastating the urban tree canopy across the Twin Cities. The organization’s founders responded by putting young people to work — training youth crews to plant and nurture replacement trees while giving them real skills and real paychecks. By the summer of 1977, 1,400 youth were employed across suburban Hennepin County.
From that foundation, Tree Trust kept growing. In 1978, a youth crew built the state’s first floating boardwalk at Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park, a project that launched a partnership still active today. In 1983, the organization expanded to serve unemployed adults. By 1991, a new Community Forestry program invited everyday residents to take part in planning, planting, and maintaining urban trees.
The 1990s brought new names and new programs. “Twin Cities” was dropped from the organization’s name in 1996 to reflect a broader statewide identity, the same year Tree Trust launched its Ramps Program, building no-cost accessibility ramps for homeowners with mobility challenges. In 2004, Tree Trust Landscape Services launched as a social enterprise, employing trained workers in tree care, lawn and snow services, and landscape construction while generating revenue that funds the nonprofit’s mission. In 2006, the organization adopted the tagline that still defines it today: Transforming Lives and Landscapes.
Recent decades have deepened Tree Trust’s impact. Tree Trust YouthBuild, originally launched in 2006, later became the first U.S. Department of Labor-funded program to include an Arborist Training Program. In 2019, Landscape Services' Registered Arborist Apprenticeship, approved by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, now offers a debt-free path into a high-demand career. In 2023, a new partnership with the City of Saint Paul helped the community respond to the emerald ash borer crisis while creating meaningful workforce development opportunities for young people.
Today, Tree Trust has three divisions. Career Pathways equips young adults with essential twenty-first century skills and employer connections to enter skilled trade careers. Community Forestry partners with municipalities, organizations, and volunteers to promote tree planting and maintenance, as well as environmental education. Landscape Services, Tree Trust's social enterprise, provides professional tree care and landscape contracting to support programming with earned income.
About Tree Trust
Tree Trust, a nonprofit founded in 1976 and based in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a mission to transform lives and landscapes. Tree Trust engages people to build skills for meaningful careers, inspires communities to plant trees, and works to create a greener, healthier future. Through workforce development programs, community forestry initiatives, and its Landscape Services social enterprise, Tree Trust partners with individuals, organizations, and municipalities to advance economic opportunity, environmental stewardship, and vibrant communities. Learn more at treetrust.org.
Press Inquiries
Anne-Marie Hendrickson
anne-marie.hendrickson [at] treetrust.org
952-767-3880
https://treetrust.org/
A video accompanying this announcement is available here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=aGWpYIefsso
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