INTRODUCTION
Established in 1995 to honor one of the leaders in the arboriculture industry and a founder of the ISA Research Trust, the Hyland R. Johns Grant Program funds longer term research and technology transfer projects that have the potential of benefiting the everyday work of arborists. Projects are expected to be completed within three to five years, with a maximum award value of $25,000. No project may receive more than one award from this program.
Asplundh’s Chief Operations Officer David Fleischner delivered the endowment announcement at the Trees & Utilities Conference, hosted by the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) and the Arbor Day Foundation (ADF) on September 10. Over the next three years, Asplundh will donate more than $500,000 to the fund in time for it to be fully endowed before the company’s centennial in 2028. During this time, the fund will continue to award grants.
TREE Fund welcomes research proposals and applications from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines, of both a qualitative and a quantitative nature. TREE Fund does not fund the following types of projects, and will not accept applications for such work:
- Grants to individuals;
- Projects that are primarily municipal tree surveys or assessments;
- Tree planting programs;
- Studies focused on traditional forestry and timber production, agroforestry, and ecology and conservation of forested and other natural areas,
- Product testing primarily for the benefit of the company that manufactures the product.
APPLICATION PROCESS
| August 1, 2026 | Letter of Intent (LOI) open |
| September 1, 2026 | Letter of Intent (LOI) submission due |
| September 15, 2026 | Notification of proposals advancing to full submissions |
| October 15, 2026 | Full submissions due |
| Mid-to-late December 2026 | Notification of selected grant recipients |
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Application Requirements can be found here.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
It is TREE Fund’s explicit desire that research findings eventually be freely and widely available to any and all parties who may benefit from the author’s work. At the same time, TREE Fund recognizes the importance of academic and professional journal publications and will work with grant recipients to ensure that findings are disseminated in a manner that is cognizant of all parties’ schedules and needs. Recipients should inform TREE Fund when funded research findings are published or presented at conferences so that these accomplishments can be widely publicized. Recipients should also recognize the support provided by TREE Fund in their articles or presentations related to the funded project. Recipients are strongly encouraged to publish findings to relevant professional journals, i.e. Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Arboricultural Journal, Trees: Structure and Function, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, Plant Pathology, Hortscience, Horticultural Science, Sustainable Development, Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Health, Environment and Urbanization, Urban Ecosystems, etc.
Recent Projects
2024 was awarded to Daniel Burcham from Colorado State University for project, “Developing Improved Methods for Assessing the Structural Integrity of Decayed Trees”
2022 was awarded to Stella Dee with University of Massachusetts Amherst for project “Assessing the Mechanical, Physiological and Carbon Accounting Effects of Different Pruning Regimens”