American Forests CEO Jad Daley on collaborative forest protection efforts and the tree equity movement

When American Forests was founded in 1875, the United States had no systems for forest governance and management. At the birth of the organization, American Forests pulled together a group of 50,000 people across sectors to establish the first-ever American Forest Congress and the first annual National Arbor Day, which marked the start of the American forest conservation movement. Today, the same coordination and synergistic energy in the United States is needed to bring together the private and public sectors to conserve forests. Moreover, forest preservation in urban environments is more urgently needed than before, especially in vulnerable communities as climate change’s impacts intensify. American Forests is increasingly focused on building the tree equity movement as “the people who are already most vulnerable to extreme heat driven by climate change… are the one who are not given the protection that trees can provide.”