OtherNonprofit
Stichting Trees for All
Fund trees at 5 euros each (half planted in the Netherlands, half abroad), get a certificate and tracking updates, and monthly donors are invited to a planting day
Trees for All is a Dutch foundation with CBF recognition and ANBI status that has planted trees in the Netherlands and abroad for over 25 years (14.8 million trees and shrubs, 191 projects reported). Donors choose how many trees to fund, once or monthly, and pick two of four featured projects; half the trees go to Dutch projects and half abroad. Donors receive a personal certificate, 'Track & Trees' email updates, an optional letterbox sapling, and an invitation to plant their own trees at a planting day (boomplantdag).
GrantFederalClosed
Ministry for Primary Industries / Te Uru Rākau - New Zealand Forest Service
Formerly: direct landowner grants and partnership funding to plant a billion trees across New Zealand by 2028
The One Billion Trees Programme was the New Zealand Government's 2018-2028 tree-planting drive run by Te Uru Rākau within MPI, with a fund offering direct grants to landowners and partnership grants. The fund is no longer taking new applications. MPI's current forestry funding guidance (Canopy) now points landowners to the Hill Country Erosion Programme (via regional councils), Ngā Whenua Rāhui (Māori land, via DOC), Māori agribusiness funding, council land-management teams and Trees That Count.
Classes and trainingNonprofit
Trees for Survival Charitable Trust
Participating schools get two Grow Units, irrigation, crates and about 900 native seedlings a year, and plant them with a landowner each winter
Trees for Survival is a New Zealand environmental education programme, started by the Rotary Club of Pakuranga in 1991, in which school students grow native seedlings on site and plant them on erosion-prone land and along waterways. Each school receives two 3.0m x 1.5m Grow Units, an irrigation system and timer, crates, planting bags, potting mix and roughly 900 eco-sourced seedlings (usually five restoration species) a year, overseen by a local facilitator. In 2026 the programme reported 252 schools and 214,750 plants planted.
Free treesNonprofit
Trees for Survival Charitable Trust
Native plants at no cost, planted by a local school on your riparian or eroding retired land
Landowners can host a Trees for Survival school planting day. A local facilitator visits to assess the site, the school grows the native plants, and students plant them in winter. The landowner fences and prepares the site, hosts the planting day and maintains the plantings for two years; the plants themselves are free.
Free treesNonprofit
Trees That Count
Native trees funded by donors and businesses are allocated to registered planting projects; individuals can gift or donate trees
Trees That Count is a New Zealand charity that takes donations and gifts of native trees from individuals and businesses and matches them to restoration projects. MPI's Canopy site describes it as supporting 'native tree and plant restoration projects led by farmers, iwi, conservation groups, and community groups'. Groups register as planters to receive trees; individuals can gift a tree, donate, or set up a registry.
Rules and permitsOther
Common Ground Alliance and state 811 centers
Free marking of buried utility lines before you dig a planting hole, required in every state
811 is the free national before-you-dig service. Anyone planning to dig, including homeowners planting trees and shrubs, contacts 811 by phone or through their state 811 center's website a few business days ahead; utilities then mark buried lines with paint or flags. Not calling is the top cause of utility damage, and even shallow shovel work counts as digging.
OtherNonprofit
American Forest Foundation (American Tree Farm System)
Free third-party forest certification, a forester inspection and the Tree Farm sign for family woodlands of 10 to 10,000 acres
The American Tree Farm System is North America's largest forest certification program for small private and community woodlands, run by the American Forest Foundation and recognized by PEFC. State Tree Farm programs coordinate the inspection and enrollment; certified owners get recognition, resources and a market credential for sustainably grown wood.
Advice and site visitsUniversity / extension
Extension Foundation and land-grant university Cooperative Extension
Free one-to-one answers from Extension experts in your state on tree selection, planting, pests and woodland care
Ask Extension is the national question service of the Cooperative Extension System, run by the Extension Foundation with USDA NIFA support. Anyone can submit a question with photos and get an emailed answer from Extension staff or Master Gardener volunteers in their state; a knowledge base holds about 500,000 past answers. Your county Extension office also runs soil testing, Master Gardener help desks and woodland-owner workshops.
