Youth Tree Climbing Initiative

2017 | TreeFolks

Through our Youth Education initiatives, TreeFolks offers fun, active, and educational urban forestry activities that are accessible to all Austin youth. These activities include adventures like tree hikes and bike rides, along with strolls for differently-abled youth. With support from TREE Fund and in partnership with municipal and nonprofit agencies, we will expand our youth programming by adding a Youth Tree Climbing initiative. Funding from TREE Fund allows for TreeFolks to offer tree climbing education to underserved youth in Austin.

Program Results

The TreeFolks Youth Tree Climbing Initiative saw success in its first year. We worked with two community groups, Explore Austin and Austin Youth River Watch, with 55 youth participants who climbed trees for the first time. Participants saw their urban forest from a new perspective high in the crown of a bald cypress along the banks of the Colorado River. TreeFolks introduced basic tree biology and taught kids the importance of urban forest ecosystems play in a growing city. All of the participants were from the inner city and none of them had ever climbed a tree before. This program saw great success and other groups are interested in participating the program. Funding from TREE Fund made this program possible with plans to continue on as interest has grown.