Cost-shareFederal
USDA Farm Service Agency with state partners
Annual rental payments, up to 50% cost share and extra state incentives for planting trees and buffers in designated CREP project areas
CREP is a state-partnered offshoot of CRP. States, tribes and nonprofits sign agreements with FSA to target a specific problem (usually water quality) in a defined area, and landowners there get CRP rental payments plus added incentives for practices such as planting trees, native grasses and streamside buffers. Contracts run 10 to 15 years.
Cost-shareFederalSeasonal
USDA Farm Service Agency
Annual rental payments for 10 to 15 years plus cost share of up to 50% to establish trees, riparian buffers or other cover on eligible cropland
CRP pays farmers and landowners to take environmentally sensitive cropland out of production and plant long-term cover such as native grasses, trees and riparian buffers. Participants receive annual rental payments based on soil productivity and county cash rents, and FSA shares up to half the cost of establishing the cover. Continuous CRP lets land go in without competitive ranking for high-priority practices like riparian forest buffers.
Cost-shareFederal
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Annual payments under a five-year contract for maintaining and adding conservation activities across a whole farm or woodland
CSP rewards landowners who already manage their land well and agree to do more. Unlike EQIP, it covers the entire operation, including nonindustrial private forest land, and pays annually for the conservation activities carried out. USDA lists forest stand improvement, tree and shrub establishment and other forestry activities among the practices NRCS cost-shares through CSP.
Free treesNonprofit
Arbor Day Foundation with partner utilities and cities
Free yard trees from a participating utility or city, reserved online with a tool that shows where to plant for energy savings
The Arbor Day Foundation runs tree distribution programs for more than 120 utility, city and corporate partners. Residents in a partner's service area reserve free trees through the Foundation's online distribution tool, which maps the best planting spot for shade and energy savings, and pick them up or receive them by mail. In 2023-24 the program distributed 618,000 trees across 3,427 cities.
Cost-shareFederal
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
NRCS pays part of the cost of approved conservation practices on private forest and farm land, including tree and shrub planting, forest stand improvement, site preparation and pruning
EQIP is USDA's main cost-share program for conservation work on private working land. NRCS staff write a conservation plan with the landowner and then pay a share of the cost of practices in an EQIP contract. Forestry practices listed by USDA include Tree/Shrub Establishment, Forest Stand Improvement, Tree/Shrub Site Preparation, Tree and Shrub Pruning, Forest Trails and Landings and Forest Farming (agroforestry).
OtherFederal
USDA Forest Service with state lead agencies
Payment for a conservation easement or outright sale that keeps privately owned forest from being developed while the owner can keep the land
Forest Legacy pays willing landowners to permanently protect environmentally important forest threatened by conversion to other uses. Owners can sell the land outright or keep it and sell only the development rights through a conservation easement held by a state agency or other government unit. Since 1990 the program has conserved over 3 million acres in 53 states and territories.
Advice and site visitsFederal
USDA Forest Service, delivered by state forestry agencies
Help from a state or consulting forester to write a Forest Stewardship Plan for your woodland, which also unlocks cost-share, tax and certification programs
The Forest Stewardship Program is a federal-state partnership that connects private woodland owners with foresters and planning tools. Working through state forestry agencies, cooperative extension and conservation districts, it helps owners write a Forest Stewardship Plan that sets goals for timber, wildlife, water and recreation and lists the actions needed. More than 25 million acres are managed under stewardship plans, and agroforestry practices are included.
GrantFederal
USDA Forest Service, delivered through state forestry agencies
Federal funds that flow through state urban forestry coordinators to cities and nonprofits for tree planting, inventories and care that residents use locally
This is the only federal program dedicated to urban and community trees. The Forest Service funds state forestry agencies, which run their own urban forestry grant rounds for cities, tribes and nonprofits; residents benefit through those local grantees (free tree giveaways, street tree plantings, Tree City USA programs). The program has traditionally been funded at $36 to 40 million a year plus about $1 million in national challenge cost-share grants.
Classes and trainingFederal
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Free zip-code lookup of your cold-hardiness zone so you choose trees that will survive your winters
The 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard reference for which perennial plants and trees are likely to survive at a location, based on average annual extreme minimum temperature in 10-degree F zones and 5-degree half zones. Enter a zip code in the interactive map or download state and regional maps.